Review: Catherine (PS3/360)

Like Catherine and Katherine, our love for this game can't be restricted to just one person, so we had two reviewers give their takes on this amazing game! The first review was done before the game was released in America, using a Japanese copy, while the second one was reviewed after its US release. That being said, let the review commence!

                                                                                                                                                

Atlus, renowned publisher of edgy, interesting RPGs such as the Persona series, has finally released a new game to their adoring public. Interestingly enough, Catherine, for the PlayStation 3, is not an RPG. While still edgy and interesting, Catherine is an adult, violent, slightly disturbing, completely addicting puzzle game.

Following the story of a young man named Vincent, the game plunges you into his life, quickly setting up the basic information you need to know. Young men across the country have mysteriously been found dead in their beds a few days after telling their friends they've been seeing weird, scary dreams. Now, you, as Vincent, are having them too. Throw into all this that you are being stalked by a sexy blonde girl with the same name as your girlfriend of five years, and Vincent starts really having problems.

The game is half puzzle, half relationship sim, with a little bit of horror and suspense thrown in. The relationship sim part comes from your daily interactions with your friends, Katherine (your girlfriend of 5 years who is pressuring you to get married) and Catherine (the aforementioned sexy blonde girl). How you play the game, and what conversation choices you make, determines whether you end up with one girl or the other, or alone. The puzzle part comes at night, as Vincent goes to bed. Every night, you are thrust into a nightmare where you have to climb a pile of blocks that are constantly falling in order to get to the top and escape as fast as you can.

The gameplay is simple, as all you do is literally pull and push blocks around. As the game progresses, you run into different types of blocks, some which can't be moved, or explode when you stand on them, that increase the difficulty. You also learn different tricks and patterns to pull blocks into in order to climb up the tower faster, but you don't get any new abilities or powers to help you as you progress. Despite this seemingly simple and austere gameplay, it is amazingly addictive, and surprisingly nerve-wracking. Finding yourself frantically pulling blocks, trying to figure out how to climb up higher, while the blocks almost immediately under you just fell into a bottomless pit, is prime sweaty-palm inducing stuff. For added stress, each boss level usually finds you being chased by a monster straight out of your nightmares, literally, as you climb... just in case you weren't stressed out enough whenever you got stumped.

A perfect complement to the frantic gameplay is the story. Starting out almost serene, it slowly builds in pace, tension, and suspense until you get to the end of the game. Eventually, all your answers about the mysterious deaths and where your stalker come from are answered, but how the game ends is up to the choices you make. There's about 8 different endings you can get, some better than others. The story is supported the whole way through by beautiful graphics in-game, and amazing anime cut-scenes for the cinemas, which will make even a casual Persona fan froth at the mouth imagining what Persona 5 will look like on the PS3.

This game was originally not supposed to ever come out in the US, but it has sold so well in Japan that Atlus has decided to release it in the States this July. Hopefully it will stay just the same as the Japanese version, as there is no where to really improve on this amazingly fun and interesting game. Pick it up as soon as you get the chance, and get lost in the world of Catherine.

Submitted By: Sherrie Blackwell (Employee)

                                                                                                                                            

When faced with a game as unique as this one, it's hard to describe its genre to others. When you say the words "it's a dating sim/puzzle game", they give you the weirdest look you will have ever seen, but in the case of Catherine, well...... that's what the game is. Catherine is developed and published by ATLUS, renowned makers of quirky RPGs like the Persona series. In fact, Catherine originally started out as a test for the PS3/360 hardware for Persona 5, but it truly blossomed into its own with its unique visuals and its intense and intriguing story.

As stated earlier, this game was originally conceived as a test for Persona 5, meaning that the same brilliant minds behind the Persona series were working on this game, and all of the stylistic visuals and dark story interactions are up to par with that series. The game puts you in the shoes of Vincent Brooks, a 32 year old man who can't seem to make up his mind about what he wants to do with his life, especially his love life. His girlfriend of 5 years, Katherine, is constantly pressuring him to get married, but he just can't seem to take the plunge. Then late one night he has a fateful meeting with another woman, Catherine, who just so happens to have the same name as his girlfriend, and madness ensues. From there the plot twists and turns more than an M. Knight Shyamalan movie! Along the way, you can make decisions on what to say to other characters that effects a "morality meter" that can determine the overall outcome of the game, as well as which 'Catherine' you end up with. That being said, there are 8 different endings to the game, so your decisions really effect how happy you'll be when the credits screen rolls.

The gameplay is... well, it's a dating sim/puzzle game, so suffice to say it has a very unique play style. Similar to the Persona games, you spend your days interacting with other characters, helping them with their problems and having various discussions with Catherine/Katherine. At night, you have nightmares in which you must climb a tower. However, just climbing a tower would be boring without the threat of death close behind, so you are quickly informed that if you die in the dream, you die in real life! This is bad news for Vincent, so in order to navigate your way up these towers you must move blocks around to create a path to the top, all the while dodging the enemies and obstacles in your way trying to hinder your progress. It is a very challenging process, and on the hardest difficulty there is a huge sense of accomplishment when you've completed a puzzle, because hardest must mean insane difficulty to ATLUS. Finally, once you've beaten the game, you can compete in multiplayer head-to-head matches, as well as a mode called "Babel", which is a challenge mode of sorts with 4 increasingly difficult levels. Just in case the normal game wasn't enough of a challenge for you, that is.

All in all, Catherine is an incredibly interesting and "Qbert-ian" journey that is well worth multiple play-throughs to see what comes of Vincent, or, more accurately, what you choose to have happen to him. If the quality and beauty of Catherine's graphics and storytelling are any indication, then Persona 5 should be a real treat as well.

Submitted by: Tom Ferko (Employee)