A Challenging Platformer That Overuses Its Dash Mechanic
I’ve got a bugbear with platformers, particularly indie platformers, and the frequent use of a dash button. It might be a me-problem. The problem I have is that the game designers expect very precise dashes between very small platforms, but knowing the length of that dash is hard to judge. The best way to memorise the length of the dash is by failing, lots, and that process can be infuriating. I know, I know: git gud.
Memorising it in a low-budget indie platformer is the worst because, just as you master the dash, the game’s done. When a game is an hour long, there’s not much wiggle room. I should note that it’s not a problem with all dash-using games – just some unrefined ones.
Quick Whiskers, you may have guessed, is big on that bugbear. Its singular idea is the inclusion of a dash mechanic. It uses that dash mechanic to create precise platforming situations, and it finishes juuuust at the point that I mastered the length of that dash. It felt like it was made to tease me.
I have no idea whether this will tick you off as much as it did me. All I can do is flag it, grumble a bit, and get on with the rest of the review.
Putting The Dash Behind Me
Elsewhere, Quick Whiskers is a perfectly adequate little platformer. It casts you as a cool cat with snappy sunglasses, and your motivation seems to be grabbing cans of sardines. These are your optional collectibles as you aim to reach a kennel at the end of level. We thought kennels were a dog thing, but we can vibe with it.
The sardine collectibles are handled well. They basically multiply the difficulty of the level. If you choose to go for them, then you’re committing to a particularly challenging path that’s distant from the kennel. Since there are no checkpoints in Quick Whiskers, it could be a risk too far. But once you’ve collected the sardines, you are free to die as they will be retained.
Dash-thing aside, I quite like the pitched difficulty of Quick Whiskers. It’s not to the degree that it’s only for Super Meat Boy or Celeste fans, but it’s not unchallenging either. It’s entirely possible to spend five or six lives on the same level (damn you, bouncy balloons), particularly if chasing sardines. And that’s about right to us.
A Whisker Better Than Average
It means that Quick Whiskers is not quite as throwaway as your average budget platformer. Those collectibles, plus the moderate difficulty, adds up to a chunkier experience than the £4.19 might lead you to expect. There are only 30 levels here, the same as most of Afil Games’ output, but they take a couple of hours to complete fully.
Achievement hounds won’t have to play the full 30 levels though. There is 2000G on offer here, but all 2000 can be unlocked before 20 levels are up. It makes Quick Whiskers an attractive proposition for people who like Gamerscore on the cheap.
The broader argument against Quick Whiskers – again, ignoring my campaign against the dash – is that it’s not got its own voice. It’s a little disappointing to find that a game centred on a Top Cat-style cat doesn’t lean into more interesting themes. The enemies are mere spinning blades and spikes, which is about as boringly generic as it can get. We’d have loved an aesthetic that leaned into the ‘90s rad vibes that we get from the bespectacled cat.
That lack of originality spreads into what Quick Whiskers wants you to do. Levels are most commonly a sequence of precise platforms and spinning blades. Bouncy balloons complicate things by being bouncy (Quick Whiskers has fun, tempting you with red-herring balloons that lead to death) but they can’t quite alleviate a sense of repetition. The same sequences play out repeatedly. Quick Whiskers doesn’t quite have enough in its toybox to make the levels varied.
Cats Probably Shouldn’t Sit In The Middle Of The Road
Ignoring the dash for a moment, I can’t help feeling that Quick Whiskers sits in the middle of the road when it comes to platformers. It’s challenging but not too challenging. It’s got one idea beyond a basic platformer, but no more than that. Its levels are competently designed but not very varied. It’s not brilliant, but not bad either. It threatens to be merely average.
Or, in our case, it’s a decent platformer squatting in a minefield of dash issues. If you’re vulnerable to similar feelings, then you might want to give Quick Whiskers a wide berth.
Quick Whiskers doesn’t do a lot wrong. It has a fine eye for tense platforming sequences where there isn’t much room for mistakes. But it’s also nothing special, as it fails to generate any charm or ideas beyond a cool cat character and a dash mechanic. And boy was I particularly allergic to that dash mechanic.
Important Links
Buy Quick Whiskers, Optimised for Series X|S – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/quick-whiskers-xbox-series/9n6xbb3m7nf4
Or there’s an Xbox One version – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/quick-whiskers-xbox-one/9nr2vhk3ktm3
Or one for Windows PC – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/quick-whiskers-windows/9n5n0wnrcbqt
