Rat Attack!

Infobox VG| title = Rat Attack!


developer = Pure
publisher = Mindscape
engine =
released =
genre = Puzzle
modes = Single player, multiplayer
ratings = ESRB: Everyone (E)
platforms = Nintendo 64, PlayStation
media =
requirements =
input =

"Rat Attack!" is a puzzle game for the Nintendo 64 and PlayStation, it was released in 2000.

Story

The Cat Genius Professor Rex Julius presented his theories to the public of the threat that the ever expanding rat population would bring to the world. However, his workings were laughed at by his colleagues, ignoring his research. He was so certain of his fears, however, that he continued to work in secret, developing the eraticator, a rat capturing device, and the destructor, where rats in the eraticator's storage tanks can finally be destroyed (through vaporisation). He also formed and trained an elite team of rat-catching cats, the Scratch Cats.

Soon, Rex's greatest fears were to be realised. A pair of rats, Washington and Jefferson were sent into space aboard a rocket in an experiment. However, after some incident in space, the rats had been mutated and gained super-intelligence. They immediately commenced with plans for world domination, amassing a huge army of rats with instruction to destroy everything in sight and to destroy any interfering agents. To this end they created the duplicator, to rapidly increase their army. For extra protection and assistance the pair created easily mutatable genetic blueprint rats, and created the mutator, capable of transforming these into a range of vicious mutant rats.

Washington and Jefferson also made plans to re-awaken the mighty King Scarab, captor of the mythical cat, Banubis, from his slumber in the Egyption wing of a museum.

Professor Rex Julius sent his special agent Pearl to investigate, but Washington and Jefferson managed to capture her, imprisoning her within a laser cage in their factory stronghold, guarded by giant robotic dogs. This spurred the other cats into action, so they went out to rescue Pearl and defeat Washington and Jefferson, and would free Banubis from King Scarab's clutches along the way.

At the end of the game, with all the areas saved from the ravaging rat army, the scratch cats manage to defeat Washington and Jefferson in a showdown in their space base. However, the duo manage to escape after their defeat, with Julius afterwards revealing that they also took King Scarab with them (who had been shrunk after his defeat; it is unknown whether he has returned to full size or not).

Gameplay

The object of the game was to clear each level of a certain total of rats, without getting hit enough times to lose a life, or ensuring the room wasn't destroyed, which would also kill you. Each level had a set number of rats to destroy, and once you had met the target, a gate would appear that you had to go through to get to the next level. If you didn't get to it in ten seconds, you lost a life. Rats were destroyed by eraticating them (basically trapping them within a circle.) Once the rats were trapped within the tanks, walking over a pad on the floor with a rats face on it (a destructor) would destroy them. At the end of each level you would receive bonuses reflecting how well you had done. You received "Damage Bonuses" for how much the room got damaged (the less damage, the higher points), time bonuses (the less time taken, the higher the bonus), and perfect bonuses (if none of the room got destroyed, you obtained these points.)

Power-ups

Throughout the game, you would come across power-ups. They were as follows:
*EXTRA rats-These were regular rats, just with a letter from the word EXTRA above their heads. If you destructed these rats so that you had an "E", a "X", a "T", a "R", and an "A", you would obtain an extra life.
*Room Repair-Represented by a spanner, this item would repair the items in the room.
*Rat Freeze-Represented by an ice lolly, collecting one of these would freeze all the rats in the arena for a few seconds.
*Cheese-Dropping a cheese would attract all the rats in the arena. This could often be done in very strategical places.
*Eraticator boost-Collecting the multicoloured eraticator squares would increase the power of the cats' eraticator.
*Catatonic-Collecting a first aid kit would heal your cat, or count toward a one up.
*Bonus Scratch Coin-Shaped like a gold cat head, these coins could be used to perform special moves.
*Speed Boost-Collecting a lightning bolt would enable you to run much faster than usual for a few seconds.
*Shield of Invincibility-Collecting a shield would make you incible for a few seconds.
*Big Cat-Collecting a potion would make you turn huge, and able to squish all rats without the eraticator. Crushed rats gave you double points. On multiplayer, when you were big, you could flatten the other players by jumping on them.
*Blue Cheese-Only available on multiplayer, this powerup attracted the other players rats.
*Sleepy-time solution-Only available on multiplayer, collecting the blue square with zzzs on it would make other players' cats fall asleep for a few seconds.

Stats

Each cat had different stats. They were the following:
*Strength-This stat affected how long rats would stay stunned for after being swiped.
*Speed-This stat affected how fast the cat was, and how far they could jump.
*Eraticator power-This stat affected how strong your eraticator was.

Enemy Power-upsThere were some objects that made the rats better. They were:
*The duplicator-Illustrated by a purple pad with two rat faces on it, this device could turn one rat into two, doubling your trouble.
*The mutator-Shown by a rat face in front of a black and yellow background, if a white rat walked over this, they would mutate into other, more powerful creatures.

Useful cat devices

Throughout the game, there were other helpful devices:
*Treasure Chests-These chests came in three varieties. Firstly, bronze chests could be opened once, and once you had eraticated a certain number of rats, they would open. They had a power-up inside. Silver chests could only be opened once as well, but you had to eraticate the exact number of rats printed above them for them to open up and give you a power-up. Gold chests were the same as silver, but could be opened more than once.
*Scratch Pads-These were paw-pad buttons on the floor. Pressing one of these made something happen in the arena which would help you out.
*Scratch Teleporters-These were swirly blue cat faces on the floor that could warp you to another part of the arena. These were helpful for avoiding Bennett, or reaching an eraticator.

Power-Downs

Power-Downs were located in rat crates. These could be destroyed by the rats, or if you eraticated the exact number of rats printed on them, they would open. Power-downs or mutant rats emerged from them. Power-downs were little skull and crossbones that would chase you about the arena until they hit you or disappeared. They were the following:
*Slow cat-If hit by this, your cat would be very slow for a few sections.
*Sleepy-time solution-If hit by this, your cat would fall asleep for a few seconds.
*Reverse controls-If hit by this, your cat would have reverse controls for a few seconds.
*Damaged eraticator-If hit by this, your eraticator would keep losing rats from its tanks. This lasted for a few seconds.

Zones and Levels

The game was divided into different zones, each consisting of four or five levels and a boss level. They were as follows:
*ZONE 1: HOUSE

The levels in this zone were:

Leisure Lounge

Bathtime

Bedroom Bonanza

Play Away

Kitchen Kapers

Yippy Yappy
*ZONE 2: GARDEN

The levels in this zone were:

Back Porch

Sundial Showdown

Fountain of Fun

Compost Corner

Beefy Bennett
*ZONE 3: FUN HOUSE

The levels in this zone were:

Bouncy Castle

Rifle Range

Bumper Cats

Pinball Machine

Poker Face

Rat Clown
*ZONE 4: HAUNTED HOUSE

The levels in this zone were:

Ghostly Gatehouse

Creepy Chapel

Haunted Hall

The Pit

Ghostly Graveyard

Ghostly Ghoulies
*ZONE 5: MUSEUM

The levels in this zone were:

Dead Old Stuff

Fossil Frolics

Catlantis

I Want My Mummy

Dino Drama

Scarab's Palace
*ZONE 6: ART GALLERY

The levels in this zone were:

Pop Art

Renaissance Nuisance

Artful Dodgings

Art Attack

Yippy Litter
*ZONE 7: FACTORY

The levels in this zone were:

Control Room

Frying Tonite

Carry on Conveyor

Best Little Warehouse

Conveyor Crisis

Rescue
*ZONE 8: SPACE

The levels in this zone were:

Teleporter Room

Laser Locomotion

Mutator Creator

Livid Lasers

Space Showdown

Characters

The Scratch Cats were made up of the following members:

*Professor Rex Julius -The genius behind it all, who organised the society, and provided the agents with the gadgets. He was brown, and looked a bit like Albert Einstein with the lab coat and moustache.

*Newton- Newton was Rex Julius' trusty robotic cat sidekick, who was used to deliver Rex Julius' mission briefings throughout the game. He was small and yellow (looking a bit like a cat potato head.)

*Hi-Jinx- Siamese Cat raised by Japanese monks. He wielded twin Katana (although only used them for his special.) His stats were fairly balanced between speed, strength and eraticator power. His special attack required four coins to execute. In this move, he would summon lighting bolts, frazzling any rats in the vicinity.

*Sparky- Sparky was a young, English magician cat, who had been reincarnated many times. He was a bit of a mystery, and enjoyed activities like Tarot Cards and fortune telling. He was dark blue with lighter blue ears, and a cresent moon shaped pendant. His stats were very different- he had a weak eraticator, fairly low strength but with very good speed. His special required four coins to execute. With this move, he used his magic powers to turn all surrounding rats into harmless rabbits and frogs.

*Manx- Manx was a stripy yellow and orange Manx cat,who had grown up in the Bronx. He was impatient and aggressive, with scars on his eyes and ears. His favourite food was rat. His stats were excellent strength and eraticator power, but with very low speed. In his special move (which required two coins to use), he tore about viciously with his claws, meaning any rats caught in this raking frenzy would be disposed of.

*Muffy DuPont- Muffy was a French cat, who was white with a black mask and tummy. She also had a heart shaped pendant. Her owner was a burglar, and she had committed some robberies herself. Her stats were fairly similar to Sparky's, with good speed, but fairly poor eraticator and strength. Her special (which required five coins to use) turned all surrounding rats into love hearts.

*Bob Cat- Bob Cat was an American Boxing cat. He was grey, and wore red shorts and he was wearing boxing gloves of shorts. his stats were similar to Manx's, as he had low speed but good strength, and fairly good eraticator. His special was cheap, it only required one coin, in which bob cat would send any nearby foes flying into the destructor.

*Smokey- Smokey was a Swiss cat, who was grey and wore goggles and a crazy suit, as she was a scientist. She hated mess, which was why she was fond of her laser gun. Her stats were fairly balanced between speed, eraticator power and strength. Her special required three coins, in which she would use her satellite to destroy any nearby rats.

*Banubis- Banubis was an Ancient Egyptian cat, who was orange with a Pharoah headdress. His stats were like Bob Cats' but he had the maximum strength of any character. His special only required one token, and in it formed a pyramid, that turned any trapped rats into sand. He was an unlockable character, and could be obtained on normal or hard mode after defeating King Scarab at the Museum.

*Pearl- Pearl was the kidnapped special agent, a cat raised by Whippets, who was blue with a yellow top and had roller skates, making her the fastest character. She also had good strength and eraticator power, making her overall the best character. Her special required two coins, in which she would race around the rats, and set them on fire. She was an unlockable character, and could be obtained on normal or hard mode after defeating the Rescue boss at the Factory.

Enemies

The enemies in levels mainly consisted on rats, which came in different colours. As each colour progressed, the rats became more intelligent, meaning they couldn't be caught as easily, and were better at smashing stuff.

*Grey rats- These were the bog standard, stupid rats. They appeared in the House and Garden stages.

*Blue rats- These rats were slightly better than the greys, and appeared in the Fun House and the Haunted House stages.

*Green rats- Better still, these rats appeared in the Museum and the Art Gallery.

*Red Rats- The best rats, this kind appeared in the Factory and Space.

There was another kind of rat that appeared in all the stages. A white (or genetic Blueprint) rat. When one of these creatures walked over a mutator, they transformed into a more powerful beast. They were one of the following:

*Mouth Rats- Giant, red rats that looked a bit like dogs, with gnashing, mincing teeth. They appeared in two levels, "Play Away" in the House, and "Compost Corner" in the Garden.

*Jelly Rats- These rats were made of lime and pineapple jelly (well, they were green and yellow) and were very deadly in that they were superb at destroying the room, and could chase down the Scratch Cats very quickly. If eraticated, they would just split to form two more jelly rats. They could only be destroyed by jumping on them twice in quick succession. Because of this, they were probably the best mutant rats, and you could only face one in the entire game. They appeared in the "Pinball Machine" in the Fun House.

*Vampire Rats- These rats wore black cloaks, would laugh manically, and take the form of a bat rat, which could blast fireballs at you. They could only be eraticated when they landed. They appeared in the level "Ghostly Graveyard" in the Haunted House.

*Mummy Rats- These rats were moaning mummys, and would incessantly chase you down. They required to be eraticated twice to be captured, making them one of the harder mutant rats. They appeared in "Fossil Frolics" and "Catlantis" in the Museum stage.

*Genius Rats- These rats were normal, just with a colossal brain on the top of their head. Although they would not pose any threat to a Scratch Cat physically, they could use telekinetic powers to destroy objects in the room. It was very upsetting to watch helplessly as they destroyed the final item in the room. They appeared in "Pop Art" in the Art Gallery, and "Best Little Warehouse" in the Factory.

*Devil Rats- As the name suggests, these rats were red with horns and wings. They were basically Vampire rats that didn't spend as long on the ground, making them very dangerous. They could also spit fire while grounded, unlike the Vampire Rats. They appeared in "Control Room", "Carry On Conveyor" and "Conveyor Crisis" in the Factory.

*Martian Rats- These rats were red and yellow, which flew about and had a laser blaster for an arm. As with Devil and vampire rats, they could only be destroyed when they landed. They appeared in "Teleporter Room", "Laser Locomotion" and "Mutator Creator" in the Space stage.

Another hazard in a few levels was Bennett the dog. He was a bulldog, who would be asleep, but rats could wake him up, meaning he would chase you for a little while, then fall asleep. He appeared in three levels- "Back Porch" in the Garden, "Ghostly Gatehouse" in the Haunted House, and "Art Attack" in the Art Gallery.

Bosses

At the end of each stage, there would be a big, bad boss character.

*YIPPY YAPPY- He was a small, blue dog that you fought at the end of the House stage. He would chase you around, and after a while would stop, and prepare to charge (you could tell by the dust stream coming from behind him as he pawed the ground.) You had to stand in front of the painted targets on the four corners of the room, and get him to charge at you. At the last moment, you had to get out of the way, causing him to smash into the wall. After you had depleted his health bar, he would charge through a wall, and the level would end.

*BEEFY BENNETT- Beefy Bennett was the same Bulldog that appeared in the levels, just this time he was bipedal, and wielded a club. This bout was at the end of the Garden stage. At the centre of the arena was a bin. You had to stand on this, and wait for Bennett to attack. If you jumped out of the way in time, Bennett would hit the bin, causing a loud noise. This noise annoyed the next door neighbours who would throw amusing items at him (including anvils, cans, newspapers, bricks and boots.) If Bennett was hit by these items, he would get hurt. As the boss progressed, he would get faster, and be able to make more shockwaves to hurt you when he attacked. When the boss was defeated, the now furious neighbours would drop a one ton weight on him, allowing you to escape triumphant.

*RAT CLOWN- The Rat Clown was a giant white rat, floating with balloons, and wearing clown clothing. You battled him at the end of the Funhouse stage. He attacked by firing magic walking shoes at you from his trumpet. This was the easiest boss in the game, as the shoes were fairly slow, and you only had to walk on the pawpads on the floor to fire darts at his balloons. If you aimed correctly, a balloon would pop, hurting him. At the end, with all balloons destroyed, he would deflate and circle wildly about the top of the arena, like a deflating balloon. His shoes would walk out of the arena.

*GHOSTLY GHOULIES- The boss was a headless ghost, with a sword, and wearing an Elizabethian ruff. He was battled at the end of the Haunted House. He would chase you, blinding slashing about with his sword, and some other smaller ghosts would also try and kill you. You hurt him by walking on the paw pads on the floor, which caused the cannons to fire a cannonball. After a certain time limit, they would explode, and if the ghost was caught in the blast, he was injured. Once he was defeated, he disintegrated.

*SCARAB'S PALACE- At the end of the Museum Stage, you battled King Scarab, a giant blue scarab beetle. This boss was different in that you used your eraticator and a destructor. He would attack by using his laser eye beams, hitting you with his flailing front claws, and also summoned mini scarab beetles. You had to eraticate the scarab beetles, and then destruct them, which caused the energy to zap King Scarab. After you repeated this process many times, he would shrink very small, hissing in annoyance. You could also hear him hissing as you walked through the gate.

*YIPPY LITTER- This boss was in the Art Gallery. You battled three of Yippy Yappy's puppies, a blue one, a pink one and a yellow one. They would all chase you, then, like Yippy Yappy, they would stop and prepare to charge.You had to get them to charge into the display cases, which then fell on them and crushed them.

*RESCUE- This boss was at the end of the Factory. It consisted of a laser cage with Pearl inside, being guarded by four robotic dogs. The method was to push the four barrels into the corners of the cage to shut off the lasers. However, it was quite tricky, as you had to avoid the robot dogs, and they could also shunt the barrels out of the way.

*SPACE SHOWDOWN- The final boss was in Space, and obviously was Washington and Jefferson. They were in their hoverships, which had a laser turret on. To start with, they cloaked themselves, making them invincible. You had to slash down the four posts. As you destroyed one, this would cloak the other posts and de-cloak Washington and Jefferson. You had to them get them to zap each other with their lasers, hurting them. After you hurt them, they would cloak themselves and de-cloak the posts, meaning you had to repeat the process three more times. For the final time, a twenty second countdown would start, and if you couldn't get them to zap each other in that time, multiple lasers would zap down from the roof, removing all of the player's lives. If they did hit each other this last time, they would fly into space, and you would be able to escape. Rex Julius states afterward that the two baddies had escaped with King Scarab, which left the question open as to what had happened to them.