I Am Cat Review – Meowtastic

[summaraize]

I Am Cat is the kind of nightmare that all cat haters think cats are like, and you know what? They might be right. After playing through I Am Cat, I now believe my cat is secretly trying to kill me. Why? Read on for my review of New Folder Games LTD’s “cat simulator” to see what I mean. 

No Grandmas Were Harmed In the Making of I Am Cat…Least I Think

As the name would suggest, I Am Cat is a game about you playing as an everyday house cat. You live with a harmless old lady who takes good care of you, ensuring you have food daily, a ton of toys to play with, and plenty of love in the form of pets, hugs, and kisses. You could say, for a cat, you’re living the purrrfect life. If you choose, you could live out the rest of your cat days in this virtual reality world as a good little cat, taking naps, being fed, and just lounging around and looking adorable. It sounds like the kind of life my cats live, and after being put in the paws of a cat in I Am Cat, I can understand why they’re so lazy. They’re completely spoiled and have everything they could ever want.

That’s not to say all is well, at least when it comes to some of my interactions with them, as sometimes I’ll walk into my room only to see they’ve knocked everything off a shelf or my coffee table. They’re pretty fond of my gaming desk, too, always knocking over my mouse and gaming controller whenever they want attention. Yet when I give it to them, they scurry off into some dark corner as if they just did it to annoy me. 

I can’t explain why cats do the things they do, but I Am Cat is probably the closest we’ll ever get to understanding their feline minds. Hopping into the cozy home this kind of grandma made for me, I decided what would happen if I wasn’t the lovely, tiny, adorable cat she thought I was. What If I decided to be a little demon, the very thing cat haters have nightmares about? To my shock and awe, what you can do as a cat in I Am Cat can only be described as sinister. 

The home and the other available spaces you unlock later are essentially sandbox-like playgrounds. While your cat wears a watch with objectives that can be completed and a level system, what you do in the world of I Am Cat is ultimately up to you. Almost everything in the game is interactable. You can pick up any standalone object and use many appliances around the home, such as a TV, power tools, and electric razers. There’s a lot you can interact with, but you’ll quickly learn that a lot of those things you can interact with are more so meant to torture your lovely grandma. I’m not joking. Because she’s old, slow, and frail, she’s easy to knock over, which is precisely what I did very early on as I punched her leg, making her collapse and bang her head against the kitchen counter. 

Worry not; she’s not dead, nor can be killed, only knocked out. If you look away from her body, she’ll immediately get up and chase you with a frying pan, though if you keep staring at her, she’ll remain on the floor unconscious. If you have something with, like, say, like, an electric razor, you can go over and shave her entire head. There’s some physics to her, too, as you grab her head and move it around, open her mouth, and steal her dentures. You can leave a bunch of scratches on her face, electrocute, and burn her with the right tools. She has a funny ragdoll effect, too, where you can toss her across the room as if she weighs nothing. When you aren’t being a menace to her, you can do more friendly activities, such as cooking her a meal or sitting and watching TV. 

As I mentioned before, there are objectives you can do, which will eventually lead to unlocking the “secret room,” which gives you access to a wardrobe that has new items and skins to wear. There’s also a teleporter here that’ll let you go to other locations beyond the house. A new set of toys, items, and characters are found in the other locations. They, too, can be put through whatever torture your little cat brain can think about in each location. 

It’s just dumb fun for you, which is the premise of I Am Cat. There’s not much in terms of a central story; the levels are just a place for you to go around and do as you please. It’s almost like a collection of mini-games (which also exist in the game) that are free to play however you like. It’s a simple game, which also sums up the game’s controls.

Unlike many traditional VR games, where movement is either tied to the joystick or you physically walk, to move in I Am Cat, you have to move your hands as if they were cat legs. The headset and where you look is how you control which direction you move, but to move, you have to lift one hand ahead of the other and alternate, imitating direct registering, the name given to how cats walk. It’s a fun little touch on the studio part, though I do wish there was a joystick movement option, as it can be pretty tricky to get used to. It takes time, and even though I had gotten used to it, there have been plenty of instances where it feels like I’m barely moving because the motion is not tracked correctly. It is almost like running on a loose rug from a cartoon, where you’ll stay in place. But it does feel great once it all works the way it should. 

Your paws can grab practically any object in the game, but walking with something like that doesn’t work too well. You can pick up objects and hold them up to your mouth to carry them around. Climbing is pretty simple, too, as all you do is look up at a climbable wall and start walking up it. The cat automatically detracts its claws to grip, so calling walls is easy enough. A pounce can also be performed, involving imitating the motion of a cat pouncing. That’s really about it when it comes to controls. Like I said, I would have loved some stick movement and button options as I found the motion controls to be a bit jankier when playing from a seated position. 

Looking Good, Feline Good

For just a measly $20, I Am Cat seems to be the purrfect little VR game that anyone can jump into. It’s loaded with all kinds of hijinx, and the controls can be easy enough to learn with time. It’s a sandbox style of play that lets you be a cat and do different things, including torturing an old grandma and other residents. I don’t condone violence,  but it’s all good fun being a video game. Hilarious, nonstop laughing fun, which is precisely what New Folder Games aimed to achieve with I Am Cat. 

Now, If you don’t mind, I have some dumbells to drop on a granny. 

Score: 8/10

Pros

• Gameplay is simple and easy to learn
• Lots of crazy hijinx and interactions
• Funny physics
• You can play as either an evil or a good cat, the choice is yours.

Cons

• Sometimes the tracking can be off with movement
• Grandma and other NPCs get up instantly if you look away from them

I Am Cat review code was provided by the publisher. You can read MP1st’s review and scoring policy right here.

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