Octodad: The Dadliest catchAn Octopus living the American Dream
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6/10
James Davie |
DEV: Young Horses
PUB: N/A
RELASE DATE: 30/01/2014 (PC) / 22/04/2014 (PS4)
FORMAT:PC and PS4
Fishmongers and marine biologists rejoice, here’s a fresh catch straight to PSN’s plate of delicacies, that is sure to jump out and grab your face as soon as you besmirch its tentacles and googly eyes. Be quick to forget that this eight-legged, gobbledygook spewing sea creature passes off as human, his family constantly if dim-wittedly treat him as one of their own- this despite the occasions where he is clearly marked out as having eight legs, each of them elastically feasible to generate the movement of the cheesestring mascot, if it attempted to jump into life from the packet, warble around on the carpet and make a mess of the furniture in your own home.
This is what Octodad is, an octopus simulator, where you bash about the place making a mess, and every character bar one is oblivious to your limbless state and fishy musk. It’s all in the name of light-hearted fun that gets the most mileage out of players, due to its absurd premise and abhorrently stupid cast of characters.
Using your fangled body to twist you through the puzzles is part of the challenge, with a control set-up that makes sense in practice, even if it more often leaves you feeling like tangled spaghetti or a maze of circuit wires all intertwined, forcing you to get to grips with the controls. Yet it all hangs together to make a partially accessible and marginally less frustrating experience. There are definitely moments when the game forces you to participate, which may seem obscenely treacherous at first, such as having you balancing yourself on a beam, whilst you frantically try to gain control of tentacles as if you were controlling a spider trying to play a game of twister with your other arachnid buddies; it seems impossible at first, but with patience and precision, it can be done.
PUB: N/A
RELASE DATE: 30/01/2014 (PC) / 22/04/2014 (PS4)
FORMAT:PC and PS4
Fishmongers and marine biologists rejoice, here’s a fresh catch straight to PSN’s plate of delicacies, that is sure to jump out and grab your face as soon as you besmirch its tentacles and googly eyes. Be quick to forget that this eight-legged, gobbledygook spewing sea creature passes off as human, his family constantly if dim-wittedly treat him as one of their own- this despite the occasions where he is clearly marked out as having eight legs, each of them elastically feasible to generate the movement of the cheesestring mascot, if it attempted to jump into life from the packet, warble around on the carpet and make a mess of the furniture in your own home.
This is what Octodad is, an octopus simulator, where you bash about the place making a mess, and every character bar one is oblivious to your limbless state and fishy musk. It’s all in the name of light-hearted fun that gets the most mileage out of players, due to its absurd premise and abhorrently stupid cast of characters.
Using your fangled body to twist you through the puzzles is part of the challenge, with a control set-up that makes sense in practice, even if it more often leaves you feeling like tangled spaghetti or a maze of circuit wires all intertwined, forcing you to get to grips with the controls. Yet it all hangs together to make a partially accessible and marginally less frustrating experience. There are definitely moments when the game forces you to participate, which may seem obscenely treacherous at first, such as having you balancing yourself on a beam, whilst you frantically try to gain control of tentacles as if you were controlling a spider trying to play a game of twister with your other arachnid buddies; it seems impossible at first, but with patience and precision, it can be done.
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Of course, one of the big dingers of Octodad is that there really is little point in doing anything. Sure, it’s part of the frolics and the odd humour, but it equally forces you into participating under certain guises. Stealth is one such element that is bought in at several points in the game. Whilst this does a decent job at trying to shoehorn in self- awareness humour, it stumbles because the AI are sorely lacking in intelligence. You often find that the only way you can fail a mission is if you meander in front of them for an extended period of time; again, this maybe reinforcing the delightfully incongruous nature of Octodad, but it undermines any semblance of challenge the game has to offer.
Objectives are a large part of the pointlessness as well. Early on you are tasked with family duties, such as making coffee and mowing the lawn. Soon, the fun tries to extend to other settings such a supermarket and an aquarium, all of which requires you to complete tasks in a mundane order to proceed. Octodad basically guides the player into having fun, instead of finding other pathways into furthering its brand of comedy. There is some enjoyment to be had as the game tugs you about as if you were a fussy three your old in a cramped high street, but the game is too short for any long-lasting memorability, which is a shame as what’s on offer is just simple puerile entertainment.
The visuals and the sound design are bland and unspectacular. You’ll get a few cheap laughs as Octodad blubbers about having to perform certain fatherly chores. The visuals are poor, lacking convincing detail, with very vanilla environs to explore, and even worse pedestrian characters littering your path. Your family aren’t that interesting, though some of dialogue from the children is a bit bizarre in a comedic sense.
Octodad: The Dadliest catch is a nonsensically amusing jaunt through a few hours of manically swaying appendages. You’ll certainly get a kick out of the oddball humour. This however, doesn’t overlook or excuse the poor gameplay to hourly ratio. Completing an array of tasks can be a novelty; right up to the point it wears out its welcome. Octodad never lasts long enough to become a slumberous affair, but does last long enough for you to question what the point of paying a premium for calamari is worth.
Objectives are a large part of the pointlessness as well. Early on you are tasked with family duties, such as making coffee and mowing the lawn. Soon, the fun tries to extend to other settings such a supermarket and an aquarium, all of which requires you to complete tasks in a mundane order to proceed. Octodad basically guides the player into having fun, instead of finding other pathways into furthering its brand of comedy. There is some enjoyment to be had as the game tugs you about as if you were a fussy three your old in a cramped high street, but the game is too short for any long-lasting memorability, which is a shame as what’s on offer is just simple puerile entertainment.
The visuals and the sound design are bland and unspectacular. You’ll get a few cheap laughs as Octodad blubbers about having to perform certain fatherly chores. The visuals are poor, lacking convincing detail, with very vanilla environs to explore, and even worse pedestrian characters littering your path. Your family aren’t that interesting, though some of dialogue from the children is a bit bizarre in a comedic sense.
Octodad: The Dadliest catch is a nonsensically amusing jaunt through a few hours of manically swaying appendages. You’ll certainly get a kick out of the oddball humour. This however, doesn’t overlook or excuse the poor gameplay to hourly ratio. Completing an array of tasks can be a novelty; right up to the point it wears out its welcome. Octodad never lasts long enough to become a slumberous affair, but does last long enough for you to question what the point of paying a premium for calamari is worth.
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+ Nonsensical yet amusing attempt at humour
+ The quirkiness of the physics is commendable - The game only lasts a few hours with next to no replay value - Tasks become tiresome over the course of the game - The price is too steep for what its offering |
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