Many thanks to the publisher for the review code.

A MEOW-LITI CORE PROCESSOR
Richard is a gamer, and like most online gamers he blames his failures on anything except his skills. After his favourite game receives a substantial patch, he decides that his current rig just isn’t good enough and needs help from an install wizard to make it run at a stupidly high framerate. This wizard, who helps out of sheer boredom more than anything, assigns a large-headed cat type being to go inside his computer and help improve the performance. It’s a ridiculous concept, but it’s told through some cute cutscenes at the start of each world that have a surprising amount of charm to them.

Like most great arcade games though, Crystal Chip Collector e is less about the story and more about the core gameplay, and the premise here is simple, yet effective: collect all the blue and yellow chips within the stage before the time expires. Whilst this seems simple enough, especially as the one-screen stages don’t have the most complex platforming, the catch is that most levels will have only one set of chips active at a time, requiring you to flick between switches in order to get the other colour; touch an inactive chip, however, and your kitty will fry making you lose one of your three lives. The placement of these chips and the switches are what will really test your quick-thinking skills, as well as your platforming.

Screenshot

Thankfully, your feline friend controls really well and both movement and jumping seems very weighty and precise. This precision is absolutely necessary considering both the tight time limit and the requirement of beating all ten stages in each world in one go (plus the bonus stage at the end), in order to proceed to the next. With only three lives at your disposal, failure will result in having to start the world over again from scratch. You can practice each level in the practice mode, but you need to be prepared for the mini gauntlet in order to progress through the story. 

This punishingly low number of lives is what ultimately increases the length of what would otherwise be quite a short game, but will also no doubt prove divisive to many. Even though pausing at the start of each level will give you enough time to come up with a basic plan of action, it’s likely that you’ll need to repeat each world multiple times before finally achieving success. It’s very satisfying when you do, but it also feels a little but too strict. Perhaps having nine lives to reflect the purr-tagonist would have made the game far more approachable.

VERDICT
The stingy amount of lives will likely put off many people who don’t want to play the same levels over and over again, but don’t let that put you off this cheap and addictive arcade title. The fast paced arcade platforming with its tight controls and purr-fect presentation will be  will keep you coming back for more!