Buried in the Sand
Those up to date with the indie platforming scene will likely have played classics such as Celeste, Hollow Knight, or perhaps even dabbled in more niche titles such as Aureole: Wings of Hope. Yet there is an even more minuscule sliver of the community which has heard of the Mel the Cat series, and likely fewer who have ever experienced it.
With the feline creature’s third entry now available, there’s no greater time to see how another anthropomorphised platformer shapes up. Moving on from the earthly restraints of Mel the Cat, and the cosmic adventures found in Mel the Space Cat, Mel is now headed deep into the desert for Mel the Pyramid Cat. But is this hidden treasure worth digging up, or should it have stayed buried in the sand?
Mel the Pyramid Cat falls into the precision platformer subgenre, seeing players navigate forty hand-crafted stages which promise steady growth in difficulty. I like to hold precision platformers in the same regard as Soulslike games are to the RPG/adventure genre; they both promise a main gameplay loop consisting of extreme yet rewarding difficulty, with a high skill floor and ceiling filtering out the casual gamer from the dedicated. Mel the Pyramid Cat unfortunately strips away the merit of gratification this approach to progression offers, with its forty stages instead replaced by substandard difficulty which any casual player of the genre can complete blindfolded.
The Three Pillars
To discover why Mel the Pyramid Cat’s gameplay struggles to reach the standard of the genre, you first need to look at the three core foundational pillars of any platforming title: objective, move-set, and stage design. The overarching goal of Mel the Pyramid Cat remains simple (a great move for a game so short) consisting of reaching the treasure residing at the end of each stage. It’s certainly no high-stakes action, but for the streamlined approach of the title, it works.
Where Mel’s journey seriously begins to fumble any chance of quality is when attempting any sort of traversal; Mel’s abilities consist of the classic jump, dash, and… that’s it? Sadly, yes this is all Mel has to offer, and whilst the controls always maintain an acceptable level of responsiveness, the character simply lacks mechanical depth. Where other titles will offer a scenario ripe with plenty of alternate routes to completion that lean towards a player’s preferred approach, Mel the Pyramid Cat’s two abilities on offer simply cannot compete.
The final of these pillars, and in this case, most detrimental to the game’s structural integrity, is the stage design. With all forty stages following the same stagnating formula of a series of platforms that take a simple dash or jump to manoeuvre between, each and every level feels like one drawn-out and unfulfilling attempt at the genre.
In an attempt to remedy the lack of intentionality in platform design, Mel the Pyramid Cat incorporates various obstacles and enemies which fall into one of two distinct categories: stationary or moving. Stationary obstacles are elements such as spikes that are simple enough to navigate around, whilst moving enemies range from birds in a constant vertical loop, to dogs hungry for our feline protagonist. Individually, these elements don’t pose much of a threat, yet where I can finally begin my praise for Mel’s pyramid journey is when both coalesce into a hybrid attack, forcing a jump around the obstacle and a dash over the moving foe. Mel the Pyramid Cat has signs of great design throughout its forty stages, yet ironically it can never seem to find the footing to maintain a high degree of intentional design.
Better Left Buried in the Sand
Where Mel the Pyramid Cat performs best is in the visuals and aesthetic. Contrary to the varied settings of the original (I mean seriously how does one go from a yard to a volcano?) this latest iteration opts for a dedicated pyramid focus, with designs to match. Whether it’s the booby-trapped statues which fire arrows, the objective being a shiny jewel, or the desert themed soundtrack, this is a hollow treasure, deceiving adventurers with its appearance.
Mel the Pyramid Cat is definitely a step up from the series’ debut, yet where Mel the Space Cat’s minor improvements upon its predecessor could justify the swift release, a lack of meaningful stage design stops this third entry from surpassing its previous incarnation. This latest pyramid journey sadly leaves the trilogy a stagnating cesspool of a series, with this most recent entry better off buried in the sand.
Important Links
Buy Mel the Pyramid Cat, Optimised for Series X|S – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/mel-the-pyramid-cat/9pghw0p3f83k
Buy an Xbox One version – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/mel-the-pyramid-cat-xbox-one/9P1V3KFQ58PJ/0010
Buy a Windows PC edition – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/mel-the-pyramid-cat-windows/9NZ1X5R4R3DL/0010
There’s a full Mel The Cat Complete Adventure too – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/mel-the-cat-complete-adventure/9N3SSVXGWH72/0010
