Catlateral Damage is a 2013 first person “cat simulator” game originally released as a prototype online before being released on PC and PS4. You play as one of a multitude of different kitties as you explore randomly generated houses and do what cats do best - DESTROY EVERYTHING.
The primary gameplay involves jumping around on to shelves, opening up cupboards and using your fuzzy little paws to knock over carefully organised stacks of DVDs and books, precariously placed China and glassware and giving that expensive vase a gentle nudge towards the hall carpet.You can also interact with the lovingly placed cat toys, swiping at your scratching post, digging in the litter tray and chowing down on delicious cat grass in order to earn upgrades that improve the strength of your swipes, the height of your jumps and the speed of the pitter-patter of your little jellybean toes running across the kitchen counters.
Tripping off your tail on catnip will allow a temporary boost to all of your stats and will also give the screen a psychedelic colour scheme. More abstract yet helpful power ups are also available, such as a force field that allows you to bulldoze through everything and moon gravity that allows you and objects to float around the room.
Naturally as a cat you are automatically given free reign to be a complete and utter menace - unraveling the toilet roll, knocking over house plants, running along piano keys and breaking into the fridge to steal bacon and milk are all par for the course.
The game is broken up into two primary sections; Objective Mode and Litterbox Mode. Objective Mode involves knocking over a certain amount of objects within a time limit while Litterbox Mode gives you free reign of an area with no time limit. Each time you start a new game, your cat stats will be reset to zero and you must rebuild your stats from scratch.
Catlateral Damage also includes a Katamari Damacy-esque collection menu where you can keep track of all the different objects you've sent plummeting to their doom as well as the real-life photographs of over 200 cats that are randomly sprinkled throughout the levels.
The graphics are cel-shaded, a bright and colourful comic book style that allows for literally hundreds of loose objects on screen at once without any loss of performance. The items, while being relatively generic are detailed enough to provide plenty of variation from room to room and level to level but are basic enough to not lag your computer when you've literally knocked thousands of cereal boxes and bottles to the aisle floor in the supermarket stage.
If I had to offer any criticism - the music is obnoxious. I've had to mute it on several occasions or turn it down to practically silent to stop the brain drilling. Why anybody would purchase the soundtrack on Steam, I have no idea.The Steam version features achievements and trading cards - both of which are features that appeal to me - and also includes controller support.
Some have argued that $10 or the regional equivalent is too expensive for an item-pushing simulator - but I disagree. This kind of mindless and anarchic simple game play is super relaxing for me. It's great to de-stress by hopping into the persona of a cat and literally knocking over a huge dinosaur skeleton. Believe me, people have paid more for entertainment that lasted a lot less than this game will amuse you for. Plus, it's Steam. Steam Sales happen every 5 minutes - stop being cheap and smash those Faberge eggs!
I totally recommend Catlateral Damage to anybody who currently owns or has previously owned or lived with a cat or several cats - as we know exactly what little dicks they can be. I found it strangely heart-warming to be able to eat plants, break into the fridge and cover the floor with carefully arranged DVDs - as my cats have all done THE EXACT SAME THING. Catlateral Damage is like the most accurate cat simulator game ever! ...but I hope it doesn’t give the little bastards any ideas...
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