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Cel Damage for Xbox Original
Cel Damage for Xbox Original turns vehicular combat into a cartoon in which vehicles bend, spin and fly apart. You choose a driver with their own car and search for weapons in open arenas. An enormous axe, boxing gloves or a chainsaw turn a collision into an exaggerated joke. The clearly drawn outlines and flat colours are part of that approach: you are not driving through a recreation of reality, but through sets that behave like a cartoon.
In Smack Attack you earn points by hitting opponents. Your choice of weapon and the moment you strike are therefore just as important as steering. Gate Relay turns the same environment into a race through checkpoints, while Flag Rally has you collect flags and take them to the delivery point. Pursuers can disrupt a carefully built lead. You learn not only where the corners are, but also where you can pick up a weapon or dodge an attack.
You can drive alone against computer-controlled rivals or play with up to four people on the same Xbox. In local matches, everyone has their own part of the screen and each player needs an Xbox controller. Winning matches helps unlock new parts of the game. The original Cel Damage centres on these arenas and competitions; it does not offer a separate story campaign.
Region and language
Our Xbox Original games are PAL editions and come with a Dutch or English box, unless stated otherwise. By default, you receive the version for the European market. We note it in the product details if the region is different or the box is in another language. In almost all cases, the game is playable at least in English, and often in the other five common European languages too.
This edition has German packaging, as stated in the product title. This differs from our usual Dutch or English packaging. The language on the box does not guarantee the spoken or written languages in the game.
Manual
Cel Damage for Xbox Original includes the manual unless the product title states otherwise. If the booklet is missing, the title says “No Manual”. This lets you see before ordering whether the game comes with a manual.
The manuals included with our games usually contain at least English and often around six European languages. The exact languages vary by edition, so Dutch is not always included. The booklet explains the controls and the main rules. You can use it to check how to control the game, which actions are available and how its different features work.
The history of Cel Damage
Toronto-based Pseudo Interactive developed Cel Damage, and Electronic Arts released it for Xbox in 2001. It was the studio's first published game. In his own retrospective, technology director David Wu described how a demonstration of a driving and collision engine in 1997 eventually led to this project. The technology therefore existed before the final game acquired its name and cartoon characters.
During development the project was called Cartoon Mayhem, and the studio initially worked with Microsoft. After that partnership ended, Electronic Arts came on board as publisher. The developers could then develop their own characters and weapon-based gags. Wu also described how the constantly changing technology influenced the design. The flexible cars are therefore not just a graphical layer: collisions and exaggerated movement form an important part of the game's identity.
This Xbox release belongs to the original version of Cel Damage. The later PlayStation 2 release Cel Damage: Overdrive and Cel Damage HD changed parts of the rules and presentation. Their additions are not attributed to this Xbox disc. Within the original, the three types of competition provide different objectives in the same arenas: hitting for points, driving through gates or delivering flags. Each time, you rediscover the terrain through the task you are trying to win.
Similar games for Xbox Original
Cel Damage and Fuzion Frenzy offer short competitions for a group on the same Xbox Original console. In Cel Damage you keep controlling a vehicle while the objective changes between fighting, passing gates and delivering flags. Fuzion Frenzy also changes the actions themselves, from jumping and ducking to driving boats or tanks. Both reward interfering with opponents, but consistent driving skill plays a bigger part in Cel Damage.
Cel Damage and Godzilla: Destroy All Monsters Melee turn an arena into a place for exaggerated collisions on Xbox Original. In Cel Damage you use a car to search for weapons and room to strike. Godzilla lets you control an enormous monster that can lift buildings and throw rivals. The similarity lies in using the environment; steering at speed calls for different decisions from keeping your distance between punches and energy beams.
Whacked! and Cel Damage use a television show as the framework for comic battles on Xbox Original. Whacked! has contestants chase objects and outrageous weapons on foot. Cel Damage keeps players behind the wheel, making corners, pursuits and room to manoeuvre important. Both give everyday objects a violent cartoon purpose, but in Cel Damage you must also position your car correctly to land a close-range attack.
Mashed and Cel Damage combine cars with weapons that disrupt other drivers' plans on Xbox Original. Mashed views the battle from above and keeps the action tied to following a racetrack. Cel Damage also lets you turn around, shake off pursuers and search for a weapon in open arenas without always driving forwards around a circuit. The similarity is sabotage behind the wheel; the shape of the terrain determines how you use it.
Kung Fu Chaos and Cel Damage use exaggerated movement to make battles comic on Xbox Original. Kung Fu Chaos places fighters among collapsing film sets and lets you attack, block and taunt. Cel Damage translates the jokes into flexible cars and collected weapons. Both demand attention to danger in the environment, but dodging an incoming blow with a fighter feels different from driving around an opponent at speed.
