Cel Damage
Reviewed by MaxH
Cel Damage works far better than expected. When a
title is released with average press and very little,
if any, marketing (Despite this being an EA title),
things aren't looking good. And the so-2001 cel
shading style isn't going to raise any eyebrows
anymore either (Despite it's striking and effective
use in this title). But for those who haven't found
four player Smash Bros. to be all that entertaining
(Me and a few people at Microsoft, I'd imagine) then
this is the perfect alternative.
There's no story to drag the action a long, more a
basic premise. You are one of the ten characters in
the show Cel Damage (A show in which people in cars
kill each other a lot of times). And that's about it.
There is an intro and ending sequence for six of the
characters (Strangely enough, the four unlockable
ones don't have any) but otherwise it's strictly a
pick up and play affair.
Cel Damage has three modes to mess around with. The
first is smack attack mode, and it's also the most
mindless. The aim is simply to be the first to
achieve 500 'smacks', which are points you receive
for attacking the other characters. Every character's
car comes equipped with a default weapon to throw
(Skulls, flame balls, bricks etc) and getting another
character with one will get you one smack point.
Simply using this method to dispatch of your
opponents would be ludicrous, luckily there are
plenty of other weapons to pick up that are dotted
around each arena. These range from huge fire-axes to
cartoon-style bottomless holes, which you can place
strategically around the arena. There are about 20
different types of weapons to use, not counting the
personal weapons each of the ten characters has
(Which can be unlocked for all to use by beating all
36 events with every character (360 events!)).
Needless to say, there's quite a varied choice of killing methods.
The second type of mode is gate relay. This places
you and the others in the same deathmatch arenas used
in every mode, except this time there are two gates
(checkpoints) dotted at either end. You must be the
first to get through the gates 20 times (That's ten
times for each gate). This mode is, by far, the most
boring and tedious and I wouldn't have bothered with
it at all if I weren't determined to unlock the extra
weapons and ending sequences. Think a straight copy
of Mario Kart, but with retarded opponents and no
extra elements such as track design or power sliding.
The third and final mode is Flag Rally, an extension
of the smack attack games and my favourite of the
lot. This sees all of the drivers (There's seven
competing in ever event in case you're interested)
competing to be the first to collect four flags
(Which are running around the arena in an attempt to
escape) and make it to the winners circle. There are
never more than seven flags on the arena at one time,
and killing someone causes them to lose all their
flags, so this becomes the most frenzied of the three
events. Whereas smack attack had you contented with
slashing away at any old car that came in your line
of fire, flag rally causes you to single out certain
characters and make a beeline for spare flags with
the quickest shortcuts. Thus making the experience a
little more tactical.
A game like this lives or dies on the quality of it's
controls, and luckily Cel Damage passes the mark.
Slick turning and easy access to all of the function
are present and correct (The latter being quite an
achievement on the somewhat convoluted right side of
the GC pad). The reverse function is peculiarly slow,
however, and makes the common practice of bashing
into walls quite hard to get out of.
Initially, the one player mode is highly
entertaining. It's obvious from the lack of any kind
of story mode that Cel Damage wasn't intended to be
played alone, but doing so will yield satisfaction
for the first few goes. Experimenting with different
characters is quite fun, and the incredible
cartoonish graphics will add some visual grandeur to
help disguise the relative shallowness of the
gameplay. And once the appeal of playing by yourself
is gone, it still provides a worthy distraction while
on the phone or listening to music. The obscene
simplicity of it all makes Cel Damage easy to play
through without having to think too much (Or at all).
I'm not giving it extra points for being mindless of
course, but I've found it to be a handy distraction
while I'm doing something more important.
The REAL meat of the game is in it's multiplayer
mode, though. With two players, this is great fun,
with four it's fantastic. This is definitely the
multiplayer game of choice for me on the Gamecube.
Super monkey Ball and Smash Bros. Melee may well be
great party games, but neither of them are as
accessible to everyone as this is. Anyone who's
played a driving game before, even if it's just once,
can master Cel Damage within a couple of matches, and
so everything will be fair. The smooth controls
should also ensure that those who aren't too good at
games won't find themselves slaughtered unfairly time
after time. And there'll be none of that 'guy who
owns the game always wins it' syndrome. Cel Damage
holds one of the most intense, enjoyable and
unassuming multiplayer modes I've ever experienced.
And there's none of that Mario Kart 'Banana peel'
stuff here either, the weapons are pleasingly meaty
and capable of mass destruction (The arenas even hold
some destructible scenery, which is nice to see).
There's something immensely satisfying about lopping
three opponents in half with just one swing of your
chainsaw and even if the shallow game mechanics begin
to show themselves after extended play, this small
pleasure never loses it's appeal. Different people
will often find themselves skilled in the art of
different weapons as well, I wouldn't say there's any
'killer weapons' that everyone goes for. Those who
are nippy drivers and can manoeuvre in and out of a
murder scene in barely a second will find themselves
using the close range weapons a lot. While those who
have good aim, and like to lie low can dispatch of
their opponents with long range weapons such as the
dynamite crossbow or the mortar.
As well as the juicy weapons, the arenas help to make
things a lot more fun. They are surprisingly dynamic
with all manner of booby traps such as retracting
bridges, swinging log rams and venus fly traps. If
you have failed to get yourself an instant kill
weapon, you can always finish opponents off by
knocking them off a ledge or into a track with a
couple of well timed swings of a baseball bat. The
arenas are also quite compact so as to make sure you
are never wandering around lonely for long (A problem
that plagued Mario Kart 64's battle mode). Shortcuts
and hidden areas litter the arenas, hiding more
useful weapons and ambush points for the more
intrepid contestants.
Graphically, Cel Damage is stunning. As well as
sporting some of the most striking and stylish cel
shading I've ever seen, the game speeds along like a
bullet while putting some impressive shadowing
techniques to use. The draw distance is a little
poorer than expected, but it only obscures details on
distant objects, rather than the objects themselves,
so nothing too important is lost. However, it can
often be quite hard to distinguish one character from
another until they are right in your face, so
singling someone out for some punishment is often
quite difficult. The character and car design is
mostly pleasing though. While we have one or two
terrible entries into the game (Fat construction
worker BT Bruno and arrogant dinosaur T Wrecks)
inspired efforts such as Dominique Trix (A
dominatrix. Geddit?) and the fantastic Fowl mouth (A
totally black and white gangster duck) make up for
it, with the rest of the cast falling on the right
side of memorable.
Sound is a mixed bag. Sound effects are as
brilliantly full-bodied and explosive as the weapons
themselves, with a pleasant cartoon style. Music is
of the techno variety and while it can be atmospheric
and hypnotic in some places (Like most of the
horror-themed arenas) and catchy in most, it is
sometimes a bit dodgy and sparse. I think cartoonish,
brash music would have suited the game better (Much
like that used in the Crash Bandicoot series). Voice
samples are instantly forgettable and mostly
irritating. Dominique has a few choice lines (ÒNow
ask me for another!"), but the rest of them seem
content with peddling out the same old irritating
vague garbage (Ò*I* kick YOUR butt").
If you are looking for a decent one player driving
game with a twist, you'd be better of buying Crazy
Taxi. Cel Damage's one player mode lasts longer than
expected and unlocking weapons and endings is a nice
enough incentive, but this isn't a game that can be
recommended on the merits of it's singe player mode.
The multiplayer however, is fantastic. I've only had
the game for a few weeks, but I can see the appeal of
hacking my friends to bits with chainsaws lasting
long into the year (And maybe beyond). Cel Damage
isn't the most complex or clever of videogames, but
it's proud of it's shallow ideals and all the better for it.
Overall: 7 out of 10