Kittypocalypse – Tower Defence with Evil Cat Hoardes

The genre of turret defense is often overlooked by those looking for the instant gratification of a crowbar to the face of an innocent shop keeper of the metallic blast of a laser into the hull of a fleeing space marine, but turret games, once you figure out the basics, are one of the most rewarding of the gaming genres. When you add VR into the mix the end result is engaging to a whole new level.

I was approached many months ago by the developer of Kittypocalypse and was asked to review a “concept”. It was incredibly basic, badly optimised, full of free developer assets. But it was obvious this was the beginning of an interesting idea.

I was happy to get another contact from the developer offering me a recent build, so I enthusiastically fired up my Oculus Rift and jump into his world.

The game is set in a floating cloud land, and is beautifully optimised. As you gaze over this world you can zoom into levels from a zoomed out view that makes the world appear the size of a chess board, to a high view where the scale switches to a literal helicopter view, down to the lowest level where you walk, FPS style, through the horrors of kitten-based war. Only let down at this stage by an enforced “comfort mode” where jerked d-pad movement orientate your body. This supposedly reduced VR sickness but has the negative impact of destroying the all important sense of immersion.

Building turrets is completely intuitive and fun. The models are nicely designed and have various well thought out upgrades.

Then come the kitten hoards.

The kitten aggressors are deposited amusingly clumsily by a passing UFO. As they stumble around attempting to get to their feet the lasers start to fire. The kittens explode with little poofs of charred fluff. But unperturbed they charge on to invade the base.

Watch the video review here

In conclusion this game has a huge amount of potential and I greatly look forward to seeing where Bolverk games take it. I wish them all the best and certainly give this title a VR Spies “One to Watch” flag.