Nyan Cat Lost In Space

Cast your mind back to the time of annoying mascots with themes perfect to clip into ringtones to agitate your friends. In the mid-2000’s we would have Crazy Frog who would drive us all mad and thankfully this fad would die quite quickly. However, this would only pave the way for the next irritating animated creature to take centre stage. So what we got was a cat with a pop tart body shooting rainbows out it’s rear end. This was of course Nyan cat. A character that would be given it’s own game titled Nyan Cat: Lost In Space.

This game is an endless side-scrolling runner that plays similarly to the likes of OlliOlli, Flappy Bird or Rayman: Jungle Run due to its seemingly endless wave of content and inability to put the brakes on for your character. The goal is to traverse the level, not fall into the cosmic dangers of space that await you and collect in game currency as you go. Pretty simple.

Nyan Nyan Nyan

It would be amiss to begin with anything other than the musical score and art style for this game. As you would expect, the Nyan Theme features heavily in this one. So much so that this is literally the only musical piece you’ll encounter which is played on a loop throughout the entire run. Much like in reality, it begins as a jovial and humorous addition to the game that makes you smile as you complete the first stage. However, the realise quickly that this is all you’re going to get and it soon becomes another obstacle to success.

Artistically, this game is nothing to write home about. It essentially looks like a glorified flash game with colourful backgrounds, pickups and pitfalls. The UI tells the player all that they need to know and is pretty accessible as a whole. Though, considering the simplicity of the game this is hard to praise too much.

Take to the skies

The gameplay of this title is about as nuanced as a four-piece jigsaw puzzle. The player will have the directional buttons and an action button as their control scheme and simply have to navigate Nyan cat through the area without hitting hazards, collecting candy and money and occasionally using a power-up. It doesn’t just look like a glorified flash game, it is one for all intents and purposes. The game also has a permadeath system in place so if you somehow lose all your lives, you have the joyful task of starting all over and enduring the obnoxious theme tune even longer.

The game does have a leader board system that allows you to compare your high score with those that are just as unlucky as yourself to have encountered this game and played through right until the end. Plus the in-game currency offers the ability to purchase new skins for Nyan Cat which all culminates to offer a paper thin reason to replay this one.

Best left in the past

This quirky little cat is admittedly a fun little invention that does offer nostalgia and will have you crack a smile when you see it and hear it’s a silly little tune. However, this wears off in a matter of minutes and begins to agitate anyone in it’s vicinity. So why is gods name would anyone make a fully fledged game around this obnoxious little cat.

Pros

• A real sense of nostalgia
• Promotes replayability

Cons

• Rudimentary gameplay
• Looks like a flash game
• The theme song which plays on a loop