

The most prominent feature of the levels, though, is the profusion of treasure to be plundered.

Some of the gimmicks in later levels include pools of water with man-eating (or cat-eating, as the case may be) fish, jets of steam to ride, and flowing lava to dodge, just to name a few. In the first few, as Claw escapes the dungeon and makes his way through the woods and into a bustling seaside town, you encounter many different types of bad guys as well as ladders, swinging vines, pits lined with spikes, and the obligatory moving and vanishing platforms. There's nothing to confuse you here, but there are quite a few divergent pathways and an abundance of fun tricks of the terrain unique to each level. The levels are straightforward if anything. Never in the history of PC gaming, however, has this tried-and-true style been executed with such polish. The gameplay is, as expected, derivative of every platform game ever released. The note's author implores Claw to take the attached piece of the map and to track down the other pieces, the gems, and the amulet before they are discovered by the evil King's minions. The note tells of the legendary Amulet of Nine Lives and a map that will locate it and its nine powerful gems. While incarcerated, he happens upon a loose stone in the wall that, when removed, reveals a note written by one of the dungeon's former denizens. The cats are defeated and Claw is thrown into a dark dungeon to await his execution. (OK, so the premise it a trifle cutesy, but rest assured, that's where its annoyances end.) As the animated intro scene opens, we find Claw and his band of fearless felines engaged in mortal combat with the Spaniards. Claw, a swashbuckling tabby cat whose life's work has been the defeat of the Cocker Spaniard Armada.

Monolith Productions hopes to add to that number with Claw.Ĭlaw follows the adventures of Captain Nathaniel J. In fact, believe it or not, there have been only two or three truly successful side-scrolling, pick-up-the-treasure-and-kill-the-bad-guys platform games made exclusively for the PC. While this has been the case for video game consoles, the same does not hold true for PC games. They're almost always instant "kid hits" and perhaps most importantly, the player-character is guaranteed to become a cultural icon. The playability in such games is usually quite well rounded. The side-scrolling shooter has long been a favorite genre of video gamers around the world for many reasons. When a new gaming platform is introduced to the public, the first title customarily released for it is, fittingly, a platform game.
