I recently returned to Japan from a trip back to Blighty and immediately had to begin studying for a Japanese language proficiency exam. That is to say that my spare time of late has been somewhat limited. So when the review copy of MouseCraft arrived I was excited and dismayed at the same time.

I’ve wanted to get my filthy paws on this game for a while and when I finally did, I had almost no time to play it. For several days I didn’t even load it up. But when I did I realised that this is precisely the kind of game that I bought a Vita for in the first place. 

The game sees you trying to guide, coax and cajole three little mice across a range of danger filled levels to reach the delicious cheese on the other side. Your three wayward mice cannot be controlled directly however; they simply walk in one direction until they hit a solid object and turn around, or until they meet their grizzly end.

In order to help them on their way, you have to place “Tetromino” blocks, which come in various shapes just like the original game Tetris. The opening levels are a cheesecake walk, with you needing to do almost no thinking at all. But as you progress, the puzzles become more and more fiendish. Things that will kill the mice include falling from a great height, drowning, being electrocuted, boiling in acid, crushed to death and being eaten by Ratoids (maniacal robotic rats). This is where all those Tetrominoes really come in handy as you try to lay them down and provide a safe passage for the mice.

If it sounds like that might all get a bit repetitive, have no fear, because as you progress through the levels, you gain access to a variety of different Tetrominoes, 7 in fact, and they will all prove to be invaluable. For example, the jelly block allows the mice to fall a long way and not die. The indestructible block doesn’t dissolve in acid, which is very handy. I won’t spoil the others, but they add a great deal to your strategising.

As well as trying to get the mice to the cheese, you are also tasked with collecting Anima Shards. These are blue crystals that you need to collect in order to progress through the levels. You don’t need to collect every single one, but should you find yourself lacking in crystals later on, you’ll be forced to go back and replay some old levels until you have enough to proceed to the next chapter. Unfortunately, there is no way of knowing which levels still contain the crystals, which could prove to be quite inconvenient. This wasn’t a problem for me, since my OCD didn’t allow me to pass a level until I had EVERY. SINGLE. SHARD.

You might be wondering by now, just why are you trying to get the mice to the cheese in the first place? Well, you see, it’s all to do with Schrödinger. He’s a mad cat scientist that is using the mice in his experiments for something… unknown. Since the Ratoids are the results of one of his previous tests, we can only imagine what he’s up to now. As you play each level, Schrödinger looks on in the background, applauding when you succeed and despairing when you inadvertently murder all the mice. His presence adds a nice touch of character, but it would have been nice to see him more involved. Other than the few cut scenes, he really doesn’t have much of a role.

As for the mice, they are certainly cute and I do feel a slight pang of regret whenever one of them is brutally extinguished. However, they too are fairly devoid of character, doing nothing so much as walking across the screen. I’ve written before about how distressing it was playing Lemmings and watching those little critters die. But with MouseCraft, the attachment just isn’t there. Yes, it’s sad when one of them dies, but only because it means I didn’t get a perfect score.

The overall style of the game is very nice though, with bright punchy colours and an un-obnoxious soundtrack. Gameplay wise, I can’t fault MouseCraft at all. There is a very sensible learning curve leading you up to some genuine head scratchers. But the game does a nice job of introducing the different mechanics and increases the difficulty very gradually, making this a game that is very easy to pick up and start playing.

There is also an ‘undo’ button which can be used as often as you like. Far from feeling like a cheat, it actually feels like a gameplay mechanic. The name of the game here is trial and error. You can’t always see immediately what needs to be done to complete a level, which leads to plenty of dead ends as you try this and that to see what works. The undo button in invaluable in this regards. As is the pause button, which allows you to… pause. Sounds simple, but in the heat of the moment it is great to be able to pause for a moment and place your bricks in the right place at the right time.

MouseCraft is out now on PC/Mac/Linux and all Playstation platforms, though I only played it myself on Vita and PS3. And I have to say that playing on Vita proved to be the better gaming experience by far. Each level takes only a few minutes to complete, meaning that I could play a couple of levels during my study breaks and then put it down again until later. On Vita, with its instant resume function, this is a breeze.

I also liked the touchscreen functionality, which I found myself using more often than the button controls. This is totally at odds to how I’ve played other Vita games, in which the touchscreen seemed gimmicky and unnecessary. But here, it feels like the more natural way to play. Add to that the beautiful Vita screen and MouseCraft just looks fantastic.

The one area however in which other platforms would probably be better is the built-in level editor, which proved to be a bit finicky on Vita and PS3. In fact, I think that this feature would only be really user friendly on a PC. That said though, it is a nice touch to be able to create your own puzzles right from the get-go. You have as much freedom as you need to make some crazy, fiendish levels to test your friends’ mettle. Unfortunately, for now you can’t share your creations on-line with the Playstation versions. Hopefully the developers will add that in later as I can see this bringing some massive replay value to the whole proposition.

In conclusion, Crunching Koalas have produced a real gem with MouseCraft. It’s an inventive mash-up of two of gamings most cherished brands and it does it with dignity and respect. The characters may have come out a little less eccentric than I would have liked, but the gameplay mechanics can’t be faulted one bit. All in all, this is a quality game and a great choice for Vita owners.

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