Octodad: Dadliest Catch, Secrets Of An Octopussy Review

Review

January 30th, 2014, By Maya Mayfield

Imagine pretending to be something or someone you are not? The amount of time and effort it takes to keep up the act must be terribly exhausting. Now imagine doing all of that, but also having a family who are unaware of who, or what you really are. The idea behind Octodad almost sounds like the synopsis from a mysterious sci-fi horror thriller, like the old movie the 'Fly,' starring Jeff Goldblum, but Octodad deadliest catch is anything but scary, in fact quite the opposite as I found myself chuckling from the moment I began to play.

Octodad is a story of a not-so regular dad hiding the truth of his real identity to his family, neighbors and work colleagues. The story's hilarious plot could be hard to believe when you see Octodad, a bright yellow Octopus stuffed into a sky blue suit. The humor behind the game really comes from Octodad trying to complete normal everyday tasks like shopping, mowing the lawn or making a simple cup of tea with his wobbly tentacles.

The Game focuses on Octadad and his unusual form of movements. With 2 tentacles squeezed into each trouser leg, you must raise each foot by holding the corresponding trigger controls using - left trigger for the left leg and right trigger for the right leg. Octodad half-wobbles and tumbles towards his intended direction the harder you press down the left stick, while releasing the stick slightly will cause Octodad to at least attempt movements closer to a walking motion.

Interacting with objects can also be quite a tricky affair as when not controlling the triggers to move your legs, you can use the left analog stick to control Octodad's horizontal hand movements. While the right analog stick will move his tentacles up and down.

With a little practice you should be able navigate Octodad's tentacles towards any object, picking it up with the press of a button, although that's not to say achieving these tasks with Octodad will be a walk in the park, in fact far from it.

Avoiding detection and attempting to blend in is the main idea to this game while you try to accomplish daily tasks with Octodad's unique control system. If you knock over two many items when human beings are around will expose your secret identity, resulting in game over. On some occasions you will have to deal with Octodad's nemesis, a tyrannical sushi chef hell-bent on exposing Octodad's secret to the world.

Visually the game is designed in a light-hearted cartoonish style theme, combined with amusing dialogue.  Octodad's wife who also happens to be an investigative reporter, if you can see the funny irony in that will make the odd observations at her husbands strange behavior from time to time, but as Octodad you must strive to conceal your cover from your family and those out to expose your truth.

Octodad isn't a very long game, and that is not exactly a bad thing as most of the humor does eventually start to wear off after the initial novelty of attempting to complete everyday tasks as an Octopus starts to wear off.  This is where the game does start to drag as you have a list of chores to complete and trying to get these done with tentacles begin to feel a little tedious.

Overall

Octodad has some brilliant comedic moments that makes the title appealing,  but a joke is only its funniest once. For that reason we think this is a title that doesn't really hold much replay value after your first run through. If you are up for a laugh and are willing to overlook some of Octodad's tedious silliness especially during Boss fights, then this may just be a title worth picking up when you need a chuckle.

Score
3/5