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| Title: |
Catwoman |
| Publisher: |
Vatical Entertainment |
| Features: |
GameBoy Color Only, Passwords. |
| Format: |
Action/Platform |
| Reviewer: |
Jason Sunrider |
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Introduction
She is one of Batman's arch enemies. She now stars in her own comic, and
was recently voted as "the sexiest woman in comic books today" by Wizard Magazine.
Do you know who she is?
Yes, it's Catwoman, and thanks to Kemco, this feline femme fatale is now on the Color GameBoy too.
Graphics & Color
When you first start a new game you will see a cinematic introduction that's presented in luscious comic book art.
Most of the cut scene graphics in Catwoman are presented in this "comic book' style and you will get to see
more of them later on between some levels.
Although I liked the static cinematic, I would have preferred a little animation too. Changing facial expressions
or even blinking eyes would have been nice, but I guess the game designers wanted the cinematic in Catwoman to
look like the comic book and decided to omit such detail.
Getting into the game, the first thing that will strike you is the size of our feline heroine. She's tiny! Once
you get over this, however, you'll realize that despite their diminutive appearance, the character sprites in Catwoman
have good detail and pretty smooth animation.
Backgrounds were also detailed and colorful, and it was nice to see that some background scenes were even animated
(e.g. flashing computer screens).
Despite all the detailing and animation, everything in Catwoman runs, moves and scrolls smoothly. This is of course
expected, and Kemco did a good job of harnessing the extra processing and memory power of the Color GameBoy to
avoid the slow-downs and blurry scrolling that plagued older GameBoy action titles.
The only drawback is that owners of Classic and Pocket GameBoys will not be able to play the game.
Gameplay & Controls
As most of you know, Catwoman the DC comic character, is renowned for her
gymnastic abilities and feline attacks.
This hasn't changed in the game, and to get through the various levels, you will need to perform some pretty amazing
stunts that include wall bouncing, back flips, forward spinning leaps, whip swinging and bullet dodging.
In addition to this, Catwoman also has lots of fighting moves which you can pull off using both her claws (punching)
and feet (kicking). Using the directional pad will produce further attacks, but you must keep in mind and remember
that only certain attacks work best on certain enemies.
It's a pity that Kemco didn't incorporate Catwoman's signature weapon - the whip, as a regular attack. In the game,
the whip can only be used when you're swinging, and for me, this was one of the most annoying aspects of the game.
Thankfully, or maybe not, the bad guys are also pretty dumb and predictable. They always attack from the same position,
and it is here that a neat feature of the game comes into play.
Pressing up on the directional pad enables you to hide against a wall, and in so doing, makes Catwoman invisible.
This doesn't work in close proximity of course, and the bad guys won't just pass you by, but it's a good maneuver
to use when you want to dodge long range attacks.
Sadly, one feature that's missing from the game is the ability to look up and down. As such, you'll probably find
yourself making quite a few blind leaps of faith, which inevitably lands you in the lap of a bad guy or three.
In later levels you get a power suit. Now, before you rush off and say, "Catwoman
doesn't wear a power suit! This must be some dumb idea thought up by the game
designers!"... well it's not. Those that read the comics will know that Catwoman donned armor when she went
up against Cybercat, who incidentally is also in the game. So, since the game is based on the comics, there shouldn't
be any complaints about a power suit, right?
Anyway, this power suit gives you extra armor and five rockets, which unfortunately, you will have to find ammo
for. There is also a trade-off. If you use the power suit, you loose the ability
to "hide" which makes dodging the bad guys harder as well. From this example, you can see that Catwoman
isn't about mindless punching and kicking. You will need to use your brains at times, and devise strategies that
will keep you alive and purring.
Final Comments
Catwoman is a great game that is intuitive, visually pleasing and easy to play. The ability to hide, form strategies
and perform gymnastic feats makes this feel like something more than a regular run-of-the-mill platform game.
Suffice to say, fans of action platform games will not be disappointed with Catwoman. More importantly, the same
can also be said for fans of the DC comics as well. |
