A New Adventure for Mimi
Mimi the Cat is no stranger to the spotlight, for she’s already clawed out a decent career for herself as the star of two Sokoban-inspired offerings – Mimi the Cat: Mimi’s Scratcher and Mimi the Cat: New Friends. This third outing, Mimi the Cat: Meow Together, looks set to take the charming puzzles to the next level with new mechanics, local co-op play, and a raft of customisation options.
Will Mimi the Cat: Meow Together be the purrfect addition to your gaming library, or is it a cat-astrophe to steer clear of?
From Warehouse to Wonderland
Sokoban, the box-pushing warehouse puzzle concept, has been around for decades now, but the idea seems to have spread like wildfire these days. Publishers Afil Games have amassed a fair few for their portfolio, including SokoRobot, and Stellar Docks, so it’s not surprising to see Mimi the Cat: Meow Together as part of their line-up. Truth be told though, this niche sub-genre is getting over-saturated. Fortunately for Mimi, she’s putting a different spin on the concept, which may set her apart from the rest.
In Mimi the Cat: Meow Together, you’ll take control of two different cats, with the goal being to guide them across a tile-based grid towards their beds. That’s right, these kitties just want to settle down and have a nap where they can get really cosy. For the opening gambit, it is as simple as moving the cats to separate beds, without any obstructions. Obviously, it won’t be a clear path to victory every time, in fact, a box is brought into play immediately afterwards.
Boxes, Trains, and Tile-Based Puzzles
These boxes can be pushed around the grid to either make an obstacle-free route, or climb onto. By climbing onto a box, the cat is able to leap from it and breach any gaps that are present between the designated tiles. It’s an idea that’s built upon further through the addition of more boxes, the ability to stack them in order to reach elevated beds, and the possibility to carry a box across the aforementioned gaps.
In a bid to increase the challenge, a selection of remote-controlled trains join the adventure too. You have to activate the control using one of the kittens, which then sees a train pull up as a kind of platform. Much like the boxes, they bridge the gaps, providing another way to access those unconnected tiled areas. While the collaboration of such mechanics can help to keep your interest, a couple more ideas across the fifty levels wouldn’t go amiss.
Meow Together’s Multiplayer and Aesthetics
With a variety of grid layouts in place alongside the boxes and trains, the solutions are occasionally tricky to figure out. It may require you to switch back and forth between the cats to manoeuvre everything into position to reach the end-goals. Conversely, some levels are littered with objects that have no bearing on the solution and the puzzle itself is remarkably simple compared to others before it. So, there’s certainly a healthy challenge here, it’s just rather inconsistent and the hint feature isn’t always that useful when you get stuck.
If the going gets tough, it’s possible to draft in a friend locally to take on the mantle of controlling a cat. At least then you can share the problem and solve them easier with two brains working together. There are options in place to change the appearance of each cat too, with a small selection of accessories available to really give them a bit of personality. Should you decide to, then it’s perfectly normal to put 3D glasses and reindeer antlers on Mimi or her pals. Does it enhance the experience? No. But it’s something a little bit silly that the younger audience will most likely enjoy.
Minor Irritations and Achievement Hunting
There are a few slight irritations to consider though, starting with the animations involved. Whether you’re moving a cat via the D-pad, or swapping between them, the process is very sluggish due to unnecessary animations, followed by a slight pause before you can initiate another action. Furthermore, the lack of an ‘undo’ button means that any minor mistakes lead you to restarting the level entirely. This happens more often than you might imagine as you’re figuring out how the box mechanics work in regards to merging and transporting them across gaps.
The sweetener to help you get over the minor issues is a hefty 2000 Gamerscore, and you don’t even have to complete all the levels. Simply overcome level thirty-five, try a level in co-op, restart levels numerous times, and almost the entire amount should come naturally. Better yet, it shouldn’t take longer than one to two hours to do so, which isn’t too bad.
A Purr-fectly Pleasant Puzzler with Room for Improvement
Overall then, Mimi the Cat: Meow Together puts its own spin on Sokoban and does an alright job of delivering a bit of a challenge. The solutions are hit and miss, but you’ll definitely have to ponder them on a fair few occasions. It’s a shame that it runs out of steam about a third of the way through, however the opportunity for achievements will likely keep you going.
The low price, in tandem with the Gamerscore and the local co-op, might just be purr-suasive enough to warrant picking up Mimi the Cat: Meow Together.
Links
Another Puzzling Adventure Awaits in Mimi the Cat: Meow Together – https://www.thexboxhub.com/another-puzzling-adventure-awaits-in-mimi-the-cat-meow-together/
Buy Meow Together on Xbox – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/mimi-the-cat-meow-together/9PCLJD30469T
