Garfield A Tail of Two Kitties Review

Garfield A Tail of Two Kitties

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Publisher: The Game Factory

Developer: Two Tribes

Category: Adventure

Release Dates

N Amer - 10/05/2006

Official Game Website

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Garfield A Tail of Two Kitties Review

Glink It

Garfield has been around an awful long time, his popularity probably peaked in the 80's when his dry humor and laziness fit so nicely with 80's excess. But then the Garfield movie came out and it was a surprising little hit, Bill Murray voiced the cat himself and I'll be pickled if his voice and the movie didn't work out. Fast forward a couple of years and the inevitable sequel comes out to much less fanfare. The movie didn't do as well box office wise, but if there is one thing that a popular license tells us, a bad movie can still be made into a game.

Garfield 2 isn't so much based on the events of the 2nd movie as it is located where the second movie occurs. Just to get you up to speed, in the movie, Garfield and Prince XII accidentally switch places since they look identical. A series of events occurs and yeah, yeah, yeah... It's basically the Prince and the Pauper only with cats. Well in the game, all of the events of the movie have already occurred, and Prince XII has invited Garfield over for some lasagna (a treat he discovers in the movie). So our orange tabby friend is off, running through the streets of London to get to the castle and eventually his dinner.

"Why is there a mattress on the roof?"

So the point of the game is to get to dinner (three hours) before there is presumably no lasagna left, this involves jumping around obstacles, climbing items using your kitty claws, using your weight to maneuver objects, it's basically a platforming title with very little enemies. Good thing too, since Garfield possesses no way to defend himself. The control of the game is relatively easy with Garfield jumping on platforms, climbing up claw friendly textures and eating as many treats along the way as possible. But here is where things stop making sense. The food you collect, does nothing for you, other then at the end of the level when it tells you how many you collected, it doesn't have any sort of benefit to the game. It doesn't improve health, it doesn't access other levels, nothing. Garfield must avoid cars, traps and other items of danger which if he does run into, he will lose one of his nine lives he gets per level.

The game does throw a little bit of variation in it by providing alternate paths (which aren't much of a stretch) that access other areas of the level and by having scenarios pop up where you see the view from Garfield's perspective. But for the most part, the game is quite bland and the gameplay is as much repetitive as it is boring. Nothing new or interesting here.

"I don't care how much he loves lasagna, he would not trudge through the water."

The sound in the game isn't much to get excited about, there is a adequate collection of background sound effects, and the occasional "Mew" whenever Garfield gets squashed, but other then a semi-clever use of the DS microphone (which translates into meowing) the sound in the game is pretty sub-par stuff.

Graphically the game does have some interesting places for a cat to go, and I did like how Garfield leapt (even though it isn't the leap of a fat cat) around the scenarios but often times the game does suffer from heavy breakdown in pixilation, Garfield looks good one minute only to get blocky and rough looking as the camera automatically pulls back. Garfield 2 often has some interesting 3D effects that make the game seem a bit brighter in some places, but then just as quickly fades out with a bland section. Very uneven visuals.

Review Scoring Details Garfield A Tail of Two Kitties

Gameplay: 6.0

This is a platform game that does not make use of the Garfield license, there is no Jon, no Odie, no nothing. It controls like your average sega saturn game (i.e.. clunky), but even so it's a boring platform title either way.

Graphics: 6.4

Where the game shows nice promise in the 3D levels, it subsequently breaks down regularly.

Sound: 6.5

Below average sound effects, an interesting use of the microphone, poor Garfield yelps when he gets hit by a car.

Difficulty: Easy

The game is quite short and there is no real challenge even as you blow through the 20 plus levels. Did I mention some levels are five seconds long?

Concept: 5.0

It is a platform game that uses the Garfield license only in name, other then an orange cat there is no way to tell this is a Garfield game.

Overall: 5.7

I must tell you that it is a disappointing game from start to finish. Garfield would never work this hard for anything, not even lasagna. A better game could and should have been made.