THE SPECTRUM GAMES DATABASE

THE CATS

PUBLISHER
Artic

AUTHOR(S)

YEAR
June 1985

CATALOGUE NUMBER

CATEGORY
Arcade

DESCRIPTION
A maze game, similar to Sabre Wulf.

CONTROLS
Keyboard, Kempston, Sinclair, Cursor.

INSTRUCTIONS

ORIGINAL INLAY CARD TEXT

HINTS/CHEATS

SEQUELS/PREQUELS

REVIEWS
_Cats_ Review from Sinclair User No. 39, June 1985:

Meet Deuteronomy, leader of the Jellicle cats in T S Eliot's
poems and Andrew Lloyd Wallet's musical.  The cats' enemies, the
Pollicle dogs, have hidden an object known, for some reason, as
the Heavyside layer. It is the focus of the cats mystic powers,
and the dogs intend to destroy it - if they can form a pack. 
Meanwhile ten kittens have strayed off the astral staircase and
must be collected and returned to the Heavyside Layer.  The whole
heady brew of witchcraft and whiskers boils down to a basic
_Sabre Wulf_ style maze game. The playing area is very large, and
a map is provided which can be consulted at will. The map shows
the positions of dogs and kittens, thus enabling you to work out
the best routes. Deuteronomy deals death in the form of fur-balls
and carries stun powder.  The graphics arewell-designed and
attractive. The animation tends to be slow, particularly if you
want to keep the sound effects, a wailng rendition of _Memory_.
_Cats_ would be a sweet little number full of fun and novelty if
it was not for one thing - the game is too easy. It was a good
idea to allow sight of the map, but a time limit on that might
be appropriate. Deuteronomy starts off with too many stamina
points so that, with the obligatory nine lives, he can easily
afford to die and come back with a full complement of strength. 
When 24 dogs are in the den the pack is formed and you lose.
Again, even at the highest level, using a couple of lives to
exterminate dogs should even the odds sufficiently to give you
time to complete your task.  We managed to play straight through
all five levels for a grand total of 7953025 points. No game
ought to be that easy, surely?

                              Chris Bourne

Publisher: Artic
Price: 6.95
Memory: 48K
Joystick: Kempston, Sinclair, Cursor
Rating: *** (out of 5, meaning: Nothing special)


URLS

GENERAL FACTS

NOTES