Aqua Kitty UDX Review – Heading To The Switch Happily Avoids Cat-astophe

The cats arrive on Nintendo Switch. Aqua Kitty UDX – The FingerGuns Review;

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING REVIEW WILL HAVE NUMEROUS CAT BASED PUNS. SOME WILL BE OK AND MOST WILL BE TERRIBLE. IF YOU DON’T HAVE THE (FUR) BALLS FOR THIS HEAD STRAIGHT TO THE BOTTOM OF THE RE-MEW TO SEE THE SCORE.

I love cats, with their disdain for humans and general society as a whole. But I had a void in my life that needed to be filled, I needed a cat based side scrolling game that would make me appreciate cats even more. Thanks to Nintendo, I got my dream without having to take a cat nap with Aqua Kitty UDX.

The premise of the game is that all the milk reserves have run out, leaving the cats without. Luckily they discover full fat milk deposits under the ocean, and overcoming their fear of water they dive down to mine it. However, they come under attack from sea creatures who want to kidnap the miners! So you take control of an armoured submarine and defend the miners so they can literally be the cats that got the cream. The game has a retro feel, a simple side scrolling shooting game we all have played numerous times in our past. But with Aqua Kitty UDX it brings an element of fun and hair pulling frustration that could leave you looking like Sphynx cat.

What starts out as a simple game immediately becomes challenging on the third game, giving you different enemies to deal with that cant be gotten rid of with just one shot. While stopping the robotic jellyfish kidnapping the miners, you have to deal with waves of other enemies coming at you from all angles which eventually leads you to a brick wall of difficulty that even the nimblest of felines would struggle to jump on. That’s not saying it is too hard but you will definitely have to play some levels over and over again until you manage to get the best of them. The controls are really simple too, A for shooting, B for special and the shoulder buttons to change direction. The only little annoyance I had was that I kept clicking the left stick in while playing which brought up the control menu, which after a few times had me screaming at myself as I was in the flow.

There are a few different modes one the game as well which lets you mix up the action. The classic mode is where you fight waves and move on, the arcade mode where you can collect gems etc but Dreadnought Mode really is the cat’s whiskers. Basically it is levels that take place deep in the Meowiana Trench (this made me giggle too much) which pits you against one massive boss. It’s a constant balancing act of trying to keep the smaller enemies numbers down versus when to focus and attack the boss itself, striving to defend the 3 hearts you are given before it is game over (surely you should have 9 lives as you are a cat) but when you do manage to complete the level it is an almost purrfect feeling.

With it being on the Switch it gives it a more old school feel when you are playing it in the handheld mode, reminding me of all the games me and my friends played on the Game Gear and Atari Lynx. This gives it a warm fuzzy feeling for me than it would playing it on a TV screen, reminding me of a time when shoot-em-ups ruled the world, even down to the music which doesn’t get annoying but adds to the games retro feel. The two player action was fun but arguing over who should of got that robotic Jellyfish and whose power up that was takes me back to when the simplest thing would make you get your claws out with your best friend.

Overall the game is fun and doesn’t take it’s self too seriously, but provides a challenge that even older players would find difficult to beat regardless of their years of practice, leaving the to metaphorically kick the cat. This is one game that I won’t paws to pick up again and it thoroughly deserves a cushion in front of the fire.