Octodad: Dadliest Catch Reviews
Octodad isn't a game that's for everyone but it is unique and for that I applaud it.
The game accidentally became a perfect metaphor for itself. It's often charming and it really does mean well, but it has a bad habit of tripping over its own four feet when it really counts. I want to love my Octodad. I really do. But I don't think he really understands me, and – worse – I don't think he really understands himself.
Young Horses' Octodad: Dadliest Catch makes up for clunky controls and a rough final act with undeniable humor and charm.
I wanted to like Octodad more than I did. The concept and craziness of the idea intrigued me and the humor was great. If Octodad were a more robust adventure, I would have very few complaints. While it started out as a great experience, sadly, much like the floppy tentacles of Octodad, Dadliest Catch couldn't hold itself up and began to flail wildly all over the place. The hilarity and novelty wear thin quickly and there was too often that my tentacles became glitched inside of random objects or the environment itself. Octodad is worth experiencing just for how different it is from most other games out there, not to mention the trying multi-limb mode that is the co-op, but don't expect to be enthralled by it for longer than it takes to watch a couple of ocean life documentaries.
Octodad: Dadliest Catch may be a one-joke game, but the team at Young Horses has taken that joke and squeezed as much hilarity out of it as possible. Don't ask questions about the man in the suit — just buy the game.
The brilliant design used throughout Octodad: Dadliest Catch brings out the absolute best from a bizarre concept that simply needs to be played to be believed.
Octodad: Dadliest Catch is a quirky mix of physics and mini-games wrapped up into a story about an Octopus that pretends to be a man and simply wants to live a normal life with his family.
Octodad is a clever game that is fun in the same sense something like Goat Simulator is. It is hilarity, physics-based mayhem that is entirely random. The difference here is that the developers tried to streamline it with actual objectives and level progression, which can lead to frustration.
Its brevity and reliance on contrived challenges work against Octodad: Deadliest Catch, but when it's at its best, it's a damn hilarious game that'll charm the pants off most players.
Octodad: Dadliest Catch is a game that embraces its craziness. The title's zany controls lead to some even stranger onscreen occurrences, and that culminates in a lot of unexpected entertainment. The release does start to grate in long sessions, and perhaps doesn't have enough gameplay variety to carry its core idea, but with PlayStation Move support and a ridiculous co-op component, the package will spread a smile across even the sternest countenance.
It's a great joke of a game where the punchline can be felt by both players and spectators, and that's why I think Octodad is so special.
Dadliest Catch may have the worst control scheme of any game I've ever played, and that's the entire point.
Dadliest Catch is a wily, outstanding title in the vein of infamous freeware QWOP. With awkward controls, volatile physics and formidable environmental puzzles working in compelling harmony, Dadliest Catch makes the player the architect of physical comedy in a brilliant and idiosyncratic way.
Smartly built, endlessly entertaining, and unexpectedly heartwarming, Dadliest Catch manages to turn an utterly ridiculous concept into one of the most surprising games in recent memory.
Originally and stupidly funny, with plenty of charm wrapped up in a package that is a bit too short.
Octodad has brilliant ideas, endearing characters and a great sense of humour, but as a game it's not quite where it should be. The deliberately vague controls cause a little frustration along with the hilarity, and it's not long enough or rich enough to hold your interest for more than an evening or afternoon. There's potential here for something great, but Octodad needs to stretch those tentacles further if it wants to reach that point.
So grab some friends, throw Octodad: Dadliest Catch up on the big screen, and prepare to laugh and stumble your way through the life of one of the world's best dads.
Playing and enjoying Octodad: Dadliest Catch seems to require an active narcotic influence; however, thanks to deliberately obtuse controls and a conscious sense of humor, even the most capable operator will inevitably render their invertebrate avatar a hilarious mess of tentacles and destruction. In a game like this there's careful line between frustration and elation, and Octodad walks it (or slides down, falls along, slithers against - whatever) with appreciable balance.
Don't get me wrong, Octodad is a ton of fun. It's got a self-aware irreverence—call it the Katamari factor—that you usually only find in indie games. That being said, with games like that, I usually focus on the stand-out moments, like the big reveals in Gone Home, the progressive decay of Limbo, or even the silly mysteries of something as slight as Frog Fractions. Octodad doesn't have anything like that. It's a giddy little glide full of heart and genuine goodwill, but never manifesting into anything more than a distraction.
It's hard to recommend a game that may or may not work each time you load it up.