Blade Kitten

There are some unlockables, but they can all be accessed by the halfway point, and the story is too basic to retain most players' interest.

The tale is muddled and poorly executed, the action is unremarkable, and yet, for all its issues, Blade Kitten is still a playable game with enough sugary-sweet style to appeal to a younger audience – or indeed those with an interest in all things cat-girl.

With simple, intuitive controls making combat and exploration a pleasure, what starts off as a fairly routine blade-swishing blizzard soon settles into a more interesting groove. With secret-packed levels offering countless opportunities to poke around, it's a formula that's familiar but satisfying.

If you are trying to ween a GF (or BF, never let it be said GR isn't progressive) on to modern consoles, this could be a great stepping stone, as the gameplay and graphics are just as simple as they were back in the day. But if you're a hardcore, experienced gamer, you may want to skip Blade Kitten in favor of playing with other pussycats.

Dull platforming and button-mashing action make Blade Kitten a disappointing first game for its cute-as-a-cat heroine.

The platforming can be fun in short bursts and the presentation is very cute, but that can't save this game from its lackluster storyline and cyclical gameplay.

Sluggish controls and a failure to capitalise on the free-climbing potential leave this feeling generic and joyless. Here's hoping the second episode fares better.

Promising title slips into boredom and repeatability very soon and game-design flaws kill almost all the fun. Sweet title heroine and nice cut-scenes can't hide bad battle modes and camera problems. [Issue#197]