Cel Damage

"Cartoon Mayhem"

Cel Damage definitely serves up a healthy dose of cartoon violence in this chaotic offering from Electronic Arts. Cel Damage can be considered the video game equivalent of the Roadrunner show, with its own brand of destruction greeting you every step of the way. The game has somewhat of a plot, as basically its a game show where characters pound each other to death over and over. But due to its simplistic nature and shallow gameplay, this game ultimately falls short.

Cel Damage's cartoony theme shows through in the rendering of the various characters and their respective vehicles. The cel-rendering definitely conforms to a high standard and will bring nostalgia to those who liked the Looney Tunes cartoons back in the day. The characters look very wacky and their vehicles also match their personality to boot.

Cel Damage definitely runs very smoothly, making it a very enjoyable experience, albeit a little hectic. The vehicles travel according to terrain and if you look closely enough, you'll notice that there are slight bounces as the vehicle travels, there is even a tilting motion when you start cornering and turning with it. The weapon changes are seamless, allowing you to switch weapons multiple times without delay. The weapons themselves are animated quite nicely, making it a joy to take down opponents with the menacing chainsaw or perhaps using the giant mallet lay the smack down depending on your style.

Much like its characters, the levels of Cel Damage are cel-rendered to give a cartoony effect. It definitely reflects the craziness that's so prevalent within this game. The levels are interactive, as there are a lot of traps to be sprung, objects to shoot down and items to be picked up. This adds excitement to the gameplay as you have to be aware of your surroundings for the opponent will be underhanded enough to use the environment against you.

Cel Damage employs a behind the character view of the action, much like your typical third person perspective racing game. The camera will definitely adapt to the action though, moving from side to side or perhaps over the top, but overall the camera work is quite good and you won't get dizzy from it.

There are quite a few characters in Cel Damage. As stated before, each character is unique and the same can be said about their respective vehicles. Each vehicle conforms to its character's personality so therefore, each vehicle has different handling characteristics and its own unique weapon. An example of the differences is with Cinder and Fleming. Cinder's vehicle is actually quite stable and handles well, coupled with the fact that its unique weapon is a woodchipper; whereas Fleming's vehicle is a hovercraft with a ray gun as a unique weapon. The hovercraft's handling pales in comparison with Cinder's. As it's a hovercraft, there is a tendency to oversteer when cornering and this can cause problems with aim, especially when using a weapon like the spear gun.

The weapons in Cel Damage are varied and definitely suit the environment for which they were made to wreak destruction on. Examples of the hilarious weapons include a big Red Rocket, much like the one Wile E. Coyote used to try and catch up to Roadrunner, the chainsaw, complete with hands that wield them and the “holes”. The holes, so to speak, are laid out along the ground and any hapless competitor who happens to stray over them falls in. There are many more throughout the game, each with their own advantages and drawbacks.

The environment in Cel Damage is highly interactive. The developers have definitely put a lot of thought into the way the environment can be used to the player's advantage or use it as a win condition. One of the most interactive environments can be found within the second desert stage, where all of you are separated by a chasm. There is a tornado which picks up any unfortunate competitor that happens to cross it and assuming you're playing capture the flags, you need to shoot at a big target in order to activate the magnet, which will then bring you up to the top of the mountain and to the finishing point. Add to that the multitude of traps and you have the recipe for a very interactive and treacherous level.

Cel Damage is heavily focused on multiplayer, so much so that when you're playing the single player mode, you'd feel it pointless and futile. This is actually to the detriment of the game although due to its very nature, there's not much the developer could've done about it. Trying to put more into the plot than what is already apparent (to spice up the single player mode) will make it way too cheesy. Multi-player is definitely where its at and with three other friends, chaos will reign as all of you try to beat each other to a pulp on the cartoony landscape.

Basically, what Cel Damage has going for it comes in the way of mindless multiplayer bashing, but besides that, the gameplay is way to shallow for it to be considered a contender in the games arena, despite the array of weapons and interactivity with the environment.

Cartoons always tend to have rather repetitive music (especially when concerning looney tunes cartoons) and cel-damage is no different. Although the music matches the atmosphere a lot of the time, it can get so repetitive that you'll find yourself humming it out when you're not playing the game, which can get quite annoying at times.

Over the top sound effects are called for in a game like this and the developers certainly deliver on that point. Wht crashing mallet, the sound of multiple bullets from a gattling gun piercing armour, or perhaps the sound of someone falling into a deep chasm are all found in this game. Although not spectacular, the sound effects more than serve their purpose in the mayhem that is Cel Damage.

The voice acting in this game is quite funny, enhancing the overall atmosphere of the game. The characters are brought to life by corny voice acting quite hilariously. There are a large amount of wisecracks blurted out by various characters during battle with some sounding a lot stranger than others.

Cel Damage is not a bad game, its just okay, meant for parties and nothing more. With the lack of depth in gameplay and short-lived multiplayer goodness, its best to rent it out first and then decide whether you want to buy it or not.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 05/10/05