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Amidst the barrage of first person shooters and known quantities that suck the market dry year after year, a niche title from Atlus emerges to wipe the slate clean. Merging mature, relevant storytelling with a gameplay hook that one would not expect in a full priced console release, Catherine stands at the forefront of this year's most unique titles. Does this bizarre blend of Japanese anime and mind-bending puzzles prove to be as successful as it is charming or will it leave you yearning to dust off your virtual M16 once again?
Catherine (PS3, XBox 360)
Developer: Atlus Persona Team
Publisher: Atlus
Released: July 26, 2011
The star of the show is Vincent Brooks, a man who is thrust into a predicament when Katherine, his girlfriend of 5 years, begins pressuring him to tie the knot. As one might expect, Vincent is stuck wrestling between feelings for her and his desire to maintain his freedom as a bachelor. To make matters worse, he wakes up in bed after a night of drinking with a blonde bombshell named Catherine (with a C!) in bed next to him and no memory of how he got there. Does he string them both along or does he come clean in the interest self preservation? From that moment forward, gameplay comes in the form of puzzle like block towers that he must scale in his dreams in order to escape the nightmares that await him in the real world. Atlus has woven a tale that is not only vastly different from anything that preceded it, they managed to use normal human fears of commitment and fatherhood to evoke thoughts that I have never had while playing a video game. Perhaps more importantly, the ending to the story is determined by answering questions about relationships, marriage, and cheating throughout the game.
The Persona Team is well known for crafting intricate social experiences that blend with more traditional RPG gameplay mechanics. While Catherine is a puzzle game at it's core, the subtle blending of mild social elements from their famed Persona series accentuates the puzzle gameplay pretty well. When you are not scaling block towers or talking with patrons at the bar, players will manage the relationship between Vince and his two lady friends by responding to text messages. Fans of the deeper social aspects of games like Persona may be disappointed though since certain behaviors and dialogue choices rarely seem to reflect in the character's actions within the story. In fact, it wasn't until the very end that the events of the story seemed to diverge onto different paths as a result of the choices that were made. For a game with such a strong story to tell, the inclusion of choice is a bit misleading in the long run.
Perhaps the most divisive element in Catherine is the actual puzzles themselves. While the premise seems a bit simple, understanding the ways in which the blocks interact is essential to success. Blocks will only stay on the board as long as they are sharing an edge with an adjacent block and Vincent is limited to pushing, pulling, and shimmying. To make matters a bit more complicated, new types of blocks are introduced at a fairly rapid pace. Everything from springboard blocks to trap blocks are dispersed throughout each level to impede or fuel player progress. Finding the best way to maneuver these to create a path is not only tricky but oftentimes downright stressful. The inclusion of a time limit can tend to make this game unnecessarily frustrating, especially during the occasional boss stage. To top it all off, a ridiculous camera and erratic control scheme often create a whole new set of unintentional road blocks (forgive the pun).
Many of these missteps could have been easily forgiven if new tactics were presented in a more rational manner. Rather than provide players with detailed strategies and opportunities to practice them, players must seek them out by talking with the strange "characters" (READ: Sheep) that populate the safe zones in each stage. By allowing players to skip these conversations entirely, it is possible to miss essential strategies that could make the difference between success and failure. Even if the time is taken to learn the tricks, the imposed time limit can generate a sense of panic and cause one to blindly move blocks without thinking. To make matters worse, the avenue by which players will likely become better at the game is in the form of an inconspicuous arcade machine that can be accessed from the bar between stages. With multitudes of levels to practice without the stress of a time limit, this is an invaluable resource that is too easily overlooked. When you get right down to it, a few sloppy design choices made the game much more of a hassle than it needed to be.
In gaming, there is rarely a "right" way to play a game. Thanks to a limitation of console hardware and the added frustration of having to race the clock, 'Catherine' is a game that is best played on an easier difficulty setting on the Playstation. In order to simplify the movement from block to block, Vincent is controlled using the d-pad. A simple push in a direction will allow him to face a particular direction before moving to the next block along his path. Unfortunately, it is easy to see why this might concern Xbox players seeing as the the terrible d-pad design amplifies the frustrations of the game ten fold. While the occasional masochistic player will challenge him/herself by playing on hard or even normal, most players will feel the most comfortable with the difficulty setting turned all the way down.
While Catherine stumbles thanks to some shallow social mechanics and its inability to intuitively guide the player to success, it still manages to embody all of the qualities that make for an addictive puzzle game. Puzzles are well constructed and paced within the carefully woven story of betrayal, fear, and human nature. Every aspect of the game's visual presentation is slick and the underlying themes of the story are relatable on some level by anyone. Despite all that, Catherine is sure to be remembered more for its faults than its accomplishments. Unfortunately, it is difficult to express adoration for a game when there are so many obvious complaints lodged against it so perhaps I should just come out and say it:
'Catherine' stills stands tall as my favorite game of 2011 thus far.
72%
(70-74%: Solid; major issues)
(A truly divisive title that acts as a melting pot for popular genres but stumbles in several key aspects of its execution)
Comments
13 years, 4 months ago
Great review, Nick! I still look forward to this title and I want to at least give it a rent, but I can see where this game can be majorly frustrating with people.
13 years, 4 months ago
Great review Nick. I have not yet played Catherine for myself, but I still feel like I can say your criticisms seem very fair and well founded. I'm glad that you ultimately enjoyed the game in the end. Despite hearing about the flaws Catherine is still very much a game I want to play and add to my library.
13 years, 4 months ago
I really liked your review Nick. This game, in terms of story, I thought it was an entertaining story the way the events unraveled! I agree that the effect of your decisions should have been more visible as you played rather than have it all build towards the end. I'm also glad you didn't have a beef with the puzzles like Brad and David were. Yeah, it's kind of repetitive to completely use the same kind of puzzle for the whole game, but for some reason i liked it a lot in this game. If I may note on something that I always hate about RPGs is the Good Side/Bad Side. It always annoys me because I'm not the angel and I'm not a devil either.
But I digress: You gave it a fair score and review Nick! Glad I got to hear you sound off on this game!
13 years, 4 months ago
I enjoyed the demo, but I wish there wasnt as much emphasis on the moral choices and just let the story go since the player and Vincent are two different people. Another thing I liked in the demo were the other character's viewpoints on relationships even if they were a little obvious to make the dialogue sound more like a debate. This looks like I will get this game on a later date. Great review btw!
13 years, 4 months ago
I still want to try this game out
13 years, 4 months ago
Great review, I've seen some game-play of this game on different channels in JTV. I have to say, this game really looks hard. I'd probably get this one, but I'll wait for a price drop.
13 years, 4 months ago
Sounds like a fair review, but I'd like to point out the fact that the 360 D-Pad works surprisingly well in Catherine. In any other game, this is a difficult thing to imagine, but I find playing Catherine on the 360 D-Pad far more accurate than what the joystick offers.
13 years, 4 months ago
Very, very, very well put. Catherine is the textbook definition of a game greater than the sum of its parts- its concept, gameplay-wise, is so simple, and at times even feels barebones, but it's been a long time since I felt as satisfied by a game as I was with this one. The score is fair- I mean, honestly, how do you encapsulate daring thematic choices in a score?- and after letting it roll around in my head for a little while, I have to agree. It's gonna take something really interesting and really well executed to top Catherine as my game of 2011.
THAT SAID, I have to ask about a line in second paragraph: Is a girlfriend of 5 years discussing marriage really "a rather unusual predicament?"
13 years, 4 months ago
I like how the game kinda gives you an idea what you're getting into when selecting difficulty. I chose easy since I just want to get through the story. Despite the frustrating puzzles, bad camera, and shaky controls, I was really into the game that I beat it in 2 sittings.
13 years, 4 months ago
I've never played an Atlus game but the story of this one has grabbed my attention, hopefully I'll be able to pick it up and not quit in frustration.
13 years, 3 months ago
Nick, I don't really understand why u gave a 98, a near perfect score to Portal 2, yet You give Catherine a 72 and proclaim it your favorite game this year.
13 years, 3 months ago
Nice review, Nick. Honestly, I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way about the game. It isn't a perfect game, yet, it's one of my faves and it did not fail to disappoint me.
13 years, 3 months ago
Interesting review. I am looking forward to playing this.
13 years, 3 months ago
Great review! I'd been waiting for one because I really didn't know much about Catherine.
I only have a Playstation so I should be alright, but I tend to get terribly frustrated at anything that even resembles a puzzle in a game. I had heard that the game is incredibly difficult (mostly from you guys on twitter) so yeah, I'd probably play on easy.
I still want it though! The puzzles do sound interesting, and I can't resist a good story.
13 years, 3 months ago
Great review Nick!
Catherine is also my game of the year so far. Even though the game has some flaws, the whole theme and uniqueness is what makes the game stand out and makes this game an overall great experience.
13 years, 3 months ago
Oh well, I had higher hopes, it definitely isnt bad buuuutttt....
13 years, 3 months ago
Awesome review. Even though I'm not much a a puzzle fan, Catherine seems rather interesting. I must admit however, that based on the gameplay that i have seen as well as the repetitious tasks which nick described in the article, the gameplay, specifically the puzzle aspect, often at times seem to be rather mundane and tedious. Nonetheless, the storyline appear fairly interesting and might be worth renting.
13 years, 3 months ago
Second paragraph, "a man who is thrust into a rather predicament when Katherine..." I think this is a typo?
Anyway, loved reading the review, will be nabbing the PS3 version myself so I feel that mixed with easy mode should make this enjoyable. Glad to hear you rate it so highly amongst this years games and ultimately that's what I find myself needing right now, a game that breaks away from the stubborn gritty shooting out there. Can't wait for it to come to the UK.
13 years, 3 months ago
Great review Nick! I don't agree with most of your complaints, but I'm glad you enjoyed the game. It too is definitely my GOTY so far, and actually landed a spot in my top 5 games. Definitely blew me away!
13 years, 3 months ago
I think this is a great review.
While I have yet to purchase and play this game myself, I've heard many good things about it and you've only helped perk up that muse of mine.
Even if the end result score is not too high, I'm assuming it has more to do with gameplay and less with the story, seeing as how you said it was still one of your more memorable experiences this year.
Thanks for the article, I'll be looking forward to playing Catherine and your next review.
13 years, 3 months ago
hmm a 72% is your GOTY choice so far? That seems strange....
13 years, 3 months ago
After watching both the ending David got, and the highest tip towards Catherine ending on youtube, I can safely say that I will never play this game because both were the stupidest things I've ever watched in my life. The puzzle element looks brilliant, but man, fuck Japanese story writing.
13 years, 3 months ago
I definitely want this game, though. It looks and sounds really good. Thanks for the great review! :D
13 years, 3 months ago
i thought is was a great game, it challenged me alot, but the thing i disliked most was the long cut scenes they could have really shorted those
13 years, 3 months ago
Great review Nick. I think I'll just rent this one.
13 years, 3 months ago
Interesting , I'll be sure to at least try out this game as the story seems to pique my interest.