Felix the Cat

"Simply too easy to be much fun."

Felix the Cat is a long lived cartoon character who first appeared as long ago as 1919. His popularity has had it's ups and downs throughout the decades but he manages to hang around in one way or another. In the early nineties he received a game released on both the NES and the Game Boy. The handheld version is the subject of this review.

GRAPHICS
Felix's visuals are very nice. The main character and most of his enemies have a good amount of detail. Felix takes on many different guises during his adventure which adds a decent amount of variation. Unfortunately the animation tails somewhat behind this standard making movement a little stilted. Not terribly so but still noticeable. The backgrounds also show some variation and aren't too bad.

SOUND
The soundtrack consists of the usual sweet and happy fare that apparently has to accompany this sort of games. Nothing really special yet at the same time also quite catchy. The sound effects get the job done; nothing more, nothing less.

GAMEPLAY
Felix the Cat is a standard platformer at heart. Felix has to jump from platform to platform, dispatching enemies as he goes along. The reason for this is because his great nemesis, the professor, has kidnapped his girlfriend in order to obtain Felix's magical bag. Not a very original man then, that professor.

The game's main attraction is it's sheer variety. During his rescue attempt, Felix will not only travel on land but he will also take to the skies, journey into space and speed across and in the water. The variation not only stems from the different territories but also from Felix's magic bag. He relies on this accessory for his attacks. It start out simple but by collecting several icons the attack will be upgraded and with it so does Felix's appearance. For example, during the land levels Felix will initially be able to punch his enemies. After upgrading his attack, he will sing his adversaries to death, drive a car and take control of a tank. The best thing of all is that his attacks and potential upgrades are different in each type of environment.

The downside to this upgrade system lies with the challenge offered. The different attacks also serve as the game's health system. With his simplest attack, Felix can be defeated with one hit. When upgraded, every time he gets hit, his attack will devolve to it's previous state. The problem is that in the first situation Felix is extremely weak. However, when he is sufficiently upgraded, which is not that difficult to achieve, he becomes too strong for his own game. The balance gets lost. There may be a timer when his attacks become more powerful but Felix can easily replenish the lost time by collecting more icons.

Once reasonably upgraded, there really isn't any enemy that can stop him. Even the end of level guardians are walkovers. Felix simply races to the end of a level almost unscathed. The level design is also relatively benign save for a few tricky pixel perfect jumps. Add to this that while the game features about a dozen levels they are also quite short and it becomes clear that Felix the Cat will not provide a lengthy challenge. I completed it on my first attempt in about twenty minutes!

FINAL REMARKS
Felix the Cat's presentation is on the whole quite nice. There is a lot of variation, both with regard to the visuals as to certain elements of the gameplay. The upgrade system is a nice touch, especially that is differs depending on the location. It does feel a little wasted on this game though because it makes Felix simply too powerful and thus his game too easy. It can be completed in about twenty minutes which is much too short. The argument that it is aimed at children doesn't hold up. Even they will want some form of challenge. The game doesn't compensate for this lack of difficulty with a particularly highly inspired level design or imaginative end of level guardians either. Felix the Cat may be a competent little game but is on the whole simply not fun or challenging enough to be actively pursued except perhaps by fans of the character.

OVERALL: a mediocre 5.0.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 02/23/09

Game Release: Felix the Cat (US, July 1993)