.KEYWORD herdincatz
.FLYINGHEAD PRODUCT REVIEW
.TITLE Corral some crazy kittens with Herdin CatZ
.OTHER
.SUMMARY Git along, little kitties! Chris Phillips reviews Herdin CatZ, a crazy Palm OS game that challenges you to guide a group of uncooperative felines through a series of increasingly difficult scenarios.
.AUTHOR Chris Phillips
I was looking for a fun game that would allow me to test the color screen on my Palm m505 when I came across Herdin CatZ from Notions Software at http://www.notionssoftware.com. This is a wacky game developed by someone with an active imagination. Though very concept of herding cats is preposterous, the author manages to expand on it in a unique and creative way. The result is a visually appealing and challenging game.
.H1 First impression
The first thing I noticed when I started the game was the liberal use of color. The author does an excellent job of creating a gaming environment that’s pleasant to look at, without being distracting, as you can see in Figure A.
.FIG A Here’s the Herdin CatZ startup screen.
The first thing you do is choose whether you want to start a new game, continue a previous game, or change the options. I jumped right into a game. Once you tap "New," you’re presented with a brief description of the situation and what you must do. As I started playing the game, I was slightly disappointed that it wasn’t more difficult. I raced through each of the five levels in the first world without losing a single cat. I suppose the game may have been designed this way to give you a chance to learn how the game works. But, by the time I was done, it felt a little monotonous. The second world, however, was more difficult, and I invested much more time (and several cats) in completing it.
.H1 Overview
Herdin CatZ consists of five worlds: Tree world, Bug world, Fish world, Yarn world, and Cheese world. The route between each of the five worlds is pictured in Figure B.
.FIG B You’ll have to navigate your cats through each of the five worlds.
Each world has a different variation of five levels that must be completed before moving to the next world, and each world is progressively more difficult than one before. You start each world with three cats. If you fail to accomplish the objective of a given level, you lose a cat and have to start the level over. If you lose all three cats, you must start the whole world over.
.H1 Corral Craze
The object of the Corral Craze level, pictured in Figure C, is to herd at least five cats through the gate of the corral.
.FIG C Herd the cats through the gate before time runs out!
You do this by using your stylus to encourage the cats to move in the direction of the gate. Of course, the cats have no interest in this and wander around everywhere except the gate. There is a door in the lower right-hand corner that the cats try to escape through. If enough cats escape through the door, you lose. If the timer runs out, you lose. If you manage to get enough cats through the gate, you progress to the next level.
.H1 Rally CatZ
The object of the Rally CatZ level, pictured in Figure D, is to maneuver your cat through the flags to the food at the end of the course.
.FIG D Guide your cat through the flags to the food at the end.
This requires diligence and constant attention, because the cat thinks the flags are stupid and doesn’t understand why it can’t walk directly to the food. Again, this is a timed race, and if you run out of time, you must start the level over.
.H1 Mouse Madness
If you think herding cats into a corral is crazy, you’ll love this next level. The object of the Mouse Madness level, pictured in Figure E, is to herd at least three mice through the gate in the corral.
.FIG E Herd the mice into the corral using the cat.
This is accomplished by using a herd cat in much the same way that a herd dog helps corral sheep. Using your stylus to guide the cat, you must encourage the mice to move towards the corral and keep them from escaping through the door. If you thought it was difficult to get several uncooperative cats to go through a gate, wait until you try to get one uncooperative cat to guide several uncooperative mice. As in level one, if you lose enough mice or run out of time, you lose.
.H1 Dog Run
No game involving cats would be complete without their evil arch-nemesis, the dog. In the Dog Run level, pictured in Figure F, there’s a very large dog pacing at a slow speed up and down the screen.
.FIG F Don’t get bitten by the mean old dog.
A brick wall separates your cat and the dog. You must coax your cat to move past the dog to reach the food. This is largely a matter of timing, because as soon as you cross the dog’s path, he speeds up. If the dog catches your cat before you finish crossing his path, you lose. This is also a timed level, so if the timer runs out before you reach the food, you lose.
.H1 Wicked Broomz
The Wicked Broomz level, pictured in Figure G, adds insult to injury.
.FIG G Don’t let your cats get swept away.
As if herding a bunch of cats through a gate is not difficult enough, this level has a wicked broom that is roaming around and trying to sweep your cats away. You must get four cats through the gate before the broom sweeps all the cats away and before the timer runs out.
.H1 World finale
Every world has a finale that’s also based on the same theme, but it gets harder as you progress through the worlds. There are two cat’s paws on the screen, and the goal is to use one of the paws to grab whatever creature is moving around the screen, as shown in Figure H.
.FIG H "Cat’s foot iron claw, neuro-surgeons scream for more." –King Crimson
In order to do this you tap on the paw, and it reaches out to its full extension. If the creature that’s flying around crosses the path of the paw while it’s extending, you get to bag the creature, presumably for a snack later. In the first world finale, you must successfully grab eight birds before the time runs out. If you do this, you get to move to the next world, this entire cycle repeats itself, and the levels get even more difficult.
.H1 Conclusion
Herdin CatZ is a well-designed and very creative game. Unfortunately, I found the game lacking in excitement. Many of the levels just felt like work as I went through the motions required to complete a given task. This was mostly on the easier levels where I think the author made them deliberately easy so you could get a feel for how the game worked. As the game progresses, the contrary nature of cats is revealed, and they don’t always do what you want them to. The author has done a great job of including this in the game, but I found it frustrating because it often meant I couldn’t complete a level or move to the next world just because my cat was stubborn.
When I play a game and I’m manipulating a character on the screen, I expect that character to do what I tell it. When I push the "jump" button, the character should jump 100% of the time. The cats in this game don’t jump, but if they did, I’m pretty sure they would only jump 75% of the time. The other 25% of the time they just ignore you. This is by design, and the author actually warns you about it. However, I still found it more frustrating than entertaining.
These complaints simply represent my preferences in game play and don’t point out any actual problems with the game. In fact, I found the game to be very stable, and it performed exactly as I expected it to. I would encourage you to download the game and try it for yourself. My wife mostly agreed with my assessment of the game, but I still catch her playing it when she has nothing else to do. I have several games loaded on my Palm m505, but this is the one she ends up playing.
I do have two complaints of a more technical nature. The first is the size of this game. At 676K, Herdin CatZ is the second largest program on my Palm m505. The second is less of a complaint and more of a warning. I didn’t notice this until I listened to my wife playing, but all the action is controlled with the stylus, and as you get frustrated and the action heats up, your tendency will be to "tap" the screen harder and harder. I got to the point where I would cringe when I listened to my wife play
