Help a little kitten bypass obstacles in this 2D precision platformer (Kotenok is Russian for kitten, by the way).  It’s available on all current consoles and PC, but reviewed on Switch here.

Your little kitten can run and double jump.  Hop on enemies to defeat them, but avoid touching them as well as dangerous spikes.  If you do you’ll have to start the level over again.  Sometimes you must bounce on mushrooms for extra height, or push blocks to make stepping stones for you to jump higher or cross safely.  When you reach the checkered flag you finish the level.  In some stages are hidden items for you to find.  They don’t do anything, but you can look at them in a menu option screen.

My main problem with this game, aside from it getting too hard too quickly, is that hit detection is awful.  Sometimes I would clearly stomp squarely on an enemy, only for it to count as a miss.  And other times I swore I didn’t brush up against spikes but I lost anyway.  For a precision platformer, this one’s not very precise.  Checkpoints in some of the longer levels would’ve been nice, too.

Kid Factor

Kotenok is rated E for Everyone with an ESRB descriptor of Mild Fantasy Violence.  Even though you can get hit by enemies and spikes, there is no animations or anything showing you got hurt, you just start over immediately after.  Reading skill isn’t needed, but younger gamers may find this one too difficult.

Tags: Game Reviews