cel damage (review) - 06/14/04

Now, I don’t exactly hold a degree in Entertainment Critiquing, but I do have a good idea of what is fun and what sucks. And one game that I found to be surprisingly fun is EA Games' Cel Damage. This diamond in the rough is pretty hard to find anymore, and it is a shame that its wild gameplay is not more readily available.

The game is basically a demolition derby on crack. You play as one of ten cartoon characters in a battle royal to see how many times you can destroy the other characters. The game play is loose and incredibly quick. Blinking is not an option, as any stalling will result in your character getting smashed into a pancake by a giant hammer or cut in half with a chainsaw. Once you catch on to the pace of the gameplay, you will find yourself sucking down the caffeine just to keep up with its blinding speed.

Three modes of gameplay are available. Deathmatch is the battle royal, where you battle to stay alive, while making minced meat of your opponents. If something with a little more strategy is your cup of molasses, then there is capture-the-flag, where you actually have to capture four flags without getting hit. That may seem easy, but when you factor in that you are one of six characters battling for the flags, and that the flags actually run around on their own, this simple game becomes quite difficult and incredibly fun. The final gameplay mode is gate racing, which is an all out race in one of 12 interactive cartoon worlds.

What really makes this game fun is not only the gameplay, but the general insanity, style, and humor of the game. Among the cast of characters is a foul mouthed, black and white duck named, Fowl Mouth, and the sexy blonde vixen, Dominique Trix, just to name a couple. The entire game looks like a real life cartoon, with some of the best cell shading I’ve ever seen in a video game, and the commentary from the characters is priceless.

Try to find this title, it is well worth the $20 that it is going for now. Your biggest difficulty may be in actually getting your hands on a copy. Once you find a copy, invite three of your closest friends over and start having a ball.

-jay

Screen shots from Cel Damage (by EA Games)