Much as we like Octodad and his crazy, messed-up world, the overall experience isn’t quite as good as we’d hoped it would be. In short, we have a nearly brilliant game – one that could almost fit in the same line as Japanese oddities like Katamari Damacy and Noby Noby Boy – but one that never quite gets its suckers on the prize. All the same, Octodad has a fairly short lifespan. There’s some extra fun to be had in a two-player co-op mode, which has you sharing control for extra carnage, along with an option to replay completed scenes in a freeplay mode. We’re not actually too worried about the first bit – this isn’t a game you want to go on and on – but it seems like some of the best and most imaginative sections crop up early on, while the later parts can be a struggle.įor every section that’s an out-and-out hit, there’s another that seems needlessly prolonged, with objectives that don’t really take you anywhere new or interesting. The second is that it’s both short and unevenly paced. It’s not a hugely difficult or challenging game, but there are points where the controls stop being part of the enjoyment, and simply make the game frustrating. The deliberately vague controls are what make Octodad so entertaining, but not when you give players tasks that require precision and/or speed, causing them to either fail repeatedly or fall and struggle their way up or along some chunk of scenery all over again for the umpteenth time. The first is that it proves you can be funny without always being fun. Octodad works as a playful sitcom satire, and packs in plenty of in-jokes on the indie gaming scene as well. It’s in the way your fellow citizens seem to ignore the destruction going on around them. It’s in the way your family seem wilfully blind, if slightly suspicious, about anything being strange, and in the half spoken, half garbled dialogue between your hero and his spouse and offspring. It’s not just the bizarre premise that’s so likeable, but the goofy attitude of your coleoid lead character a guy who wants to be a good husband and father even if he’s not quite like you and me (though we don’t like to make any assumptions).
At times, Octodad is almost as much fun to watch as it is to play. When everything is a challenge, even the simplest tasks become a source of silly moments. There are opportunities to be inventive, finding different approaches to grab a bottle of juice from a ceiling display, or ingenious ways to cheat in old-fashioned sideshow games. The development team, Young Horses, has found some sticky situations for Octodad to get through, and it’s the kind of game where you can make your own fun, squirming as you try to fry burgers without singeing your suckers, or rambling your way up and over supermarket shelves.
There’s potential here for something great. You can and will fail, but only when your exploits get so much attention that your dreadful secret is finally uncovered. The point of Octodad isn’t to play well, but to have fun when you play badly. The controls are intentionally slack and fuzzy, transforming our hapless hero from a weird-looking gent in a nice blue suit into the focus for scenes of utter chaos, as unwanted items get tangled in your tentacles, or you flibber and flubber your way through the scenery, scattering everything in your way. You manipulate objects by manoeuvring your arm tentacles with the analogue sticks and latching on with the R2 or X button.
OCTODAD DADLIEST CATCH PS4 PS4
You move by swinging your lower tentacles one at a time with rapid squeezes of the PS4 DualShock 4’s L2 and R2 triggers. This is both Octodad’s main gag and the mainstay of its gameplay. Think your daily life is a struggle? Imagine supermarket shopping when your arms and legs are tentacles and you’re doing your best to make them work like human limbs. He’s the ultimate fish (well, cephalopod) out of water, desperately trying to fit in while dealing with an anatomy that’s just not fit for purpose. Here is a game where the hero is an octopus who has disguised himself as a human, got married, and somehow spawned human kids. From its cartoon visuals to its sixties sitcom styling to its warm and quirky humour, it’s practically bursting with the stuff. If you’re going to fault Octodad for anything, it won’t be a lack of charm. Available on PC, Playstation 4 (reviewed)
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