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So many people were excited for this game, and voted it way ahead of two other potential PS+ titles this month as a result, but the majority of views of people after they’ve actually played it seem negative. Apparently, it’s “ruined” by screen tearing. It’s boring. The controls (specifically the climbing) are terrible, and so on.
I’d like to suggest, that those people are idiots.
Yes, there is screen tearing. But I only noticed it when it was pointed out to me via a screenshot. I genuinely can’t see it when playing. The controls are awkward at first, but soon you find that L2 (left hand grab) and R2 (right arm grab) are intuitive, and by pushing up and alternating L2 and R2 you can climb quickly. As you progress, you unlock a jet pack, what amounts to a parachute, and finally a glider, and from then on, you climb less anyway. You don’t fall off the plant you’re growing so much, and the game becomes fun.
I found it fun anyway. Riding flower sprouts from the main giant star plant to glowing islands in the sky (the main task in the game) is fun. Grabbing objects just to see what they do is fun. Getting all the crystals is Crackdown-like, and fun. It’s all FUN.
The most fun, however, is grabbing a sheep, then dragging him into the sea. Always hilarious, especially watching his little sheepy face as you do it. Or, when two sheep are playing football with a pumpkin (no, really), you grab it, and chuck it in the sea. The sheep just look at you in disappointment. Leaves me in stitches. Being chased by a bull. MOM’s comments. Growing a giant phallus. It’s a great game, and those joyless inhumans who don’t think so are wrong.
Sheep based fun here:
Firstly, I should point out that the lyrics to this game’s theme song have been wedged in my head for the last few days. Specifically “Octodad – nobody suspects a thing”. It’s so catchy.
As for the game, it’s frustrating, looks a lot like that original Xbox Leisure Suit Larry game in graphics quality and style, is impossible to control, had a terrible camera, and is awesome. You’re an octopus trying to live his life, implausibly with his family who are not octopi, as a human. You can’t speak, you can barely control your flailing tentacles, and – well – you look like a damn octopus.
Your analogue triggers control moving the tentacles designated as your legs up and down, with R1 activating your hand-tentacle. The analogue sticks vaguely direct whichever fake limb you’re currently trying to control, and that’s pretty much your lot. Spill and flop your way around your house, try to make coffee with your flappy bits, clean up the garden, go shopping, and visit Octodad’s most hated of places – the aquarium. All while trying to be as human as possible else people begin to suspect you might be a cephalopod and not a slightly salty man after all.
It’s a pretty short game, and aside from a bit near the end where you have to navigate on some planks of wood, it’s also pretty easy. It is a lot of fun, though, and throwing everything you can find all over the place never gets old. Not least in the bonus extra level where you and your wife go for a romantic meal and you can chuck the food, crockery and cutlery at the waiters.
Oh, and bonus marks for having toilets in the game. Any game with toilets in now gets an extra recommendation from me, and I’ve set up a Tumblr to record them.
Here’s a video of the final 40 minutes or so of the main story. Spoilers!