Hamsterdam: Paws of Justice Review

Fun Hamster, but Quickly Overstays His Welcome

Hamsterdam: Paws of Justice is a game built around an immediately winning idea; what if an adorable hamster did kung-fu against other less cute, but still pretty winning rodents, in the style of old-school martial arts flicks. Who wouldn’t want to play that? Muse Games successful Kickstarter (15,000 dollars raised against an 8,000 dollar goal) proved that a market decidedly existed, and Hamsterdam was born. But a good idea doesn’t always birth a perfect product. And while Hamsterdam is a very sweet little game, with endearing visuals, its ambition never reaches the heights of its concept or veneer.  

A Simple Plan

Hamsterdam launches its action from a pretty basic narrative: Marlo the Chinchilla is leading his Rodent Gang in running amok through the titular city. Pim adorable hamster hero, must travel on his scooter through 3 playable city maps to find and defeat Marlo in the Red Light District, fighting villainous goons along the way. The backgrounds change, but the objective does not; each level consists of Pim fighting through groups of enemies until facing off against the maps boss.

Fight Like a Hamster

Pim attacks via taps and swipes. There is not much finesse at play here-the primary objective is to deliver blows by tapping the screen as quickly as possible and periodically swipe to move away from oncoming attacks. Each enemy has a KO meter which fills up by achieving scoring hits. Though adversaries run in packs, this never becomes a complicating factor. These are very considerate, polite gangster rodents, who never rush Pim en masse. All of the game’s baddies patiently wait their turn. Pim’s hamster-fu, however, looks great, as do most of the game’s visuals. Boss Battles revolve around avoiding each level’s particular boss’s bombs, until Pim is able to disarm them with his hamster-fu moves. This template is unfortunately the standard for every single level

Hamster Day

Hamsterdam either falls into a pleasant rut, or becomes tedious and repetitive, depending on the players general approach to this half-full glass. Though the controls lack a certain precision, making it a bit trickier to execute tap/swipe combinations necessary to take down Rodent Gang thugs, most players will figure out how to compensate relatively quickly. Hamsterdam falls into a groove very quickly. Along the way, attempts are made to simulate a sense of change, primarily by changing locales and skins for your Hamster avatar. While Pim’s various skins are adorable, it doesn’t provide any meaningful variation. Throughout every successive stage, “Hamsterdam” remains the game you encountered in level 1, which inevitably wears a bit thin.   

Hamsterdam either falls into a pleasant rut, or becomes tedious and repetitive, depending on the players general approach to this half-full glass. Though the controls lack a certain precision, making it a bit trickier to execute tap/swipe combinations necessary to take down Rodent Gang thugs, most players will figure out how to compensate relatively quickly. Hamsterdam falls into a groove very quickly. Along the way, attempts are made to simulate a sense of change, primarily by changing locales and skins for your Hamster avatar. While Pim’s various skins are adorable, it doesn’t provide any meaningful variation. Throughout every successive stage, “Hamsterdam” remains the game you encountered in level 1, which inevitably wears a bit thin.