Rat Attack!
Platform: Nintendo 64
Genre: Puzzle
Release Year: 2000
Developer: Pure Entertainment
Publisher: Mindscape
Players: Single player, multiplayer
Alternate Title: Rat Attack
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Description

RAT ATTACK! Nuke 'em! The mutant rat invasion is on! And the little rodents have a freakish plot: create bazillions of bizarre and deadly rats bent on trashing everything they can sink their teeth into! YOU gotta stop 'em! Become one of the SCRATCH CATS, an elite squad of eight cat commandos dedicated to protecting the world from its biggest threat yet! Over 50 action-packed levels, 15 specifically designed for multi-player. Six Scratch Cat characters to choose from, plus two hidden "super" cats!

Story

The Cat Genius Professor Rex Julius presented his theories to the public of the threat that the ever expanding rat population would bring chaos 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. Over 40 years have passed, They returned to earth and immediately commenced with plans for world domination, amassing a huge army of rats with instructions 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 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, 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'll lost a life. Rats are 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 will 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.)