Game Review #492: Cat Girl Without Salad: Amuse-Bouche (Nintendo Switch)
Reviewer: The Ghostly Gamer
Developer: WayForward
Publisher: WayForward
Release Date: 4.1.2020
Category: Arcade, Action
Price: $7.99
Buy Cat Girl Without Salad: Amuse-Bouche from the Nintendo Switch eShop here
Not All April Fool's Day Jokes Are Bad
Out now is a cute little shoot ‘em up game from WayForward, and that game is Cat Girl Without Salad: Amuse-Bouche. You play as Kebako, who is an intergalactic bounty hunter. You have three stages from which to play, and each one has a person with a bounty over their head. Like any other arcade game, once you clear a stage, it will save your high score—you know, if you want to brag to your friends and all, or just go back and try to get a better score. Each boss has multiple stages, and each time you beat one, their health regenerates and they get a bit harder. Somehow, Kebako is tied to each one of the bosses. The stories are rather funny.
Power-Ups Good, Salads Bad…
You can collect power ups that change your weapon, all of which are based off of other games, which is really cool. You can get one based off of Pac-Man, Mega Man, Bubble Bobble or other puzzle shooter games, as well as RPG games (which has a sword attack, health potion, magic spell attack, and Run), and Dancing Games like Dance Dance Revolution (you know the little arrows?), and a sports game, which is a golf club with a ball that you whack at the enemies). My favorite weapon out of them all is the Pac-Man-themed weapon. Once you shoot it, you can use X, B, A, and Y to move and direct the Pac-Man-looking character, and it will last for a couple of seconds. When you get hit, you drop the weapon; and when it falls out of you, it bounces out with a star, almost like when you are Kirby and lose an ability.
Enemies will drop food items, which you can pick up to regain health, but watch out for salads. Salads hurt you. All the enemies are based off of other game genres—and are really neat—and each stage (3 in total) has different enemies that will swam you, trying to take you out.
An All-Ages Aesthetic
The artistic approach and game design screams kid-like, but from an adult’s perspective, is perfect. It almost has an Adult Swim Games-style feel with the cartoonish approach, but is fun for all ages. The music is very upbeat, and keeps you entertained the whole time you are playing. All the dialogue is voiced vs reading it, and the voices and what they talk about are super goofy—and a tad bit funny. Listening to Kebako talk reminds me a lot of Alicia Silverstone's character in the movie Clueless, or that airhead Johnny Bravo. Kebako is super ditsy and clueless, making the dialogue somewhat entertaining.
Wrapping Up
Overall, Cat Girl Without Salad: Amuse-Bouche is fairly easy, and a quick little shoot ‘em up game that is rather enjoyable. I played for like an hour and beat the game, and even went back and replayed a couple stages twice. So this game is perfect for shoot ‘em up fans, Adult Swim fans, and people who need a game they can pick up and get a few quick games in—you know, those super busy people always on the go, but still need their gaming fix! I personally think this game would have had a better price point at $5 a pop instead of $8, but either way, even for $8 this game is super enjoyable and entertaining. Not all April Fool’s Day jokes have to be bad; some are good, like Cat Girl Without Salad: Amuse-Bouche.
Score: 8/10
Buy Cat Girl Without Salad: Amuse-Bouche from the Nintendo Switch eShop here
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*A game code was provided for review purposes