Ah, Catz...Ever since I was a child, I had been fascinated by the concept of taking care of fantastic creatures on a virtual medium. So, I played the first Catz game on the Gameboy Color as well as a playing here and there of it's sister game, Dogz. When the GBA versions came out, I made sure to buy at least Catz, which quickly began my...interesting adventure, into the title. But enough rambling- on to the review.

Graphics:
For a Gameboy Advance game, you would expect the visual theme to be cartoony and pixelated. Catz is no different. The house in which the game takes place in is pleasant on the eyes and the cats, while small and a bit too pixel-ridden, are adorable to watch as they pounce, jump, hiss and scamper around the place in their full kitten glory. Menu wise, the options and interactions are just as cartoony and cutesy for a children's game: your "hand" is a Mickey Mouse glove, items float in the air, icons are chipper and flashy, the works. Overall, exactly what you would think a game about taking care of cartoon kittens would look like.

Sound:
Catz is one of the few games I recall from my childhood to have what I call "phantom tunes". That is, those catchy little songs that haunt your head for years that you find yourself humming to at the most random of times. It's a cute little melody, upbeat and staying true to the overall cuteness and childlike theme of the game. And of course, the kittens themselves are absolutely precious to listen to.

Addictiveness:
This game was a sort of a mixed bag for me on the enjoyment factor, and that is past the nostalgia glasses that I wore now that I recently replayed this as grown up. I found the experience to be addicting in the mindset of a completionist in that I feel like I HAVE to unlock everything to feel nerdy victory and that my money (or rather, my mother's) was well spent. That's right, not all of the cats are available to you when you start the game, and you will have to complete the "campaign" multiple times to unlock more sets of cats after each round (I believe there are are...30?...ish? types that you can choose, with the first 6 or so being the most popular types like orange tabbies and white Persians.) The reason that I rated this section a bit lower was because the Story, Depth and Difficulty sections frustrated me as a kid, which I will explain now.

Story:
It's your run of the mill, expected "child learns to take care of animals and be a responsible pet owner" sort of story, with some really odd twists that are forced onto you. For starters, your character is forced to fit into a mold of being so awkward (a point the writers would like you to know, at least 6 times) that you might as well not even leave your room to socialize with the world, let alone take care of a fragile little animal. You run into a girl and her cat while on a walk through the park, and are persuaded to adopt a kitten of your own after nearly squeezing hers to death with your vice grip claws (funny, how that works). With closed-eye grins abound, your parents agree to give you a kitten. Huzzah! So yeah, nothing too special, although the quirks get more frequent once you actually start playing.

Depth:
In a game about caring for kittens, you don't need to expect forced split decisions and gripping moral choices while you make sure little Mittens is hanging on. The game play is pretty simplistic: you get a daily allowance in which you can buy new items to feed, groom, play or spoil your feline rotten. Every day you wake up early, feed your pet, make sure the house isn't a war zone, go to school and care for your cat again before heading to bed. Rinse and repeat. Your actions and choices of items DO have an effect on the overall state of your cat, however, ranging from increases in their grooming to how aggressive and "punchy" you want them to be. Pretty basic stuff.

Difficulty: 
Surprisingly, this game can be pretty tricky to "beat". Remember those twists I mentioned earlier? Well, they really shine here. It isn't enough that you are some quirky kid who has the luck and coordination you'd see in a Goofy cartoon- the developers must have decided that there needed to be some timed Olympic spectacle in taking care of a pet. Firstly, you only get about two weeks to bond with your kitty before the campaign ends, so there is a bit of pressure to not only provide the basic care in that short amount of time but to also actually bond with the darned thing. Secondly, that girl you befriend is apparently just as clueless to how domestic life works because she sorta just announces that she'll be barging into your home periodically to critique your cat-handling abilities. So, even if you want Mittens Fluffykins the Great to have max stats in his beauty and friendliness like a normal Persian, she is still going to act like you are a mess up because your cat isn't being raised perfectly balanced (and yes, you do get different endings for how much you want to favor those stats, rendering her visits sorta useless.) Thirdly, and what takes away from the depth and spikes the difficulty meter is that time flies stupidly fast in this game in ways that make no sense. For instance, giving your cat water is at least a twenty minute ordeal, while feeding the little furball his breakfast is like an hour and a half ordeal. What cat takes a straight hour and a half to eat his food in one sitting, let alone a little kitten? Yours does, apparently. So, even though you technically have all day (minus the six hour school thing) to care for your cat, in reality you are lucky if you are able to do maybe 6 or 7 actions on each day. And since you have two weeks and your cat's stats may fluctuate like the stock market in how much boosts your actions give, actually maxing a stat or balancing them all for a well rounded kitten can be a daunting experience. 

So, overall, it's a cute game and pleasing to the senses and the heart, but it can be pretty darn stressful if you are looking for a more casual simulation game- what is odd is that Dogz, the sister game on the GBA, runs almost in the exact opposite direction as you can have essentially an infinite amount of time in the campaign, there are more actions, the story and characters are a bit more fleshed out (instead of just faces or not showing up period) and time passes by a lot more leisurely. But, I do recommend the game for players who like cats, enjoy simulation/pet care games and are more into games that present a more dynamic challenge.