You can probably hazard a guess by the title, but this is a game in which if it fits, it sits. And yep, Fit My Cat is as simple as it sounds. At least initially, because like any good spatial puzzler, this slowly ramps up the difficulty over its one hundred or so levels.
From RedDeerGames, Fit My Cat is a humble spatial/tile puzzler, one in which you need to fit a number – and variety – of different cats into a defined space. If they fits, they sits. And if they sits, your life as a puzzle master will see you well rewarded. Or at least it will give you the chance to move on to the next puzzle in a different space with even more cats.
This one is easy to grasp, and easier to play. With a combination of the left thumbstick to grab the cat you want, ‘A’ picking up and dispensing the little kitties tile-bound, your job is to cram all the fluffy ones into the space you are given. Generally, these playfields are variations on anything up to a 9×9 grid, some smaller, some larger, many with obstructions to limit cat placement.
The cats can be rotated through 90 degrees on the press of RB, and this means that whilst many of the little felines you’ll start to call your friends will be happy upright, many just love to lounge around, upside down or on their side. However you need to place them to fit, these guys are happy to oblige. Rotate them you’ll need to as well, as the cats in Fit My Cat come in a ton of shapes and sizes. There are little ones that take up a 1×1 space, others which stretch to 2×1 and 3×1. We also have the chunks covering 2×2 and 3×3 slots, whilst a few favourites come in the form of ‘stretchy cat’, ‘banana cat’, ‘big-tailed cat’ and ‘BagPuss’. Fitting these guys into the grid, compensating for dangling tails or playful paws is a test in itself.
On the whole, Fit My Cat is straightforward puzzling action, particularly so when you start to get into a flow, understanding that – for the most part – many cats fit well next to each other, filling spaces as they go. And whilst the later levels are most definitely more tricky than those which open Fit My Cat, there are some that feel super simple to complete, thanks to obstacle placements – balls of yarn, scratching posts, cat beds – meaning certain spaces can only be limited to certain cats. Generally, those near one hundred levels should see you right for a couple of hours playtime; more or less depending on your ability to understand the puzzling needs.
The puzzling on display is well delivered too. Fit My Cat looks nice, full of colour, pastel shades and the like. It doesn’t need to be particularly vibrant or outstanding graphically, but this is a game that does a job with what it’s handed. In fact, aside from a very slight bit of confusion with how the tails and paws of certain cats fall, everything in Fit My Cat is clear, well defined and precise. And honestly, we’ve been a little taken in by the backing soundtrack too. There’s a calming, relaxing little riff that is accompanied by numerous meows as you make sure these cats begin to fall right at home. Just don’t ask me if those delightful meows have had my dog barking at the screen late at night…
It’s not perfect though. Fit My Cat is occasionally clumsy in how it allows the player to pick certain cats, with just a bold outline signifying the highlighted feline. Multiple times through our time with Fit My Cat we were confused by exactly which cat we had picked up. And similar goes for the placement – be just a tad off line as you try to drop the cat into a space that is unfittable, and you’ll need to go and retrieve the kitty from off the playfield. And you should also expect to have to go through a bit of trial and error with Fit My Cat, attempting placements that may not pay off. It’s never too much of an annoyance to clear the board and start again though, with levels mostly swift to complete.
And once you have completed those levels, RedDeerGames have been kind enough to chuck out three additional levels packs, for free, onto the Xbox Store. Each of these provide 24 new levels, so you’re getting near base game levels with zero extra cost; that’s an added incentive to play in itself.
It’s hard to be negative on a humble tile puzzler that does what it says on the tin. With achievements and Gamerscore flowing, if you’re looking to spend some time fitting your feline friends into a grid, over and over again, then Fit My Cat does the business. It’s probably a game that you’ll forget as soon as the last achievement pops, but it can more than tide you over for a couple of hours.
