Allow me to share with you an excerpt from the Catlateral Damage press release, so you TRULY understand what we’re dealing with here:
Prrrrrrrrrrress Release
Mew meow CATLATERAL DAMAGE meow meow-ow Playstation 4 mrooooow meow March 22nd, mew $9.99 ($7.99 one week launch sale for PS Plus members!) Me-wow!! Meow-ow mew, meow meow mew meow mew mrow mew mew meow-ow mew mew meow. Meow-ow mew mrow meow mew meow mew meow mew mew meow-ow, mew mew meow mrow mew mew meow meow-ow meow mew mrow meow meow! Mew mew meow meow-ow meow mew meow mrow mrow meow-ow mew mew mew. Meow-ow mew, meow meow mew meow mew mrow mew mew meow-ow mew mew meow.
Me-meow mew mew meow meow-ow meow mew catlateraldamage.com!
Look, let’s not beat around the cat toy here: Catlateral Damage is not going to change your life. It doesn’t offer anything particularly exceptional, it doesn’t push the boundaries of graphics or design, and it doesn’t even offer that much depth in terms of gameplay. In Catlateral Damage, you play in first-person as a cat who must knock things onto the ground. That’s literally it. There’s no revelatory story mode or serious progression.
But the true beauty of Catlateral Damage is that it never tries to be more than what it is. What you see is exactly what you get, and what you get is an enjoyable little romp as a chaotic feline hellbent on destroying everything nice in sight. It’s an undeniably fun experience, and one everyone should try at least once.
Part of why Catlateral Damage matters is because of its cultural significance. This game first appeared on Steam as a Greenlight game in January 2014 and gained a large amount of recognition for it’s ridiculous nature, physics-based simulation gameplay, and addictive qualities. I personally remember being shown this game in a basement level dorm room and feeling left out that I couldn’t play this game on my console as I lacked a gaming PC at the time.
A little more than two years later, Chris Chung has brought his feline opus to PS4. But is it still a worthwhile game two years after it stood in the PC spotlight? The answer is: kind of.
Let me explain. Catlateral Damage has two primary modes: Objective Mode and Litterbox Mode. Objective mode pits the player against the clock, asking you to knock a set number of objects onto the ground in a house before the clock runs out. Litterbox Mode is essentially the same, sans the clock. Players can spend a (theoretically) infinite amount of time in one setting in Litterbox Mode.
Actual gameplay is straightforward, as well. L2 and R2 swipe your left and right paws, L1 and R1 jab them. X allows you to jump onto objects such as tables and stoves. That’s about it. You can also meow with the square button, although that’s just a fun bonus. You leap onto beds, tables, couches, shelves, and more to knock over tons of various items. There is a satisfying feeling at the end of a level as you survey the true amount of chaos you’ve caused.
The entire game is endearing and adorable. The music is reminiscent of some cute and accessible Japanese games of late, adding to the adorable factor which pervades the project as a whole. I mean, come on! The featured image at the top of this article is an OFFICIAL PRESS IMAGE that was sent to us. It’s two cats and a PS4. Catlateral Damage grabs this adorable factor and rides it off into the sunset.
Catlateral Damage struggles in a couple of key areas, however. While the game attempts to stay fresh with random events such as moon gravity and a hilariously ridiculous disco mode, along with a number of collectibles and pictures of cats to collect, there just simply isn’t a lot of a reason to stay in Catlateral Damage for long. I mentioned earlier that this is a game that everyone should try at least once, and I stand by that. But after a few rounds of destroying things, there simply isn’t that much left to see. There are a couple of extra unique levels such as the Supermarkat and the Meowseum, but an hour or two is more than enough time to get your catlateral fill.
The game also simply hasn’t held up well, visually. In general, visuals don’t make or break a game’s score or my opinion of it, but Catlateral Damage looks…not good. The cats in particular look blocky and almost scary. And not the nostalgic polygonal look of the N64. These are cheap, old PC graphics, and they detract from the experience. There is, of course, plenty of fun to be had despite this, but it’s hard to overlook sometimes.
It’s also interesting to look at the simulator genre as a whole. Catlateral Damage was one of the first games in the “simulator” wave of 2014/2015, followed closely by games such as Goat Simulator, I Am Bread, and many others. Yet, Catlateral Damage is one of the last to come to PS4. Do people still want this game? Does it still have a place in the PSN market?
Probably. It’s a fun time, particularly to share with others for a laugh. Sure, it doesn’t have much staying power and it isn’t pretty enough to show off, but it’s so darn adorable that it finds a way of digging itself into you for a time. It also features some addictive and solid gameplay. Again, everyone should give this one a shot at some point.
Meow.