A Coding Puzzler That Shows Budget Games How It’s Done
Oof, that pun. We hope you’re happy, Wise Box Studios – it made our nose wrinkle up in disgust.
We are happy to say the punnery stops there. Just a Little Purr Suit jettisons the dad-jokes for a spot of coding. It may not look like it from the cats and pigeons in the screenshots, but Just a Little Purr Suit is interested in coding-style commands.
On The Catwalk, On The Catwalk Yeah
You can’t move your cat in a traditional manner. The analogue stick doesn’t do much, and the cat just sits there. But along the bottom of the screen are cards. These are the commands you can give the cat (pffrt, as if a cat would accept commands). A ‘move 1 space’ arrow moves your cat forward one space, while a ‘hop 2 spaces’ card will cause the cat to leap two spaces, jumping over the space in front of it.
The cards are chosen for you for each level. There’s just enough of them to get you to the pigeon – your destination – and your job is to work out both the order and direction.
Things start off simply. The pigeon is two squares away, and you have a ‘move 2 spaces’ card. Om nom. But, as you can imagine, things get more complicated than that. Should you use the ‘jump 2 spaces’ card to leapfrog a chasm and approach the pigeon from a shorter route, or take a windier path with your ‘move 1 space’ cards? Often, the best approach is to try them all out.
Making Use Of All Nine Lives
Just a Little Purr Suit is absolutely fine with a spot of trial and error. Achievements pop for tossing your cat in the drink. There’s also a generous Undo system which lets you takesy-backsy an incorrect move. There’s also a Retry button for a full reset. We would have welcomed a hint system for the more challenging levels, but we suppose that’s what Youtube is for. Slightly less forgivable is that you can’t Undo a failed level. You always have to restart from the beginning.
As the levels progress, more and more mechanics elbow their way in. Conveyor belts automatically nudge the cat – and anything she might drop on them – a set number of spaces. Trampolines can be dropped on any square in the level (the rules of what can be dropped where is initially a little all-over-the-place), and they will bounce your cat over those conveyors. Landfill allows you to plug a gap in the board, while cannons propel your cat. And then there are portals…
It may sound overwhelming, but Just a Little Purr Suit lets each mechanic breathe. There are 65 levels in total, which is more than adequate for mastering each one before the next comes along. And the level designers like to tinker at the edges of their own creations: what would happen if you put a cannon on a conveyor belt? Just a Little Purr Suit encourages you to find out.
Something that Just a Little Purr Suit gets absolutely right is its cheekiness. You often don’t need all the cards that you have been given. Sometimes, the most elaborate solution is the right one. Sometimes, the simplest solution is the right one. Just a Little Purr Suit is a little scamp, tempting you into approaches that are big old red herrings. That ‘Move 5 spaces’ card might look helpful, but really you need to waste it on a one-space trip into a cannon, as there’s nowhere else that you can meaningfully use it.
Cat-egorically Impressive
I’m going to go out on a limb and say that Just a Little Purr Suit is a model for any sub-£5 indie game on the Xbox Store. I wish that every budget title focused on what matters like Just a Little Purr Suit does.
The general concept is fresh and interesting. There aren’t many coding-based games on the Xbox, and representing moves as playing cards makes sense. Using that solid foundation, Just a Little Purr Suit then drip-feeds new ideas and mechanics. Every ten levels or so, something new comes in that disrupts the status quo. How are portals going to fit in?
With the pace sorted, Just a Little Purr Suit ensures that there are enough levels for the experience to feel substantial. 65 is a significant number for your money, and we felt full after completing them all. We didn’t need any more; we were done. Just a Little Purr Suit doesn’t distract itself with polished art, story or a wealth of collectibles: it just delivers on the expectations of its premise.
The Cat Who Got the Cream
Which is to say that we’re a little enamored with Just a Little Purr Suit. It’s not got a big budget sheen, or even a mid-budget sheen. What it does have is a brilliant concept and some clever, tightly wound puzzles that will require deep thought to complete. We couldn’t ask for more. We’re the cat who got the cream.
Important Links
Buy the game, Optimised for Series X|S – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/just-a-little-purr-suit-xbox-series/9pdvkp9042dp
Or take home an Xbox One version – https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/store/p/just-a-little-purr-suit-xbox-one/9n9hhjzkbb45
Or that of Windows PC – https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/store/p/just-a-little-purr-suit-windows/9n247bfjcdlb
