'Catlateral Damage' - The First-Person Cat Simulator of your Dreams
Shaun Cordingley
That's right, a first-person cat simulator.
Catlateral Damage is a game where you take on the role of a jerk cat (so you know, a cat), whose goal is to knock as many of their owners' belongings onto the floor as possible, using your fluffy body, and your two paws. Over the course of the game, you will have opportunities to also eat plants, wander through cardboard cat forts, and kill that stupid laser pointer.
KILL IT GOOD.
Catlateral Damage was originally built in 2013 for the 7DFPS Game Jam, eventually coming to Steam as a part of their Greenlight program in 2014, a full "commercial" release in 2015, and just this past week having come to the PS4 for 9.99$.
The game itself is as simple as can be, and completely mindless, however, neither of those are bad things--this is exactly what something like Catlateral Damage needs to be: it is just a strange, surreal, and somewhat cathartic experience of running around and being a cat who is a complete dick. I have been playing the game for roughly 7 hours (as I am in hot pursuit of the platinum trophy, which I will hopefully have by the time you read this article...) and I cannot tell you how many times a grin broke out on my face when I saw a whole bunch of plates, or that beautiful flat screen TV...
Every time you start off again, your cat gives its' reason for being a jerk...
PHOTO: http://blog.us.playstation.com/2016/03/10/catlateral-damage-pounces-onto-ps4-march-22nd/
The game itself is broken into two different modes: objective mode and litterbox mode. Objective mode gives you a procedurally generated house to run around in, a point goal, and a time limit, and your goal is to reach that point total by knocking your owners junk onto the ground before the time runs out. Then do that across 5 different houses (with the potential to find little icons that unlock secret levels like the 'Mewseum' or my favorite, the 'Supermarkat') and you're done! You could literally finish the "objective mode" in about half an hour, however there are tonnes of collectables (cat pictures, unlocking new cats) you can grab, and this is one of those games that really benefits if you are playing it with the intention of getting all of the PS Trophies, as it will keep you coming back, and force you to cat differently.
'Litterbox' mode is exactly what you think it is: you pick your cat, you pick a level, and a procedurally generated level of your choosing appears, and you can spend as long as you like (no time pressure, no goals) just smacking stuff onto the floor with your paws. There's something really zen about this mode: I spent a good hour and a half playing it while catching up on episodes of Serial and it was just a perfect, relaxing end to my day.
That's not to say that Catlateral Damage on PS4 does not have it's few problems--most egregiously (for the way I prescribe playing the game) is that the trophies are buggy. I have had to, on more than one occasion, replay a level for a trophy, and there has been a few times where I will be playing through a run of 'Objective' levels and a trophy for something I did forty minutes ago will just suddenly pop in. Speaking of pop in, when you get into the really heavily populated (with stuff) rooms, I did get a bit of pop in, and a small amount of slow-down, but nothing game-breaking.
Here's the silly, silly trailer:
At the end of the day, this is a silly little experience that delivers exactly what it sounds like, that any cat lovers (including non-gamers--this is a great game for those who are not particularly gamer-ly), and any Katamari fans should give this game a look, as it's that sort of zen, fun experience.
Now if you'll excuse me, there's a smug looking pile of dvd's that my boy Wil and I need to smack around
-S (@Shauncord)