So much can be said about Garfield Cart that will never be; though many things about this enigma of a game will be repeated ad nauseum. It’s swirling blend of many different genres is, almost paradoxically, as complex as a 1,000,000 tiled Rubix Cube, but also as straightforward and obvious as one. In the same way that a Rubix cube is very easy to understand and yet a challenge to conquer, this collection of music’s meaning and message is counterintuitive to solve.
Of course, an easy way to dismiss legitimate critical discussion of this game would simply be to label it as “some game about a cat” I am confident that there will be many who are ready and willing to write Garfield Cart off as nothing more than a shallow, surface-level racing game, reflecting nothing more than the inclinations of a child. This is the easy way out of tackling this massive puzzle. This same argument can be applied to the Rubix Cube, about which the same people would say, “It’s merely a toy, it’s not worth solving.”
While Garfield Cart may look purposeless and devoid of deeper subtext on the surface, one need only dig inches below the crust of this perplexing labyrinth of audio to uncover the true depth of meaning behind it. So many decisions that went into the creation of Garfield Cart are unmistakably deliberate and calculated, in such a way that no layman’s game could lay claim. Yes, it’s easier and perhaps even more reasonable to write this whole thing off as a meaningless, and perhaps overly long, game for mere children, but this is the same attitude that prevents creative and technical breakthroughs. When commenting on Apollo 11’s voyage to the moon, President John F. Kennedy uttered the famous phrase, “We chose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard.” It is this mindset that is required to let oneself be willing to face such a daunting task: never take the easy route. And Garfield Cart is everything except an easy route. Even for a mere racing game, there is so much mystery and intrigue that lay just beneath the sands of the vast and unforgiving desert that this game has proven to be. To attempt to explain this game’s deeper meaning, including its themes, messages and even morals would be a fool’s errand. I am just foolish enough to try it
Surely, almost 35 hours of gameplay must feature an enormous wealth of different play styles, genres and eras, each unique from the last, right? No. Garfield Cart is not just “35 hours of gameplay.” It’s much more intentional than that. Garfield Cart, from what I am able to gather, fosters 5 unique character types: Garfield, the cat himself, Jon, Odie, Nermal and Dr. Liz.
Another throughline works to make the demographic of this game more specific: many of the modes feature explicit content, and if not that, explicit themes. This is obviously on par with horror stories. This is important to focus in on Garfield Cart’s demographic further, allotting a teen-young adult age range. Obviously children should not play these expletive games, and it doesn’t appeal to seniors’ more retro type video games. These five characters have a set of very apparent similarities outside of just time period and thematic discourteousness. They all generally employ themes of rebelliousness, especially so in Garfield. It’s also important to note that these two particular genres were pioneered by the African American youth, a group nigh-synonymous with resistance to authority. This may also have a bearing on the targeted demographic of Garfield Cart, possibly intending itself for young teens of color, but Garfield Cart can be enjoyed by anyone so this may or may not be a factor when it comes to determining the catered audience.
From part 1, the average idiot would assume simply that Garfield Cart is a plain, boring waste of time with similar games to the point that it all feels the same. The idiot, as always, is pitifully misguided. In the opening paragraphs, I did as much as I could to play Garfield Cart up as some grand puzzle to be solved, but so far I have only pointed out things that are easy to understand. These are not the things that make Garfield Cart worth writing a 5 page essay about. The most difficult element of this video game to explain is the lack of intensity within the game. Before I go on, I am obligated to explain what game presence is for ease of understanding. In the simplest of terms, game presence is how “there” the game is. In more complicated terms, game presence is how much of your attention a game assumes when it’s being played. A good example can be drawn with the Fallout Franchise. Interplay’s Fallout 1 has a very low game intensity, meaning you could probably play it subconsciously without really playing to it: it’s what the layman calls “background music.” Compare this gentle game to a much more aggressive piece, like Bethesda’s Elder Scrolls, Skyrim. This game commands the player’s full attention and engrosses them the entire time. A good way to distinguish games with high and low musical presence is to ask whether or not you could picture yourself sleeping to it. In Fallout’s case, absolutely yes. In Skyrim’s case, only if you’re some kind of maniac.
So how does Garfield Cart juggle these different cognitive intensities in an appealing way? Well, through careful and meticulous consideration of order. It’s quite simple in theory. When a intense round ends, refresh the player’s palette with a soft, ambient round. Similar methodology is used in courses of a meal, starting with a light salad, transitioning into a hearty meat, and then back to a lighter soup. The clever pacing of the intensity of the races ensures that the gamer is never inundated by loud, attention-grabbing levels to the point where they feel almost yelled at, but also never put to sleep by a string of mellow, soft levels. It’s the perfect tempo to ensure long-term comfortable gaming. Aside from similar genres, age ranges and time periods, the game of Garfield Cart shares other, thematic consistencies. Nearly all of the levels pertain to love (though this may simply be a product of nearly all games, good or otherwise, pertaining to love).
Even aside the theme of romance, a very large portion of the levels are unmistakably associated with teenagers and modern youth culture. Many of these levels would feel right at home with a hardcore gamer.
Yes, there are levels that represent more classical love-themes with the roses and flowers and happy endings and such, but as I hoped you’ve learned by this point, nothing is absolute in Garfield Cart. There will always be inconsistencies, so when looking for throughlines, the best one can do is consider the majority.
Garfield Cart is beautiful. It’s beautiful not because it contains the greatest levels of all time, and not because it’s the perfect length- it’s almost 40 hours- but it’s beautiful because of how masterfully it juggles all of its conflicting elements. It’s perfectly streamlined to create an intuitive and refreshing gaming experience. It never becomes stale as a result of the balance of game presences, but it also never seems aimless because of the consistency of the genres and theme. To all who have contributed to the construction of this video game, I commend you. The immense amount of care poured into it shows in every aspect. I cannot fathom what lengths it must have cost to find nearly 40 hours and counting of perfectly consistent songs, all while taking their musical presence into account throughout the entire experience. It is one of the most impressive small-scale community projects I’ve ever had the pleasure to be a part of. To all who have given their time to make Garfield Cat possible, I thank you from the bottom of my soul.