So Cel Damage, a game I had heard of but haven’t played nor could tell you anything about, first came out well over a decade ago on the original Xbox and Gamecube. A cel-shaded, sort of family-friendly local multiplayer vehicular/kart combat game, Cel Damage wasn’t mind-blowing when it first came out nor is it in this HD version. However, like a lot of local multiplayer/party games — Wii Sports, Smash Brothers, almost any brawler — the experience steps up significantly when you’re playing with friends. The power of a good multiplayer experience can mask an otherwise mediocre or sub-par game pretty well. Cel Damage HD fits this mold rather well — played by your lonesome against the AI, it can be hard to play even more than a half hour or so at a time before boredom sets in. With friends, that time can be expected to double, but Cel Damage HD (CDHD) isn’t likely to be a mainstay for those local multiplayer jam sessions.
Let’s take a look at the numbers. CDHD includes six playable characters from the start, with four others that can be unlocked. There are three game modes that can be played across twelve different levels. Levels are segmented into groups of three, which are then separated into four distinctly themed locales, or arenas, including a western themed set, an outer space one, classical horror (think graveyards and castles), and a swamp/jungle setting. Each of the initial six racers, who are all contestants on a cartoon game show as the miniscule background story goes, have three unique characteristics, such as their acceleration, top speed, HP, and a unique weapon. These characteristics can be seen in the character-select screen by holding down Triangle. They’re further distinguished by their voices, names, and appearance, and it’s these cosmetic differences that are more apparent than how each character ‘feels’ actual play, which is a bit unfortunate. Ultimately, I liked the 1930s gangster-style duck character Foul Mouth, whose unique attributes include being the smallest vehicle (making it slightly less susceptible to being hit) and the ability to use a tommy gun. Other choices include Violet, BT Bruno (drives a bulldozer, has high HP, but low top speed, and uses a sledgehammer), Sinder, Domnique Trix (high top speed, low cornering ability, uses crossbow), and Flemming (drives a hovercraft which is pretty sweet, has high top speed, but his personality is a bit whinny).
CDHD does not include a story mode, although you can unlock very short “movies” for each character by winning a group of three levels with them. The lack of a story mode further suggests that this is really meant to be a game played with local friends, as currently no online modes or support is offered (no leaderboards, either). This lack of online integration gives it an old school feel you could say, which I don’t particularly mind, but I imagine most readers would be interested to know. Anyway, before starting into any of the three available modes, you can take a peek at the options, which include toggling vibration, adjusting volume (including Voice volume, which you may want to mute so that your character’s taunts aren’t played through the speaker of the DualShock4), and viewing the controls. The controls are simple and intuitive enough, with d-pad and left stick used for steering (the stick gives more precise control, especially when adjusting your position in air), L2 and R2 for brake/reverse and accelerating, and L1/R1 for dodging. Dodging motions actually flip your vehicle once in the left or right direction, making it not just a good way to avoid incoming fire, but also to help adjust your trajectory. The face buttons are assigned to melee attack, ranged attack, boost, and special weapon attack.
Weapons are a big part of Cel Damage and their variety and number (over thirty), is commendable. Vacuums, freeze guns, harpoons, grenades, chainguns, baseball bats, buzzsaws, boxing gloves, and many more are on the menu. The Vacuum, by the way, is one of several weapons that isn’t a traditional offensive-minded weapon per se. Instead, the Vacuum is used to remove an opponent’s weapon or to steal their flag in the Flag Rally mode. Anyway, before starting any mode of game, you can custom which weapons, that you have previously unlocked that is, are available in the match. These weapons, and health boosts alike, appear in the game as colorful power-ups that you get simply by driving into them. Once taken, they disappear for a while and then respawn automatically. Each weapon has a usage meter in the upper right corner of the HUD to show you when it’s almost exhausted. Furthermore, if you drive over a weapon power-up, it will immediately replace the one you already have. In addition to these weapons, players also have an infinite amount of ammo for short-range, low-damage ranged attacks. There is no lock-on aiming obviously (and fortunately), so don’t expect to be able to pummel an opponent with purely these ranged attacks, but they certainly can do the trick to throw them off slightly or to finish off their HP meter, which causes them a good five second delay while they wait to respawn.
All three playable modes are centered around frantic vehicular combat. In Gate Relay, it’s a simple circuit race whereby you must pass through clearly marked gates and complete anywhere from eight to twenty laps (a number configurable before launching the match). If you miss a gate, the game warns you right a way, and you must turn around to pass through said gate. Using the very short-lived but helpful boosts and also the dodge ability is key to taking the tightest routes possible. Interestingly, while you can see what position you’re in, there is no way to check your rear view or see the split time between your lap and the other racers. This sense of ‘blindness’ in not knowing exactly how close, but just off-screen, that your opponents are keeps you focused in to avoid mistakes, although on Normal, the AI rarely poses a challenge.
In Flag Rally, three flags, which actually move about by themselves as they have legs, are spread out across the level and the goal is to snatch them up and deliver them to the “winner’s circle” safely. You just have to drive, or shall we say land if you’ve caught some air, in the circle for points to be tallied. The first to score at least ten, and up to fifty-five, wins. Note that you don’t have to be “killed” to drop the flag(s) you are carrying — just getting hit is enough to jar it loose, making it available for anyone to pickup. Other than some levels making it a bit of a nuisance to get all the way to the winner’s circle, Flag Rally is pretty fun.
Lastly, there is Smack Attack. This is a zany brawling mode where it’s all about pummeling your opponents as many times as you can. Score thresholds range from 300 to 1000, meaning the first player to hit the other opponents for an aggregate of that many times wins. This mode was the most fun with friends, as you get to experience everyone’s insane attempts to land the most hits.
In terms of presentation, CDHD is ok, but I have to admit I didn’t think the visuals were all that vibrant or impressive. The colors seemed a little, what’s the word, shallow, I suppose. The animations were ok, the framerate was fine, but the colors weren’t as eye-popping as they could have been or as I have seen in other cel-shaded games. As for the audio, I could have done without the character voices (which you can turn down in the Options), and the effects and music aren’t very interesting either. Of course, this isn’t the kind of game that is meant to wow you with its technical image and sound quality, it’s a budget, four-player same screen party game.
With that, let’s get to the summary…
