Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore for Nintendo DS is a surprisingly decent action-platformer, which isn’t what I expected going in.
The game is primarily a platformer. You control one of the three protagonist animals. First, you have a dog named Diggs. His special ability is that he can push some crates, so basically a power character. He also has a laser which can be used to defeat some enemies without initiating a QTE. Next, there’s Seamus the Pigeon, who can fly, well, sorta. He has a feather meter, which shows for how long he can fly before slowly dropping down. There are feather items that can extend his flight, which allows to fly higher or further. I found the flight mechanic to be surprisingly janky. Or rather, trying to get off the ground can be surprisingly difficult, sometimes the input just doesn’t register correctly or you get a “jump” that doesn’t get you off the land. It can be quite frustrating. Also, there was one instance where I did combat in air, and after I was done, Seamus just dropped like a brick, even though the feather counter does not decrease during the fight, and it was over an insta-death water no less. Thankfully, it only happened only once or twice towards the end, but it was still annoying. Lastly, there’s Catherine the Cat. She has a double jump and can fight with a stick, initiating QTE with an enemy. I mean, all characters can fight, but I think her weapon is the strongest. The QTE simply asks you to perform a button combo, with each button increasing the stun meter for the enemy, so you can actually stall for slightly longer. The button prompts themselves also have an arrow attached, showing in which direction the button it is, which I think is a nice little detail.
The platforming is fairly standard, though there is a variety of missions. There are standard platforming levels, where you simply get from one end to another, there are “Delivery” missions, where you press X to attach or detach a device to you character, and while the device is attached, you can’t use special abilities such as double jump or initiating combat, so you have to drop an item. There are “Cat’s Cradle” missions, where you have to follow a platform and make sure it doesn’t stay offscreen for too long, basically an autoscroller but IMO these are the most interesting and fun even. On the other hand, there are “Escort” missions. You move from checkpoint to checkpoint, and when you encounter one, you take control of the carrier pigeon that you “escort”. Simply hold up or down to ascend and descend and collect pages floating about if you care for 100%. To be honest, there’s nothing challenging about controlling the pigeon, there are no new obstacles to navigate or anything like that, making these the most pointless. Still, it is nice to have some variety. One thing I appreciate, is that Engine Software decided to let go of the obligatory touch screen gimmicks, as the game has no mini-games or anything that requires a touch screen, which is nice. The touch screen can be used for minor things, but you can play the game just like any regular game with all the buttons.
There are more extras for those feeling up to it. Each level has a set number of chips that can be collected, either floating about or dropping from enemies, as well as three wrenches, and miscellaneous collectibles, such as collars that drop from enemies in "Dog Eats Dog" missions that are focused on beating enemies up. To be honest, I don’t really know what any of these collectibles are for. Maybe they’re used for ability upgrades such as a stronger laser, as you do occasionally get those, or unlocking bonus training missions, but it would’ve been nice to know for sure. There’s also apparently a “secrets” stat for the save file, with each secret unlocking a story board for the film, which is a nice bonus, but again, the game isn’t clear on what said secrets are meant to be. But back to bonus missions, they’re a nice way to get some extra gameplay, and aren’t too bad, though the difficulty is inconsistent, for instance Cat’s Cradle for training 1 mission 5 was legitimately challenging and engaging, but missions in training 2 were generally easy, even though the character dialogue implies the same level of difficulty. Also, after you beat a “world” consisting of 4 levels, you can to unlock a "BONUS ROUND!", which is basically Crash Bandicoot tier stuff. The very first one tasks you as Catherine the cat to platform on explosive crates that detonate after touching them, and it took me a bit before figuring out a proper path with all the collectibles. Other missions can be a bit more straightforward though, again the quality is a little uneven. Then the very last one has you play as Seamus the pigeon, flying above a pool of lava in a spacious room with few places where you can ground yourself, and there are even a couple medals that are very close to lava, so it becomes a challenge grabbing all the stuff. Again, most of this stuff is optional, but it definitely gives this game a more lasting appeal over Aliens in the Attic DS for instance.
Throughout the story, you obtain new abilities for each of the protagonist creatures. Diggs gets shoes that can be used to attach oneself to magnetic surfaces, which is typically ceilings. Neat, but I think it’s a bit of a missing opportunity that there isn’t much in terms of platforming with these magnetic shoes, you could’ve had walls you could walk up or something. Chicken Little GBA had some interesting design revolving different gravitational surfaces, and I wish this game had something similar. Next, Catherine get the ability to roll into a metal-like ball, and all it’s used for is mostly spectacle – you can roll into tubes, which shows a little cinematic view of you traversing through it. Nice shots, but this is basically just a cutscene trigger, and that’s pretty much it. A pretty underwhelming ability. Lastly, Seamus gets the ability of turning invisible. Press down on D-Pad when grounded and you can pass through detection, though you can’t jump. After this ability is introduced, there are more Stealth missions scattered throughout. They aren’t anything special or difficult. Slightly better than the sphere ability, but still. Also, I kind of lied about lastly. Each hero also gains another ability in one of the levels, which asks you to beat it using ONLY those abilities. These abilities use energy meter that refills automatically with time, but there are also energy items that can instantly replenish it. Diggs gets a strong bark ability as a combat option, Catherine in her metallic ball form can charge a roll (or something similar to a spindash in Sonic The Hedgehog series) through enemies and dishes damage to them and destructible obstacles, and Seamus gets the ability to… also dash forward midair, which can be handy for platforming. Again, kind of underwhelming overall if I’m going to be honest.
There are only three bosses in this game, and they get progressively better. The first one features assassin twins, and you’re tasked with QTEing them into one of the pipes, then roll into a ball to enter the pipe on the opposite side, then roll up the pipe the twin is stuck in, and that somehow does the damage. A pretty lame boss that utilizes a lame ability. The second boss is a bit better. You fight against a robot cat named Paws, which progressively loses fur and turns into an actual mechanical abomination, which is cool. As Diggs, you dodge it’s attacks a few times, then combat it into rage, after which you escape through a corridor which is filled with magnetic ceilings and TNT crates for the robot to bump into, making this a pretty cool and sort-of cinematic fight. Lastly, the titular Kitty Galore. You’re tasked with destroying the satellite antenna for the Call of the Wild machine or something, which requires you to platform on moving ferris wheel cabs. The more damage you deal to that machine, the more hazards appear to bump you off the platform in a form of homing missiles, and even including the Kitty Galore herself, who somehow teleports to you to slice you. After which, you deal with the main villain in the good ol QTE combat fashion I described earlier. Though I didn’t find the fight terribly difficult, mainly because of Catherine’s double jump which helped quite a bit to prevent me from falling off, the tense atmosphere and music helped the fight feel more epic.
Onto the game’s aesthetics, the game is developed by Engine Software, which I described in my Aliens in the Attic DS review as “(the company) seems to know their stuff when it comes to DS graphics”, and they show off even stronger in this game. In my opinion, this game has some of the best graphics I’ve seen on Nintendo DS, with good looking 2.5D environments that have a nice amount of detail. The camera is also a bit more dynamic. Here are few screenshots of the game to show it’s graphics: One, Two, Three (I apologize if the quality of the screenshots doesn’t do the visuals justice, but they appear about the same as when I played the game on my 3DS). Unfortunately, this graphical wizardry comes at a cost – the framerate isn’t very smooth or consistent, with some lag scattered throughout. Also, I did notice some environments reused a few times, mainly towards the end. The music is also pretty good. Yet again, it’s Bart Roijmans. To be honest, I didn’t even know this game was Engine Software production, nor that it had Bart Roijmans working on it, this was definitely a random licensed game I picked unlike Aliens in the Attic DS or Ben 10: Protector of Earth DS which I picked intentionally due to his talent. And you know what, it was a pleasant surprise, with some amazing music. I don’t think it’s quite as good as in those two examples, mainly because I think the game could’ve used more tracks since it repeats music for many levels, but it’s still a pretty good soundtrack overall. Additional compliments to the game’s humorous dialogue, I did find a few lines to be hilarious.
Overall, Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore is a surprisingly competent licensed game. I totally expected it to be low-tier trash, but it was actually pretty decent and actually enjoyable at times. It’s flawed for sure, perhaps the graphics could’ve been dialed down for better framerate, some mechanics can be janky, not all missions are created equal, some abilities are lame and other inconsistencies, but beyond that, it has decent platforming with a good amount of variety, replayability and extra content. I can actually see myself coming back to this to try and collect all the items, beat the rest of bonus training missions, and even getting better ranks at all the levels, since they’re graded based on your performance. It may not be truly a generational masterpiece, but a decent “flawed gem”.
The game is primarily a platformer. You control one of the three protagonist animals. First, you have a dog named Diggs. His special ability is that he can push some crates, so basically a power character. He also has a laser which can be used to defeat some enemies without initiating a QTE. Next, there’s Seamus the Pigeon, who can fly, well, sorta. He has a feather meter, which shows for how long he can fly before slowly dropping down. There are feather items that can extend his flight, which allows to fly higher or further. I found the flight mechanic to be surprisingly janky. Or rather, trying to get off the ground can be surprisingly difficult, sometimes the input just doesn’t register correctly or you get a “jump” that doesn’t get you off the land. It can be quite frustrating. Also, there was one instance where I did combat in air, and after I was done, Seamus just dropped like a brick, even though the feather counter does not decrease during the fight, and it was over an insta-death water no less. Thankfully, it only happened only once or twice towards the end, but it was still annoying. Lastly, there’s Catherine the Cat. She has a double jump and can fight with a stick, initiating QTE with an enemy. I mean, all characters can fight, but I think her weapon is the strongest. The QTE simply asks you to perform a button combo, with each button increasing the stun meter for the enemy, so you can actually stall for slightly longer. The button prompts themselves also have an arrow attached, showing in which direction the button it is, which I think is a nice little detail.
The platforming is fairly standard, though there is a variety of missions. There are standard platforming levels, where you simply get from one end to another, there are “Delivery” missions, where you press X to attach or detach a device to you character, and while the device is attached, you can’t use special abilities such as double jump or initiating combat, so you have to drop an item. There are “Cat’s Cradle” missions, where you have to follow a platform and make sure it doesn’t stay offscreen for too long, basically an autoscroller but IMO these are the most interesting and fun even. On the other hand, there are “Escort” missions. You move from checkpoint to checkpoint, and when you encounter one, you take control of the carrier pigeon that you “escort”. Simply hold up or down to ascend and descend and collect pages floating about if you care for 100%. To be honest, there’s nothing challenging about controlling the pigeon, there are no new obstacles to navigate or anything like that, making these the most pointless. Still, it is nice to have some variety. One thing I appreciate, is that Engine Software decided to let go of the obligatory touch screen gimmicks, as the game has no mini-games or anything that requires a touch screen, which is nice. The touch screen can be used for minor things, but you can play the game just like any regular game with all the buttons.
There are more extras for those feeling up to it. Each level has a set number of chips that can be collected, either floating about or dropping from enemies, as well as three wrenches, and miscellaneous collectibles, such as collars that drop from enemies in "Dog Eats Dog" missions that are focused on beating enemies up. To be honest, I don’t really know what any of these collectibles are for. Maybe they’re used for ability upgrades such as a stronger laser, as you do occasionally get those, or unlocking bonus training missions, but it would’ve been nice to know for sure. There’s also apparently a “secrets” stat for the save file, with each secret unlocking a story board for the film, which is a nice bonus, but again, the game isn’t clear on what said secrets are meant to be. But back to bonus missions, they’re a nice way to get some extra gameplay, and aren’t too bad, though the difficulty is inconsistent, for instance Cat’s Cradle for training 1 mission 5 was legitimately challenging and engaging, but missions in training 2 were generally easy, even though the character dialogue implies the same level of difficulty. Also, after you beat a “world” consisting of 4 levels, you can to unlock a "BONUS ROUND!", which is basically Crash Bandicoot tier stuff. The very first one tasks you as Catherine the cat to platform on explosive crates that detonate after touching them, and it took me a bit before figuring out a proper path with all the collectibles. Other missions can be a bit more straightforward though, again the quality is a little uneven. Then the very last one has you play as Seamus the pigeon, flying above a pool of lava in a spacious room with few places where you can ground yourself, and there are even a couple medals that are very close to lava, so it becomes a challenge grabbing all the stuff. Again, most of this stuff is optional, but it definitely gives this game a more lasting appeal over Aliens in the Attic DS for instance.
Throughout the story, you obtain new abilities for each of the protagonist creatures. Diggs gets shoes that can be used to attach oneself to magnetic surfaces, which is typically ceilings. Neat, but I think it’s a bit of a missing opportunity that there isn’t much in terms of platforming with these magnetic shoes, you could’ve had walls you could walk up or something. Chicken Little GBA had some interesting design revolving different gravitational surfaces, and I wish this game had something similar. Next, Catherine get the ability to roll into a metal-like ball, and all it’s used for is mostly spectacle – you can roll into tubes, which shows a little cinematic view of you traversing through it. Nice shots, but this is basically just a cutscene trigger, and that’s pretty much it. A pretty underwhelming ability. Lastly, Seamus gets the ability of turning invisible. Press down on D-Pad when grounded and you can pass through detection, though you can’t jump. After this ability is introduced, there are more Stealth missions scattered throughout. They aren’t anything special or difficult. Slightly better than the sphere ability, but still. Also, I kind of lied about lastly. Each hero also gains another ability in one of the levels, which asks you to beat it using ONLY those abilities. These abilities use energy meter that refills automatically with time, but there are also energy items that can instantly replenish it. Diggs gets a strong bark ability as a combat option, Catherine in her metallic ball form can charge a roll (or something similar to a spindash in Sonic The Hedgehog series) through enemies and dishes damage to them and destructible obstacles, and Seamus gets the ability to… also dash forward midair, which can be handy for platforming. Again, kind of underwhelming overall if I’m going to be honest.
There are only three bosses in this game, and they get progressively better. The first one features assassin twins, and you’re tasked with QTEing them into one of the pipes, then roll into a ball to enter the pipe on the opposite side, then roll up the pipe the twin is stuck in, and that somehow does the damage. A pretty lame boss that utilizes a lame ability. The second boss is a bit better. You fight against a robot cat named Paws, which progressively loses fur and turns into an actual mechanical abomination, which is cool. As Diggs, you dodge it’s attacks a few times, then combat it into rage, after which you escape through a corridor which is filled with magnetic ceilings and TNT crates for the robot to bump into, making this a pretty cool and sort-of cinematic fight. Lastly, the titular Kitty Galore. You’re tasked with destroying the satellite antenna for the Call of the Wild machine or something, which requires you to platform on moving ferris wheel cabs. The more damage you deal to that machine, the more hazards appear to bump you off the platform in a form of homing missiles, and even including the Kitty Galore herself, who somehow teleports to you to slice you. After which, you deal with the main villain in the good ol QTE combat fashion I described earlier. Though I didn’t find the fight terribly difficult, mainly because of Catherine’s double jump which helped quite a bit to prevent me from falling off, the tense atmosphere and music helped the fight feel more epic.
Onto the game’s aesthetics, the game is developed by Engine Software, which I described in my Aliens in the Attic DS review as “(the company) seems to know their stuff when it comes to DS graphics”, and they show off even stronger in this game. In my opinion, this game has some of the best graphics I’ve seen on Nintendo DS, with good looking 2.5D environments that have a nice amount of detail. The camera is also a bit more dynamic. Here are few screenshots of the game to show it’s graphics: One, Two, Three (I apologize if the quality of the screenshots doesn’t do the visuals justice, but they appear about the same as when I played the game on my 3DS). Unfortunately, this graphical wizardry comes at a cost – the framerate isn’t very smooth or consistent, with some lag scattered throughout. Also, I did notice some environments reused a few times, mainly towards the end. The music is also pretty good. Yet again, it’s Bart Roijmans. To be honest, I didn’t even know this game was Engine Software production, nor that it had Bart Roijmans working on it, this was definitely a random licensed game I picked unlike Aliens in the Attic DS or Ben 10: Protector of Earth DS which I picked intentionally due to his talent. And you know what, it was a pleasant surprise, with some amazing music. I don’t think it’s quite as good as in those two examples, mainly because I think the game could’ve used more tracks since it repeats music for many levels, but it’s still a pretty good soundtrack overall. Additional compliments to the game’s humorous dialogue, I did find a few lines to be hilarious.
Overall, Cats & Dogs: The Revenge of Kitty Galore is a surprisingly competent licensed game. I totally expected it to be low-tier trash, but it was actually pretty decent and actually enjoyable at times. It’s flawed for sure, perhaps the graphics could’ve been dialed down for better framerate, some mechanics can be janky, not all missions are created equal, some abilities are lame and other inconsistencies, but beyond that, it has decent platforming with a good amount of variety, replayability and extra content. I can actually see myself coming back to this to try and collect all the items, beat the rest of bonus training missions, and even getting better ranks at all the levels, since they’re graded based on your performance. It may not be truly a generational masterpiece, but a decent “flawed gem”.