January 11, 2002 - Pseudo Interactive's first Xbox title has quickly made its way over to Nintendo GameCube with a few improvements. Cel Damage, appropriately named, uses a graphical technique that was first popularized by Sega's Jet Grind Radio to give the entire gamescape a cartoon appearance. Essentially it is a Twisted Metal like demolition derby without all the grit and dementia, replaced by a more happy-go-lucky Warner Bros. world. It's purely mindless, annihilate-the-competition gameplay, and that's hardly a bad thing. However, it lacks long-term depth and is more suited as a multiplayer experience.

Features

• Choose from six playable characters, plus four unlockable toons, each with their own unique vehicle
• Smack your way through 12 interactive cartoon worlds
• Choose from three frantic modes including Deathmatch, Capture-the-Flag, and Gate racing
• Master 36 weapons and obliterate the competition
• Cel-shading technology provides a fast-moving cartoon landscape
• Cartoon physics compliment the style of the game, providing a uniquely "stretchy" experience
• Interactive environments can be used to crush the competition and equally deceive you
• Enjoy an all-out smack-fest with fast four-player support
• A pumping soundtrack overlays the frantic action
• Supports progressive scan mode for a more vibrant HDTV experience

Gameplay
The name of the game, Cel Damage, says a lot about the title. It's centralized around the cartoon visuals and in the end the whole concept was likely designed around that. It provides extremely frantic gameplay that is based on relatively simple control mechanics. You can choose from six uniquely themed main characters (with the ability to unlock four more). There's Fowl Mouth the black-and-white '30s gangster duck, Sinder the too-outrageous-for-hell demon, and several more. Each of them come with their own distinctly styled vehicle which can be equipped with a special weapon pick-up found in the level. Sinder can grind opponents into shreds and the stereotypically nerdy Flemming has a set of fast-shooting, ricocheting bullets. In addition to a special weapon, you will be able to use any of the weapons littered throughout the level.

There are a total of 12 levels, all of which fall under the umbrella of three themes: desert, bayou, Transylvania, and outer space. With three levels per theme, you'll have to unlock eight of the 12 different areas. The catch is that you must garner first place, which can sometimes be difficult, to unlock anything. Unlocking levels and weapons is definitely worth it, as some of them are quite cool. Strap a rocket to your back to take off into the air and subsequently release it onto opponents below or equip helicopter blades and a pair of machine guns to reign bullets on foes.

The gameplay is fairly straightforward. The idea is to clobber, hack, bash, and totally destroy the other drivers. It's not that much more complicated beyond that and level designs and weapon types are really the only variations gameplay you'll see. Each level has its own specific set of shortcuts and special features. For instance, one desert level has an active tornado that will sweep you up into the air and one Transylvanian level has giant spider webs you can use to catapult yourself across the level. The distinct areas are fairly small, so you can run but you can't hide. This is more or less the point of Cel Damage, because there really aren't any racing elements. You can race to separate gates, completing laps, in the Gate racing mode and play a capture-the-flag mode, but the center of the action is still demolition. For example, the capture-the-flag mode has you attempt to pick up four separate flags and carry them back to a goal area. If another opponent hits you, however, you will lose your flags. So, again, you spend most of your time beating on other racers. It's important to note that Pseudo Interactive brought down the difficulty level in comparison to the incredibly hard Xbox version, and it's absolutely more playable because of it.

The whole system has been designed around a really intuitive control scheme. GameCube's R-trigger is used for analog acceleration and the L-trigger can be used for powerslide braking and reverse. The camera almost always does a good job of staying behind you, so it's rarely a problem. Depending on the weapon you pick up, you'll use the A-button for shooting. You can optionally honk your horn with the X-button or holler at an opponent with the Y-button, but the core of the game perfectly suits the GameCube controller. We have very little complaints with this setup, as it's extremely easy to jump right into a game and kick some cel-shaded tail.

However, this simplicity inevitably ends up being Cel Damage's biggest flaw. The title is clearly aimed at a multiplayer experience. You can play with up to three friends in four-player deathmatches, gate races, or the capture-the-flag mode. This is fun for a while, as beating each other's brains out is simple and entertaining, but it gets old fast due to the lack of depth. There is no race mode that has you battle each other while trying to complete laps on a set of tracks. Essentially Cel Damage feels like it's a piece of what could have been a larger experience. A grand prix or stunt mode, for instance, would have helped greatly. That said, there's very little reason to play this game alone, and the multiplayer experience will wear thin with just a few hours of play.

Graphics
Cel Damage has a solid cel-shading based engine backing its visuals. Worlds are extremely colorful and dark edges that wrap around everything for that hand-drawn look are smooth and defined. The action runs at a hasty 60 frames per second and holds up well in four-player splitscreen too. Because each level is relatively small, the engine is not pumping out an incredibly large amount of polygons, but the cartoon nature of the game does well enough with a lot of geometic complexity. Many of the landscapes remind you of old Looney Toon episodes, and that's exactly the goal of Cel Damage. This much, it accomplishes well, as you are convincingly placed in these toon worlds.

In this case, though, physics and programming are the most important aspect of the visuals. The car models stretch, bend, and squish as you spin around or are tossed through the air. Weapons such as the axe will chop enemy's vehicles in two and grenades will completely obliterate them, sending bits and pieces of the vehicles bouncing everywhere. Billowing smoke follows blazing particles and water droplets will splash from the water as you pass over it. Also, the landscapes are accurately (as far as cartoons are concerned) affected by weapons. Send a saw blade racing over the landscape and it will rip a trail behind it. As noted, it all comes together quite well for the cartoon look.

Fans of HDTV will be happy to know that the title supports the 480p progressive scan mode (hold the B-button during boot-up). Cel Damage will become even more vibrant and detailed if this mode is activated. So if you have the TV to do it and a set of component cables, make sure you use it.

Sound
The sound library isn't anything exceptional. There are a handful of wacky one-liners and fair enough sound effects for weaponry -- nothing to complain about, but nothing to brag about either. Once again, the cartoon nature lends itself to a less complicated setup. You don't expect environments to be incredibly ambient. Of course, we certainly wouldn't have minded one. There are 12 different songs to overlay the action. Each environment has its own thumping techno beat to back it up, and for the most part the composition is solid.