Code provided with many thanks to Burgos Games
Congratulations on a Successful Project
Recently Yvonne wrote a short article about Neko Ghost, Jump! Well after a successful Kickstarter campaign I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to sit down at my PC and play a early version of the game. If you like cute adorable cats, platformers in 2D and 3D and moments that will just make you go aww. Then I highly recommend keeping your eye out for this title.
Not Such a Nice day for a Cat Wedding
All is well in Nekoworld particularly for a cat (or Neko) called Nekoman who has just popped the question to their partner and it appears they said yes! Unfortunately we can’t just have a video game where everything goes happily and merry along. Nope the wedding of course gets crashed by space pirate dogs and they make off with the bride as well as the other Nekos. Not such a nice day for a cats wedding. It’s up to Nekoman to roll up their cat sleeves and catch up with the pirates and save the day.
As first impressions go it’s hard not to fall in love with the over the top cute factor this game is rocking. This game just immediately made me smile right from the opening. It’s nice just to have games that instill that instant positive spark especially during such difficult times these days.
2D and 3D
The game starts out as a 2D platformer jumping from platform to platform collecting rainbow coins. But that soon changes. The interesting mechanic of Neko is the ability to switch the players prospective from 2D to 3D. This idea may tickle the funny bone of any fans of Paper Mario on Wii. The change in perspective allows you to solve simple puzzles, like moving blocks into the right position as well as generally navigating your way through the level. Often if you couldn’t see a way ahead a change in perspective will show you new routes previously hidden from view. I feel like there’s a bit of a life lesson there too.
Ghost Cat
As well as the change in perspective you can also morph into a ghost form. This form has you jump out from your physical cat body and allows you to attack enemies with a handy melee move. Unfortunately you can’t finish the level in this form. And once you’ve finished having fun as a ghost you’ll be transported back to your physical body. I rather liked that your health bar allows you to take 9 hits from enemies. I see what you did there developers
Dress up
In case the game wasn’t cute enough for you, you can spend your hard earned coins dressing your cat character up in various cosmetics which is just brilliant. Provided you have the currency you can dress your cuddly cat up the way you want before taking them through the deadly challenges that await.
Thoughts and Felines
During my playthrough of the early build I played through a generous amount of levels as well as a few boss fights. There is a hefty amount of challenge in this early build. You need to get your jumps just right. Falling off the platforms or being slain by an enemy sends you right back to the start. There’s a lot of memorizing patterns and learning the layout of the level to conquer it. On top of that you can earn up to 3 paw prints from each level by completing certain challenges such as finishing the level in a set amount of time. Certainly makes a change from the traditional star system games usually use.
The only stand out issue at this stage is that the jumping felt floaty and it was hard at times to feel in control of my cat character particularly on the smaller platforms. Of course this is a game still very much in development so this will all probably be addressed in the final build.
Neko Ghost, Jump! Despite its unique name is certainly a game worth keeping an eye out for. The game was successfully funded on Kickstarter and it’s looking to release early next year on PC and Nintendo Switch.
If you can’t wait that long there’s a free demo on Steam I highly recommend checking out.