Genre: Puzzle
Developer: Pastagames
Publisher: Pastagames

Pix the Cat, with its purplish, glowing hue, superficially looks a bit like "Geometry Wars." Closer inspection reveals some particularly endearing character designs. The visuals have a built-in risk/reward mechanic, where the blurring during "fever time" not only looks feverish, but requires extra focus from the player in order to avoid making a mistake.

The game's main theme has a hopping bass line, and screams eccentricity in an almost Thomas Dolby kind of way. The game prominently features a voiced narrator, who shouts things like "it's fever time!", and several voices are unlockable. The game's "mad German scientist" vibe is furthered especially by one of these voices, which is labelled in-game as "Lady Bot"-- nothing more needs to be said.

The main mode of Pix the Cat is a cross between Pac-Man and Snake; the player must scoop up eggs, which then join the character's tail, before depositing those eggs on circle tiles. The various boards are all interjoined, and the player can see what's coming next, ala Tetris. The game also has equally well-designed deathmatch and "laboratory" modes.

Pix the Cat would not be out of place in an arcade, played via an actual cabinet; it's exactly the kind of simple-yet-deep formula that dominated such settings in the 1980s-- and it still works today.