Hidden Cat Outlaws Review

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The "˜cats' games have a very large following and I'm a big fan myself. They're cosy games where you're looking for sneaky felines who have snuck there ways in to various nooks and crannies. The cats have ventured to many cities across the globe, castles and even the North Pole to see Mr Claus and his elves. With the ever-growing catalogue, the latest location we're sent off to find the cats in is the Wild West.

So, how does the latest cat hunter stack up?

Gameplay

If you're a "˜cats' game veteran, you will be very familiar with the formula of hunting cats. If you're new to the titles, they're point and click hidden object games that task players to move around various thematic locations to find all the cats and various other hidden secrets. They're simplistic to play and require little more than analogue sticks, an A / X button and a good pair of eyes. In several cat hunting game reviews, I have used the relation to "˜Where's Waldo' / "˜Where's Wally' to explain their nature.

This time we're in the Wild West with 600 cats and a range of hidden objects to find across 15 different levels. There is a new gameplay addition for this series entry, which is a showdown with the outlaws. With incredibly basic gameplay design, you're required to match the d-pad button presses several times to jail the outlaw. Jailing the bandit will reveal their treasure map, leading you to a hidden item and a trophy / achievement in the process.

A quick showdown with an angry ‘boss’ cat

This basic gameplay design of the showdowns is one of my several issues with the game. Hidden Cat Outlaws happens to take the core fun trope of cat hunting and make it frustrating. Throughout each of the 15 levels there are no end of objects on the ground that do everything they can to make you think you're looking at cats. You can be zooming in and out of large zones only to find you've been straining your eyes on rabbits, rocks and other objects that aren't cats. Having played every "˜cats' game I'm aware has released on the Xbox Store, I've never found myself as frustrated as this entry.

In the below area - which looks incredibly dull - there was just so much debris and clutter around that finding the cats was more of a chore than the usual delight.

Many of the levels in Hidden Cat Outlaws feature too much visual clutter

Audio and sound

All of the "˜cats' games I've played before have had a relaxed and peaceful soundtrack which help create the chilled vibes the games usually offer. Sadly, Hidden Cats Outlaws soundtrack became stale quickly. It does have a suitable western-style to it, but it quickly became dull and I found myself asking Alexa to play something during each sitting.

A further audio issue with the game is the sound effects, which are notably worse than other cat hunting games. Clicking on the felines in the Hidden Cats in [insert city] Â games triggers the most adorable array of meows. Yet, the cats in Outlaws sound like a human imitating the animal after several bottles of the ranch's moonshine. Similarly, the other animals and people you can click make very unpleasing sounds and I avoided clicking them wherever I could.

Graphics

One of the pleasures of playing the "˜cats' games is how they look, especially when you find all the kitties and the screen fills with wonderful hand-crafted colour. The visual design in Hidden Cats Outlaws is different to other series entries, the backgrounds and most assets are perfectly fine to look at.

However, many of the 15 levels simply look very similar and some are simply too big. Many of the zones are so wide that you can zoom far out and there's simply nothing to do in the area on screen. What adds to the issue further is that there's rarely as many as 50 cats per zone, meaning most levels are scarcely populated.

The game would have benefited from being several less levels, each with higher quality and more cats. Even the interior areas of buildings, where you have to venture to find well-hidden cats are re-used multiple times.

Whilst fine to look at, many of the levels in Hidden Cat Outlaws look very samey

Conclusion

Many cat hunters will no doubt be picking up Hidden Cat Outlaws, always as cheap as a cup of coffee and a guaranteed hour or two of fun. It is ultimately more of the same. However, Outlaws takes the best parts of these games and makes them frustrating. The audio is boring, the level design lacks variety but most importantly, the cats are just annoying to find.

If you've never played one of these games before, just about every other title is superior. But for those who can't get enough of seeking kitties, this game will scratch that itch - albeit leaving you coughing up a fur ball by the time you're done. The game took me around 2 hours to complete including all 1,000G on Xbox.

Hidden Cat Outlaws launches on Xbox One and Series X/S on 4 June; and PlayStation 4/5 and Nintendo Switch on 5 June. Thank you to publisher Silesia Games for providing an Xbox code for the purpose of this review.

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