Angel Cat Sugar (Hands-On) (Nintendo DS) Preview

You're the titular cat, who looks suspiciously like Hello Kitty with a new pair of eyes and fairy wings. Yuko Shimizu sure does like her felines. Guess what?! All your friends have been kidnapped and it's your job to get them back! That's cliché one ticked off. You've got to go through a variety of lands in your mission. There's number two. It's also a 2D platformer. We're on cliché overload, here, but it doesn't really matter as Angel Cat Sugar seems to have been developed knowing perfectly well that it's only going to appeal to very young children. Refreshingly, the demographic doesn't seem to have been used as a reason to slack off for once. The gameplay is nothing new, but it is well-designed.

In the areas I played the aim was to hop around collecting hearts and flowers - what kind of platformer would it be without collectables? Miss Sugar Cat skips around pleasingly when you move and, thanks to the feathered flaps attached to her back, she can do a fairly decent impression of a bird with a sore wing by floating upwards haphazardly. Only for a short time though, mind; she needs her cat naps. Wing power-ups are dotted about, though, and these allow you unlimited soaring potential for a little while.

Intriguingly, the action does not fully follow the standard children's platformer template. Along the way you'll chat to characters that need items collecting for them, giving the title some light adventure game qualities, and certain areas of levels are locked up until you can find the right items - such as something to get through a waterfall. Yes, bizarrely, it seems that the game has been inspired in some way by the 2D Metroids/Castlevanias in collecting items to access new areas.

There are hazards along the way, but it's great to see that there's not a lot of emphasis placed on them. Most kid's games seem to set out to frustrate with cheap deaths; Angel Cat Sugar allows you to repeatedly push against enemies without penalty. Presumably it is possible to die, but despite constant bumps and a prolonged purposeful press into an enemy during my playtest I never lost anything. It's actually a kid-friendly kid's game! Boss fights also feature and, although I didn't see any, I'm told they involve outwittery and trickery rather than inappropriately resorting to the pretty kitty punching things in the face.