Cattch - It's good, but is there a catch?
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iOS
| Cattch

Cattch is a pretty impressive looking platformer that trades on its retro sensibilities to create a solid homage to some early '90s classics.

The controls are slick, the stages are well designed, and there's a level of challenge that ramps up as you push through into the later parts of the game.

It's not sparklingly original, and it's unlikely to remain lodged in your memory for as long as some of the games it takes its inspiration from, but it's an awful lot of fun while it lasts.

A standard platformer then?

Well yes and no. It follows the pattern you'd expect from a modern game that's playing around with the shapes of an older genre.

So you've got two button controls, bounce pads, shiny things to collect, and spikes to avoid. But on top of that you've got double jumps, wall climbs, and warp points that twist the level in different directions.

There's a little bit of puzzling here and there as you try and work out the best way to finish a level, and how to grab all the gold stars and free all of your fuzzy friends that are trapped out there.

Everything bounces along at a pretty neat pace. The levels aren't massive, but they're big enough that when you finish one you'll feel like you've achieved something.

And there's replayability built in with the collection challenges in each.

There's charm here as well. The game is bright and cheery, full of soft edges and smiling faces, and the difficulty is set just right that you feel like you're learning and getting better with each step that you take.

It's worth picking up then?

Yeah, it's a solid piece of work. Like I say, it's not remarkable, but there's a fizzle to it that means you'll probably keep pushing on even once the cuteness has worn off a little bit.

It's not the greatest platformer on the App Store, but it's certainly high up in the second tier.

You won't lose your mind playing it, and it's unlikely that people in 20 years will be getting tattoos of the main character.

But it's fun all the same, and if you're a fan of platformers then it's a dead cert that you're going to find a lot to like here.

Cattch - It's good, but is there a catch?

Cattch has a lot going for it. It's not the freshest game in the world, but it's fun all the same
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Harry Slater
Harry Slater
Harry used to be really good at Snake on the Nokia 5110. Apparently though, digital snake wrangling isn't a proper job, so now he writes words about games instead.