DRAT. And double drat.
When the original Xbox was released Cel Damage was one of the first racing titles I bought for it way back in 2001. It's cell shaded graphics and the Wacky Races inspired characters had me hooked. The game was far from perfect though so when I had the chance to review the HD version for the Xbox One I couldn't resist.
I've written about my non gaming family before but game's like Cel Damage do manage to get us all crowded around the TV in full on competition mode so it already had a captive audience in my living room. But that also means that it's going to be scrutinised even more because it's got to live up to the standards set by Mario Kart and that's one hell of a high standard. There are 6 characters available with an additional 4 characters that you need to unlock and they all have their own style/personality. Sinder is a demon who drives a Wood Chipper, T Wreck is a dinosaur who drives a jeep, Dominique Trix who drives a station wagon and Fowl Mouth who drives a 1930’s car. I'm sure you get the idea by now. There is a huge amount of weaponry available once it's all unlocked from your basic Sledgehammer and Heat Seeking Missile to the more exotic Portable Holes, Buzzsaw, Boxing Gloves, Woodchipper and Cluster Bombs.
Let's get one thing out of the way immediately. The single player is bloody awful and by awful I mean shite. It's a soul crushing experience that I wouldn't wish on anyone. There are only 3 modes available and none of them offer anything you haven't played in better games before. Gate Relay is the bog in to race from one gate to another which lasts for 8 laps, Flag Rally where you have race to pick up flags and deposit them in a specific area of the map and Smack Attack where you have to hit your opponent's 300 times, yes 300 times using weapons, your car or the environment and in single player it's not half as fun as it sounds and that's because The AI is dumber than a bag of spanners. I gave up counting the number of times the AI would just randomly drive around the track the wrong way or just crash into an obstacle and stay there. The only challenge in single player is not switching your Xbox One off.
So let's get down to brass tacks. This game sinks or swims on its multiplayer and the first hurdle is there is no online multiplayer and that is a missed opportunity. I couldn't believe it. With a single player experience this bad it's crying out for online play but doesn't have it. When a game like this lives or dies on its multiplayer it's unforgivable. There aren't even any leaderboards. But as I've said before this is the kind of game where I can get the whole family involved and indulge in some local couch multiplayer. My kids loved it and we spent hours tearing around the tracks knocking the hell out of each other. Obviously kids are much easier to please but when all four of us got playing it was a good laugh and even I forgot about the game's faults for a few hours. It's moments like these where Cel Damage shines and proves what it could have been. Unfortunately not everyone including myself will always have four people to game with.
Cel Damage is a mixed bag. The single player experience is woeful and I would advise anyone that is thinking of buying it purely for its single player to avoid it like the plague. The games lack of any online feature is also a huge shame and for a multiplayer only game a huge mistake. However if you have three spare controllers and three other people to join in with you Cel Damage can provide a brief but enjoyable few hours. It's just a shame that a good opportunity has been missed.
Publisher: Finish Line Games
Developer: Finish Line Games
Modes: Single Player/4 Player Local Multiplayer
Cel Damage HD is available to buy now for £7.19
Review code supplied by XCN