"Catlateral Damage" Is The Time For Feline Revenge
Catlateral Damage is a strange game. In fact it's almost not really a game at all, but rather an anger management therapy software in kitty form. And I suppose one couldn't ask for more.
Catlateral Damage is a first-person perspective game where you play as a cat that wants to get revenge on their masters for some sleight, at least in their little kitty minds. So you have to be an asshole and wreck their entire house by either knocking down or swiping objects strewn throughout the house. You can swipe left or right, and jump around. After a certain amount of time, power-ups augmenting these abilities can show up. If you get the catnip it powers up everything for a brief time (although the screen flashes many colors and makes it hard to see in exchange). And that's pretty much it.
There are a few modes to play. Objective mode is the base game, but with time limits and scoring goals to reach. This mode is a bit hard, as the score goals are usually a bit high, and there doesn't seem to be any way to multiply your score. If the object had different values, or there were combo multipliers, this mode might be a bit more fun. The other mode is Litterbox, which is the hassle-free sandbox mode.
Regardless of which mode you play, the real goal seems to be unlocking all the cats or getting achievements. But even more than that, it seems to be a perfect alternative for punching pillows in fits of anger. You had a bad day? Play Catlateral Damage and throw that video game console on the ground! It's very therapeutic stuff. The game runs like a dream on systems with RAM over 4GB, so older systems might have trouble playing it. Hopefully a console port or two is in the works, but for $10 it's a cheaper alternative to replacing your own property when you get angry.
VERDICT:
The Good – Trashing each house is pretty fun.
The Bad – some goals in Objective Mode feel a bit unreasonable.
The Ugly – The game feels like a novelty, as it's only amusing for a few minutes.
Summary: Catlateral Damage is a first-person demolition game that, while fun, gets old quickly. It's a great alternative to beating up a pillow, though.
FINAL GRADE: 7.5 (out of ten)
Review code provided by Will Brierly of Snowrunner Productions
