Fisti-Fluffs (Switch eShop) Review | Nintendo Life

Cats can be evil creatures. They can be cold as a cucumber in a moment, stroking their squishy faces on their owners’ necks, before flipping and smashing furniture with a rage that would make even Gordon Ramsay shiver in his boots. Fisti-Fluffs is the latest game to feature furious felines, focusing on party games that allow you to unleash your inner rage in a showcase of sheer destruction. The problem, however, is that it largely fails as a compelling, long-lasting experience.

Simply put, Fisti-Fluffs pits you against up to three human or AI opponents in arena environments based on everyday locations like Apartment, Backyard, Cat Café, and uhh… Magic Cabin. Okay then they ain’t everybody based on everyday locations. The combat feels absolutely chaotic, but not necessarily in a good way. You can launch at your enemies with ‘Y’, gliding them with your claws, or you can move the right analog stick to simulate the movement of cats’ limbs, attacking your opponents with reckless abandon.

It can also protect itself by forming a protective bubble around it, and there is also a dedicated button to ‘meow’ on command (because of course there are). Overall, the controls feel simplistic and accessible, so this should hypothetically make for a sleek and engaging experience. Unfortunately, however, moving your cat and unleashing seizures feels sloppy at best and nearly impossible to play with at worst. Your cat will often get stuck in the environment, or lose his seizures entirely due to the “slippery” nature of the movement; it really feels like you’re ice skating the whole time.

The ‘versus’ modes offer different objectives that at least try to inject a bit of variety into the game. The standard mode is a basic deathmatch; scratch until you’re the last standing cat deal. Then you have a ‘king of the hill’ mode where you need to secure and retain a golden crown, and finally you have a mode where you simply need to destroy as much of the environment as possible, with money damage acting as your score.

Apart from the PvP modes, there is also a cooperative option where you and three other cats (by the way, there is no bot option here) must defend a house against wave after wave of rats. Again, a simple premise that should work in theory, but the control issues mentioned here are only exacerbated by the small moving targets lining the environment. Having said that, with a much larger play area, co-op play at least feels a little more cohesive, a little less maniac – than PvP modes. A little more concentration and effort with this aspect of the game would have gone a long way.

Of course, it wouldn’t be a cat game if you couldn’t take care of them and play with them. Fisti-Fluffs features a ‘Game Room’ that allows you to create your own feline friend, name him, and throw a ball around the room for him to chase after. This is pretty much the scope of available interactions. There is a cursor that allows you to pet your cat, but trust us, you will get bored of this after a few short moments. The ‘Game Room’ feature is a welcome addition to the game, but it feels rather half-hearted and limited.

All in all, Fisti-Fluffs feels like a wasted opportunity. The basic premise is sound, and the modes on offer provide a decent amount of variety, but thanks to poor gameplay and sloppy controls, neither experience mixes. Add to that the pretty smooth visuals and sandboxes, and you’ve got a gameplay that simply can’t be compared to stronger examples of fighters on the Switch.