As for how far the default mode goes, there are a lot of levels to hit, and I’m still not done! Here, players are primarily throwing darts at balloons so that their contents will drop for me to catch and give to Miaow. Her reactions rate how well your progress is. Part of the goal includes winning her heart. It’s a scenario often found in many high school anime in one form or another. As a festival takes place and teens attend it, there’ll be a scene where the boy has to take on some game to win a prize for his girlfriend.
When it’s obtained, her heart metre grows. If you nail the wrong thing, it’ll shrink. What’s unleashed includes things that can ruin a date, like encountering screaming children, getting sick or being the victim of a yokai attack!
As a result, this casual game requires players to pay attention. You can’t randomly strike every balloon. The general movement mechanic is akin to watching Sheriff Taylor from the Andy Griffith Show with his son walking down a dusty road and just enjoying the day. There’s stuff to pick up along the way. Some you keep and others you throw away.
Thankfully, there’s more to this app than just popping balloons. There are other carnival-style mini-games to play and a village to build. The latter can be challenging, since I didn’t want to pile items on top of each other. The city building sim is a lot more fun than the core part, but eventually when I’m done, I thought I didn’t have to revisit or maintain. But to do that will be bad. If you don’t tend to your village, flowers will wilt, and nobody in the “online” aspect of the game wants to visit.
To stay engaged means that you have to play keeper. There’s lots of micromanagement to do, and as with any real life relationship, upkeep is important. This game is hardly an authentic dating sim, and thankfully it recognises what’s significant to what truly matters. It’s sometimes too happy, and that’s okay. The colourful design and overall vibe this game presents is reminiscent of the Partridge Family, and yes, I even got their title song stuck in my head too.
Although the early levels limit the number of mini-games, thankfully more get unlocked later. The grind is real and when I finally got to the next level, I was happy there’s more variety to be found. Kimono Cats is not a game I’d play every day. When I have time to kill at the bus stop and I don’t want to touch Pokemon Go, it’s a perfect alternative to gotta catch ’em all, and that’s just feline.
3 Stars out of 5
Pros
- Inspired soundtrack
- Designed for cat lovers in mind
Cons
- Repetitive game play
Kimono Cats Launch Trailer
