WonderCat Adventures Review (PC)

Thanks to the rise in popularity of simple-to-use game development tools and engines, such as Unity, there's been a flood of titles that use straightforward mechanics, such as side-scrolling platformers or runners across a multitude of devices.

WonderCat Adventures from MKDC Tech may seem like such an example, but its developer has taken several steps to make sure that the game stands out from the myriad of other platformers that are reaching the market.

From the novel protagonist, which is a cat in a robot suit, to the simple-to-use one-click controls and the imaginative levels, WonderCat Adventures certainly seems like a worthy investment, especially when you throw in the multitude of stages and the sharp visuals.

Does the new game manage to reach the end of its course in wonderful glory or should it fall into a pit? Let's find out.

Gameplay

The plot in WonderCat adventures is minimal, to say the least. You control WonderCat, a cat-shaped alien that needs to escape a strange environment and find your cat buddy. Fortunately, you can control a robot pod to navigate the levels.

Seeing as how there's no dialog or character development throughout the campaign, the title falls back on its actual gameplay to carry the "burden" and ensure that players have a good time and keep coming back to its wacky adventures.

While at the first glance the one-click controls seem shallow, they actually have a bit of depth, as the longer you press the button the longer the boost from your robot pod. This results in varied gameplay, as you have to alternate between short jumps to evade small obstacles and bigger ones in order to collect gems.

There are 55 levels in total scattered across five worlds. While at first things are pretty simple, with WonderCat navigating an underground cave, soon enough you reach the clouds, lava pits, and many other environments that feature plenty of varied layouts and elements.

Watch out for dangers in WonderCat Adventures

At the beginning, you only have to ensure that your jumps reach the moving platforms on the rails. However, as you progress through the levels and worlds, varied obstacles are added, not to mention more imaginative stage designs, including some that fling your alien feline from left to right and right to left. The obstacles grow in complexity and expect a fair amount of trial-and-error as you approach the mid-point of the campaign.

Unfortunately, as you reach the final stages, the game starts abusing its designs to create more challenging situations that, however, end up feeling cheap. For example, there are stages that have steep drops into the unknown. You have no idea if you need to jump at the end of the drop or if you should just go down and hope that you'll reach another platform. In the end, if you want to complete everything, you just have to memorize the whole layout by constantly going through it.

Your reflexes will get tested thoroughly by the game, as you not only have to dodge obstacles and stay alive but also collect gems, if you want bragging rights. These aren't used for any purchase in the game, so you don't have to, but seeing the total screen at the end does stoke the competitive impulses.

There are five boss stages in the game and they involve fighting an array of wacky creatures. From a giant crab to an aggressive bird or a lava monster, your tiny alien feline is in way over its furry head. However, the levels manage to feel relatively fun, as you just move around, trying to hit floating rockets to send them towards the enemies.

Careful jumps in WonderCat Adventures

Visuals and Sound

WonderCat Adventure sports some very good looking visuals. The textures are crisp and sharp, the colors are vibrant, and the animations are relatively nice. The only downside is that, if you hit a platform by a tiny margin, your character gets moved back or forward to stay on the whole thing.

Another downside is that, in some situations, it gets very hard to notice obstacles. For example, there are some pretty common fire obstacles that stand out in most worlds. However, in the last lava stage, you can barely notice the flame, especially since there are also floating sparks interfering with everything else.

The soundtrack is pretty fun but feels more or less repetitive during regular stages. During the boss encounters, things switch up although some of the audio effects still feel tedious, albeit only in extended play sessions.

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The Good

The Bad

Conclusion