Piffle: A Cat Puzzle Adventure

Genre: Unlimited Pattern Puzzle

Players: 1

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Review:

Piffle is a family-friendly Puzzle game along the same lines as the sort that has become popular on mobile devices in recent years, with players aiming a barrage of balls at blocks, hoping to get just the right angle to clear as many as possible. This game was originally released on mobile devices in 2018 and brought to Nintendo Switch in 2020.

Piffle uses a simple, colorful visual style with cartoony characters that lends itself well to this style of game. This is paired with… well, a lot of digitized cat noises. Yeah, expect to hear artificial-sounding “meow”s a lot with this game.

As for the gameplay, this is actually a pretty good take on the genre, with power-ups as well as different types of blocks to shake up the action as the game progresses. In particular, this game uses multiple block types that seem designed to frustrate players who take the easy road in this sort of game by simply flinging their balls at the most shallow angle possible, and I couldn’t be happier about that – it pushes players to actually think about their move instead.

However, there are a few things I’m not happy about here. Firstly, despite being a mobile port of a game that’s a natural fit for the touchscreen, Piffle does not let players use the touchscreen in gameplay, even though it is available for use in menus. Also, the lack of an endless mode here is disappointing, though to the game’s credit it makes up for this with an enormous number of levels.

However, probably the worst thing about this game is its price tag. Where the mobile game is free with ads, the Nintendo Switch version is $20, and I feel that’s far too steep for a game that aims this hard at a casual audience and is lacking some key features one would expect from games in this genre.

If you can get it on a decent sale, I’d say that Piffle is still an excellent version of this particular style of casual Puzzle game, even though it’s lacking some important features. The way different blocks contribute to the gameplay really does improve on the genre’s usual formula. But don’t buy this game at full-price. It’s simply not worth the $20 price tag.

tl;dr – Piffle is a family-friendly Puzzle game in the style of those mobile games that have you aiming balls at blocks. This is actually a very good version of that type of Puzzle game too, but it’s lacking some important features, and the $20 price tag is just way too high. If you’re looking for a decent casual Puzzle game and Piffle is on sale, it may be worth dropping a few bucks on, but don’t buy it at full price.

Grade: C+

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