Back in the day, one of the best game genres we had was the Car Combat genre. Games like the Twisted Metal franchise, Interstate ‘76, Vigilante 8 and its sequel 2nd Offense took many hours of lives as we strapped rocket launchers to our vehicles and blew each other up to cheesy rock music. However, for every classic one, we did get some stinkers like Streets Of SimCity or ones that went under the radar and never got the recognition they deserved and this is one of them. Released back on the GameCube, Xbox, and on the PS2 in Europe, Cel Damage had a mixed reception upon release back in the day but, it must’ve had a cult status as, between the years 2014 and 2019, an HD version, appropriately titled Cel Damage HD, released on modern consoles and it’s this version that’ll be the subject of this review. Is it any good or should this be sent to the scrapyard with the others?
First of all, little bit of a heads up to address the Snorlax in the room: This game isn’t an HD update to the original game but, rather, the European PS2 exclusive version called Cel Damage Overdrive (a version I had no idea existed until writing this review) which, from my research, is a bit on the easier side and has some changes that the Xbox and Gamecube versions don’t have, so keep that in mind. Still, that aside, this is still a fun vehicular combat game and one I’m sad I never got the chance to play until my friend introduced it to me a few years ago. The basic premise is that the game is set within a fictional animated demolition show and the characters fight each other for, what else, fame and glory. That is, honestly, the only amount of story you’ll get as there really isn’t much of a single player campaign of any type in here. Yeah, there’s bot matches you can play but, outside of that, there’s really nothing else to do single player wise. A real shame as this premise has potential for some good stories for each of the six characters you can play as, with each one having a special weapon you can use. For example, there’s Fowl Mouth; A 1930’s-esque gangster duck who can make players sleep with the fishes with his fast firing Tommy Gun and Sinder, a demonic imp from Hell, can wield a powerful chainsaw. The cast of characters available are fun to control and the animations on them are nicely done, though I didn’t really notice any difference between them in terms of stats. There are also four secret characters you can unlock, like a T-rex named T-Wrecks and a red bull named Whack Angus, and each comes complete with their own personal special weapon to use.
Speaking of weapons, outside of the special weapons and the basic starting weapon every player has, you can also find random weapons on each of the twelve maps to equip, like cannons, axes, baseball bats, and a minigun, along with the special weapons of each character you can unlock randomly while playing so that anyone can use them. However, actually using the weapons is a bit of a small issue and it’s really my main complaint with the game and that’s the physics. Now, graphically, this does pull off a classic cartoon look with its cel-shaded graphics and I do like how some of the items you get have this over-the-top design to them. It’s just that, as this is a cartoon-inspired game, everything has this rubbery-whacky feeling to it, which includes the physics and that can get a bit annoying. If you get hit, which undoubtedly you will, your car will go flying and bounce around like it’s Flubber. Even driving can be just a bit of a pain as, sometimes, the slightest hit can ragdoll you. I get what it was going for, which was a cartoon world, and I do appreciate that. It’s just that the ragdoll physics can get in the way and I can see this being a potential issue for other gamers.
This does lead to the biggest issue with the game and it's one, I feel, may be the biggest deciding factor for many: there really isn’t much on offer here. Outside of the lack of a proper single player campaign, you only get the following: Three Game Modes, Ten Characters (four of which can be unlocked), and only couch-multiplayer, no online play of any kind. That’s it. In fact, you can honestly beat the game and unlock everything in under a few hours if you set the options to the lowest points total so that every match will be in your favor. Granted, it is only $10, so I can cut some slack there. But, back in the day, if I had picked this up for its original asking price (which I’ll just assume was $30 as I don't recall ever seeing this in stores, but I could just be very well mistaken) and this was all I got? I’d be disappointed and, nowadays, I’m pretty sure some gamers will be too. Still, for what’s on offer for its price, it’s not a bad little package. And, again, I do have to stress that this is a HD port of the PS2 Cel Damage Overdrive which, again, added stuff like a health bar and tweaked the difficulty, so if you’re looking for the original version you grew up playing in HD, you might be disappointed.
Truth be told, though? I wasn’t disappointed and I really enjoyed this title. Yeah, the lack of a proper single player campaign hurt but I still had fun playing against the bots, which is something I wish more multiplayer games would offer as, sometimes, I don’t feel like playing against those who seemingly have no life and spend hours grinding for that coveted camo on Call Of Duty. Honestly, I would rank this game up there as one of the best vehicular combat games, alongside Carmageddon and Vigilante 8, and one everyone should at least check out. Though I would recommend, at the very least, waiting for a sale on the game.
