There have been a few Hidden Cat games that have made their way to Xbox lately, with the most recent being Hidden Cats in London. You see, these types of games have you looking at a screen, trying to find hidden objects in the picture. In our household, this is an entirely co-op, family game where we are all looking at the screen and shouting out cats we are finding, with one person handling the controller.
Hidden Cats in London has you looking at a giant picture of London. There are a lot of the classic London sites; the Pickle, the London Eye, a massive train station, along with barber shops and a kebab shop too. It’s just a big illustration of the city, although there is no color at first. There are cars and trains moving through, so always something to look at and pay attention to.
As you find the hidden cats within the picture, sections light up, buildings come to life with vibrant colors, and you know where to look for more cats and where to complete them. This is a really cool feature to have in the game, as visually we were able to easily know where to look and where was done. There are a whole lot of cats hidden, including some that are just a bum or just a tail to spot.
The first mode of the game has you just spotting cats, but once you have finished that, you can select the more advanced mode. This mode has more cats and people to spot, along with special cats that can be tapped to unlock more levels. Hidden Cats in London does have a lot of cats — with the easy mode having 100 and this mode having far more. Once you have found all of the special cats, you will have unlocked five additional levels that are place-specific, not just generally in London, to explore.
There are also hints within the game that you can use, as well as a feature to zoom in and out. You can pan around on individual areas and take a closer look, which we found really helps when you get down to the last few cats. The only real issue or sticking point we have with Hidden Cats in London is the xbox porting of the game. It’s really quite hard to get the mouse directly over one of the little cat faces to select it. As many of the cats are in moving elements of the level, this adds a lot of frustration as you watch the cat move beyond your mouse. This game feels much better suited for a phone / tablet or PC with better control over the mouse. Otherwise, Hidden Cats in London is a fun, short family friendly experience that will really keep you busy!
Hidden Cats in London is on PC, Xbox, Nintendo Switch and Playstation.
