Last week (maybe the week before), we were sent a code for a game that had appeared on Steam last year called Catlateral Damage. The entire purpose of this game was to play as a cat, in first-person (feline) perspective, and knock a certain amount of items off of shelves in a restricted amount of time. Think of it in the same vein as a game like Surgery Simulator, where you have to perform certain task within a given timeframe (also, avoid killing the patient). Instead of putting in a brain in a skull or trying to put a heart back in a chest, you’re playing a cat that has to smack items to the floor.
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If that isn’t enough to make the game interesting, your cat will randomly run across certain items that they can angrily swipe at them, breaking them open to reveal temporarily abilities, which adds a bit more flavor to the gameplay. The items could mean better jumping ability, better swiping ability or having the ability to speedily get through levels. The abilities do add a small amount of variety to break up the monotonous tone of excitement the game dishes out. Granted, swiping stuff off shelves is probably the biggest highlight in the game, but the additional abilities do make it feel a tiny bit deeper in the scheme of things.
If more motivation is needed, though, then Catlateral Damage also features a bevy of cute prizes you can obtain, as well as the promise of unlocking different types of cats (they come with adorable pictures). Beyond this there really isn’t much to the game, no real substance to it. That’s not a knock, it simply is what it is. For me personally, my interest was maintained for about two hours, though I would imagine that Catlateral Damage was built to be nibbled on rather than gulped.
Catlateral Damage features two types of modes to break it up. The first is the objection mode, which is the mode where you’ll find abilities and be given time limits and goals to accomplish. The second mode is litterbox mode, which allows you to take as much time as you want to achieve the ‘knocked down’ items goal (these feature abilities as well). The fan favorite, at least in my household (family and interns) is the litterbox mode, which is just too much fun. The lack of pressure to complete goals makes for a stupid fun time in the game, though (again), I have to say it still didn’t offer up much motivation to play this for hours upon hours.
Anyway, the gameplay is simplistic enough for anyone to pick up a controller and go. Cat lovers will certainly get a kick out of the gameplay, though if you’re looking for anything beyond a ‘casual’ experience with the game, you’re going to be sorely disappointed. There simply isn’t a lot here to say it’s a great game, though I’m finding the humor in it disruptive enough to say it isn’t a bad game. I’ll say it’s simply a game that doesn’t have much to it, but didn’t advertise that it would.
On the presentation side of things, outside of the beautiful cat pictures, you’re getting a world that reminds one of games like I Am Bread. Very simple visuals for the most part that don’t push the PlayStation 4’s hardware one bit. You have a cartoony world that is not detailed almost at all, in fact it’s more blocky than smooth, though you won’t experience texture rendering or pop-ups. Fast was the key to the visuals in this game and fast is delivered. Just like the gameplay, it’s nothing more or less than expected with a title like this.
So, with all this said, is this game fun? It all depends on what you want from it. For hardcore gaming types, this game will maybe give a chuckle for an hour or so, then it will become stagnant. For casual gaming personalities, like my intern Rachel or my kids, they will probably love it. I watched my children (and intern) play this game for more than two hours at a time without being a bit bored by it. I know it’s good for their casual gaming skills, but not hardcore gaming good. The price of $9.99 does help to sell it, though. If it was more than that, it would have been a ‘no way’.
Anyway, onto the summary!
