The
premise is a simple one: “Hey, let’s take a bunch of famous people, make clay
models out of them and then have them beat the crap out of each other
mercilessly!” Such is the basic concept behind Celebrity Deathmatch, a show that
gained a pretty impressive following on MTV. Now, Gotham Games has finally put
together a game based on the TV show. Unfortunately the gameplay is extremely
bad, being too repetitive, too shallow and too short. Celebrity Deathmatch is an
empty fighter that won’t grab your attention, let alone hold it for very long.
You
play as a number of officially licensed (albeit somewhat B list) celebs as they
duke it out, Claymation style. Among the celebrities are: Marilyn Manson, Carrot
Top, Tommy Lee, Jerry Springer, Cleo, Ron Jeremy, Carmen Electra, all five
members of N*Sync, and a few more. Each celeb has a few unique moves at their
disposal, but no more than about five or six total for each one. The gags
inherent in their moves can be pretty funny, but they do grow old very quickly.
The gameplay formula relies solely on you pounding on the buttons (or keyboard
in this case) to beat around your opponent until their life bar goes down and
then performing the coup d’ grace, a finishing move that deals the final
deathblow to your opponent. These are again unique to your given fighter:
Marilyn Manson summons a pentagram that sucks in your opponent and spits out
their entrails, Tommy Lee plays their internal organs like a guitar, and the
five members of N*Sync will team up and quarter you like medieval horses.
It
seems that every aspect of Celebrity Deathmatch gets old quickly, from the
repetitive and unrewarding button mashing gameplay to the jokes (which I can
count on one hand).
The
game boasts a Create-A-Celebrity mode, but even this is way too shallow. You
only have a few different traits with which to change around your celebrity, and
only two different fighting styles with which to bestow them. All things
considered, I was hard pressed to make a decent representation of any celebrity.
The
single player game is divided up into a series of episodes, six with three
fights each. Since the matches each last a little under a minute, it is quite
feasible to blow through the entire single player game in about an hour. And
trust me, once you’ve done that and thus unlocked every extra in the game, then
there really is nothing else to get out of Celebrity Deathmatch.
The
graphics are very simple, but hey, it’s supposed to be clay, right? The player
models do an alright job of looking like their onscreen counterparts and will
exhibit battle damage like bruises, black eyes and scratches as the match
progresses, but their overall presentation seems to be lacking. They end up not
looking like clay at all, but merely simplistic polygon representations. The
environments are nice, however, although there could have been more.
The
sound effects are the one thing that this game really does right. Johnny Gomez
and Nick Diamond do the commentary, which sounds right on par with anything on
the show. Their offbeat sense of humor had me chuckling at points. The celebrity
impersonations sound as they did on the show (except for Ron Jeremy who did his
own voice over, Lord knows why). The Celebrity Deathmatch theme song is also
present, which should make hardcore fans of the show feel all warm and fuzzy
inside.
Celebrity Deathmatch could have been a good game, given its cult following and
funny premise. However, what we end up with is a boring, repetitive and
otherwise stale fighting game that will undoubtedly disappoint fans of the
series.
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Gameplay: 4.5
The
gameplay is too repetitive, too shallow and too boring. You pretty much just
pound away on the keys until your enemy is dead. The single player mode is
extremely short, the difficulty level set for a comatose monkey, and the extras
are very slim.
Graphics: 5.5
The
graphics do an alright job of representing the celebrities, although they simply
just don’t look clay enough. The environments are nice and varied, but there are
way too few of them.
Sound: 7.0
The
Deathmatch theme has been lifted from the show, and sounds pretty good. The
colorful commentary by Johnny Gomez and Nick Diamond has been left intact, and
can be quite funny at times (although a little repetitive after a while).
Difficulty:
Easy
No
one should have a problem finishing this game in an hour.
Concept: 5.5
The
idea of celebrities getting together and brutally murdering each other for the
sole purpose of entertainment is indeed a golden one, but this game simply does
not do the subject matter justice. The game modes are sparse, the
Create-A-Celebrity mode is a joke, and there quite frankly isn’t much of a game
here.
Multiplayer:
4.5
There is a two-player exhibition mode, but any fun you have playing that will be
severely limited by the nasty gameplay.
Overall: 4.5
Fans of the series will no doubt be disappointed with the lousy gameplay and
short and shallow presentation.
