Very nice Wes. I enjoyed this game with my friends on the weekend. It gave us a lot of thinking, and I like its psychological/funny/scary essence. :)
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Vincent trying to explain the issue to Katherine.
It's impossible to resist Catherine's sexiness.
In the nightmare, Vincent must find his way to the top.
Battle against a ferocious boss.
Catherine (Game) game Review
Story & Playability
Every time you see promotional arts of a sexy blonde female protagonist wearing undergarment and messily eating pizzas, it's firstly misunderstood as a crass dating game. That's all part of Catherine, but the game defies such simple expectations. Beyond the (censored) cover, it's much a stranger and more mature creation.
Vincent is an aimless fellow slinking through his post-30 life, his coding job, and his relationship with a reserved, sensible career woman named Katherine. He has a circle of friends, but he doesn't know what he wants and is still hesitate whether he should propose to Katherine or not until he meets a beautiful young woman named Catherine. She's mysterious, she's cynical about marriage, she turns out to be Vincent's type, and she's sleeping next to the poor guy the next morning, even though he can't remember how she got there. After meeting Catherine, he begins to have bizarre nightmares, in which he and several men are dropped in a strange tower and appear in the form of sheep. A mystical slaughterhouse it is as they must escape the horrors trying to kill them, for if they die in their dream, they will die in reality. Disturbingly enough, Vincent is irritated by the mocking proprietor of this purgatory that everything was started by someone he knows in the real world. Determined to take his life back, Vincent makes his way up to the tower, while contemplating his feeling between long-time girlfriend Katherine and lethal seductress Catherine.
Hard as it may be to believe, Catherine's reserved in its treatment of sex. It's implied and mentioned and prodded at, but the game really focuses on broken relationship, jealously, why men cheat, what it does to them, and if anything, what they do about it. Vincent is caught in what maybe the biggest decision in his life: sticking with to the stable Katherine, jumping into the sexy Catherine, or being an idiot two-timing both of them. It's all very conventional, and occasionally realistic. Free of board conflict and world-threatening dangers, it's a game about a regular guy who must go down the road everyone will have to: marriage. A warm and satisfying story without flinching away from what's dark, selfish, or downright disturbing in the sinister of his nightmares.
So goes half of Catherine, the other half lies in the gameplay. The game is separated into over a week's worth of days and nights, and Vincent will have to get through each of them in essentially the same way. Came from the brilliant mind of Persona-developing company Atlus, the elements is fairly familiar. While awake, Vincent is freely to move around the Stray Sheep bar. There he can drink with his pals, chat with the bar's regular customers and resolve their problems, play mini games and reply text messages or answer questions to arrange the meter bar. There are total eight endings depends on what you choose. The gameplay is clever and accompanied by elements presented in traditional Persona games.
But makes no mistake, Catherine is a survival horror, and it will start once Vincent's tucked into bed, the nightmares surface, and the hardcore puzzle survival begins. In these dreams, facing the mighty tower, he is able to shoves cubes around and scrambles upward, push them, pull them, and climb them, making for a rather simple path. Sounds pretty easy, doesn't it? But the game's real challenge enters as more levels approach, bringing some new hazards: slippy ice blocks, booby traps, taller towers, and enemy sheep. Exploring the tall towers makes a unique tone for Catherine, but it's also the greatest annoyance. The puzzles are deviously constructed, each one making it more difficult to figure out how to arrange blocks in ways that allow you to reach the pinnacle. Devising strategy is a difficult task, but you don't get all the time in the world to figure it out, the tower is slowly falling to pieces under you and forces you to stay on the move, and if Vincent's killed or falls to the ground, it's game over. Luckily, the game features a rewind button, but even then, it's wickedly difficult and exhausting. However, the emotion and experience once reached the top and to live for another day? Terrific!
If Catherine is ultimately rather weird in content, it stays with the cast.
Vincent is a strange lead: in reality, he isn't a typical hero, he isn't interested in greatness, just wants
things to stay the way they are, begging the question of why either woman would want him. During the day, he attempts to
make sense of his romantic entanglements while trying to avoid the two women from meeting each other whereas in the
dreams, he's a resolute leader, always encourages other sheep to move onward and wants to save as many of them as
possible. Although being a regular guy, Vincent's warm confidence shows him as a far more lovable character than a
pathetic two-timing bastard that he is and makes you care about his path. You want him to find direction. The concept of
romance is intriguing as Catherine is a fun-loving, perky dream girl, while Katherine is serious about marriage.
Catherine represents fun, freedom and chaos; Katherine represents comfort, commitment and law. Two women are polar
opposite to one another, and they make the story refreshing. By the end, the game is firmly in the thrall of
Vincent's personal issues. With the guy mans up in both confidence and physical mind, it comes to serve mainly as a
device to bring the characters together and resolve their lingering conflicts. One need only wince as Vincent
unwittingly cheats on Katherine with his romance-complex, or bask in the fulfilling warmth of their reconciliation to
appreciate the quality of Catherine's conventional core.
Rating:
Graphics
Now that Atlus has moved to the new gaming generation, the graphic looks different too, but in contrast to the annoyance, this is where it really shines. The characters evoke a 3-D anime style without crossing over into the grotesque, and animation cutscenes is a commendable effort from Studio 4°C. Perhaps one of Catherine's biggest achievement is the use of warped animation and detailed graphic to force us to live trauma through the eyes of the traumatized. There's nary of drop of blood shed, but the awful veracity of Vincent's dream make them truly horrifying.
Character designs are clean and attractive, and remain consistently on-model. Vincent looks interesting, a half-sheep
man wearing only boxer and carrying a pillow to fight and it's irresistible to look away Catherine's sexiness.
Some backgrounds, especially spiraling towers are rather attractive but they're offset by some interesting work
like the horrific images of the bosses - a distort-faced zombie fiance, two giant grudging fists with knife and fork,
and a baby from Hell - make the design one of the most terrifying in recent games.
Rating:
Sound
In term of music, the game has an enchanting soundtrack, there's much outside of the haunting soundtrack played during the tower, nostalgic music from Atlus' previous works, delicate victory symphonies and some diegetic guitar and jazz—that could be honestly called music in Catherine. What you might consider its score is composed almost entirely of distorted sound and ominous noise.
A typical feature of Atlus is that the VA were done by regulars. The sub version brings back some veterans with Yamadera
Koichi plays the heroic Vincent, Mitsuishi Kotono as the sophisticated Katherine while Sawashiro Miyuki (Elizabeth,
Kanzato Jun) returns as Catherine. The same goes for dubbing as most voice actors were familiar faces from Atlus'
previous games. Even so, Vincent has a stronger, manlier voice than he might otherwise have, and Catherine leaves
nothing to complain about. Although the dub might haunt a voice-over as it covers strong language and adult humor.
Rating:
Fun
Waking up and finding yourself next to the most beautiful woman you've ever seen sounds like a dream comes true, but in Catherine, you'll find it's a walking nightmare. The simplicity sometimes grates in both fields, but there's no denying that Catherine's a novel break from the routines of the game industry. It has more to offer than its core, cynical gameplay and it's not the gameplay alone that makes it interesting. It's easy to get the wrong idea about the game at a glance, but it's hard to put it aside once you understand. There's no exaggerated saving the world premise here, just about one man figuring out just what he wants from the world.
Even with the conventional core that claws its way to ascendancy towards the end, Catherine is a sharp deviation from the anime norm. Perhaps it isn't the revolutionary masterpiece
Persona 4 was, and maybe it doesn't live up to its pedigree, but that doesn't stop it from standing above the
crowd. Hard work reaps great reward, once Vincent finally reached the top of this tower of Babel, the emotion success is
already presented in one of his quotes: "Victory, and a future!"
____________________________________________________________________________________________
Story: 9
Characters: 8
Gameplay: 8
Art: 8
Graphic: 9
Voice: 8 (sub)/8 (dub)
Music: 9
Overall: 8.5
Good:
+Compelling, personal story wrapped around challenging puzzles, unusual morality system eschews notions of good and bad,
and standard adult tale to something quite unique and brilliance.
Bad:
+Intimidating difficult.
+Overly demanding for unlocking additional modes.
Rating:
Final Verdict
8.3333 (good)
Reviewed by Weskalia, Oct 16, 2011
Comments
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mbeckley Oct 16, 2011
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ShinKyo Oct 17, 2011
I really need to get my hands on this game, it sounds interesting. Nice review :D
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aozoraskies Oct 20, 2011
Catherine sounds like a beautifully done game - psychological, both in its story concept, and its gameplay - puzzles and boss fights, man. I can only imagine the panic it must instill, clambering up a crumbling tower as you shove and pull block pieces around, armed with nothing but a pillow* against the monsters coming in. And as sheep? Boy, is Altus having fun.
It's hard to pick a favourite section in this review - it's all impeccably written with enough detail to attract readers and astound them with the awesomeness the game features. Your review brings out the creativity Altus has put into Catherine with its normal-yet-quite-not background story and the harrowing nightmare-istic journey the players have to lead Vincent through; the sleekness of their graphics that emulate both winsome and horrific details alike; and how powerfully they play on both character's and player's emotion. I see Altus really has a running theme of making characters confront personal issues, and the different personas they wear in response to said issues. It intrigues me!
This is a stunning review, Weskalia! It really, really attracts and makes readers want to get on to the game at once. I can only imagine the nerve-wrecking pain it must be, running from the falling edges of the tower and scrambling around as one tries to figure out a puzzle strategy, and not fall either into traps and the monster's grip, or down down into the unknown chasm. *shiver* Something about your review makes me think that this pain too, however, will become addictive. ahhhh
At least, the puzzle gameplay sounds like it has a singular strategy-type unlike say, the water prison combination-riddle in Silent Hill... I really have no idea how the players was supposed to figure that out, even following the storyline or not. lol. Anyway, I rather dig the graphics and character designs for Catherine as well - Katherine's look as the straight-laced business woman with Vincent's slightly hobo-ish, more irresponsible demeanor, and the 'other woman' Catherine being an irresistibly young and pretty seductress, all in mute yet clean tones in animation. Hmm, and your behaviour/answers affect how the tower puzzles can turn out? Now, I'm wondering if it's similar for Persona 3.. would explain some of the strange situations.
* Which brings up the question: in a dire monster situation, which is the worse weapon? Hanger or pillow? ..well cough at least you can smother with a pillow cough.
I apologise for the late response. I wanted to comment earlier but didn't want to plague your excellent review with the sporadic random/depress mode I was in then.. So, it dragged out rather, the time lapse between the first and second paragraphs lol. Well, YOUR CATHERINE REVIEW CAN HAVE MY LOVE, WESKALIA.
P.S. this comment is nearly as long as a review! :'D -
SolemnSerpent Nov 23, 2011
I have a lot a reviews to catch up with! //begins
I'm so glad that a review has been posted for this; I wanted an excellent review for it, because secretly I've been wanting to play this game. The entire games sounds interesting - and holy crap, it's creepy? Lol, I wouldn't never synced the word 'terrifying' with what I've seen of the game's artwork thus far. However, as you mentioned:
Quote: Every time you see promotional arts of a sexy blonde female protagonist wearing undergarment and messily eating pizzas, it's firstly misunderstood as a crass dating game. That's all part of Catherine, but the game defies such simple expectations.
It 'defies expectations' - that's the most appealing aspect of the game that I've heard! Anything that takes the mundane and overused, yet still turns up something admirable grabs my attention. Considering the artwork for Catherine, I honestly had the same assumption about the game. I loved the style, but I was like, "Dear god, is this another one of those petty dating games?"However, your review for it is what will make me finally purchase the game when I have the chance.
The puzzle sounds interesting - the blocks & tower sounds like something that'll give me a run for my money. I love puzzle games, lol, but they can be frustrating and controllers might get tossed.
My thoughts on the review: I really like the writing for this review, it flows perfectly and captures high interest in the game, and Atlus's other works, which you speak well of. And reminds me that I need to play the Persona games, asdfghjkl;'I'mlame Certainly, this review will make others, besides me endeavor to purchase the game.
I love this bit,
Quote by This makes me want to shout 'Woot!'Hard work reaps great reward, once Vincent finally reached the top of this tower of Babel, the emotion success is already presented in one of his quotes: "Victory, and a future!"
I carefully read this, to check it I could spot any mistake, there is a small one:
"Waking up and find yourself next to the most beautiful woman you've ever seen sounds like a dream comes true, but in Catherine, you'll find it's a walking nightmare."
'find' should be 'finding'. Everything else - perfection.
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SnickerdoodleNinja Retired Moderator Nov 24, 2011
I've always had a deep love for all things psychological horror themed, and this sounds like it fits nicely into that category with an interesting premise. Sadly, however, I've had terrible luck with every Atlus game I've played to the point where I don't like buying any of their games, and while I don't mind affairs being a moral issue that is dealt with, having it be so prominent in this game would probably make me feel downright awkward, if the cover is any indication. I'll probably have to pass on this one.
As for your review, I read it back when it first came out, and I really thought I had commented on it back then. Guess now. @.@ Anyhow, I think this is extremely thorough-not that that's unusual for you-but I feel like I really understand how this game works and goes without having anything spoiled for me. Second, your flow of words is top-notch as usual-while regular words will get the job done, you find phrases that embelish your reviews and take them a step up. It looked like there were some grammar issues, but overall great job Wes!
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CyanideBlizzard Retired Moderator Feb 02, 2012
I was meaning to comment on this review when you released it, but I was hoping I'd get a chance to play the game soon and wanted to hold off. Just recently, like the past two days, I finally had some time to sit down and play the game and then comment on the review. First off, my own thoughts on the game itself.
To be honest, the concept is what made me want to play the game in the first place. The morality of it all, mixed in with gameplay decisions that affected this was what first sold me on the concept. The fact that it was also more about the characters and story than anything else was also the case, but I found as I played the game that it seemed like the story and everything else were simply there to break up the gameplay segments. So far, I have reached day six and I have to say I'm a bit disappointed in the lack of character control. Studio 4c did a marvelous job with the animated scenes, and I think the Persona team did a fantastic job bringing the gameplay into the next generation, but ultimately only being able to control Vincent at the bar, and having that be for what feels like only five to ten minutes, is simply not enough in my book. I wanted to have more time to be able to talk to some people, maybe select a song on the jukebox, and play some of the arcade games as well. Don't get me wrong, I love the fact that there's the ability to respond to texts, and social interactions can also influence characters around you as well, but it really felt like the game just wanted me to mingle around for a bit before having me make a decision to get on with the game itself.
Another big problem I have with the game is how absurdly wishy-washy Vincent is. Setting my own personal beliefs aside, I can understand his situation and frustration of trying to work the situation out, but as an individual who is a few years away from being thirty, I look at Vincent and I find it absurdly difficult to put myself in his shoes, much less sympathize. I find myself frustrated by his incompetence to properly take action and more importantly, stand on his own feet. I understand that, within the context of the story itself, Vincent's actions make sense and more importantly help tell the story that Catherine wanted to tell, but as of the point I've reached in the game so far, I'm actually hoping for the worst possible outcome for him. After all, it's hard to sympathize with someone who is literally digging their own grave, is fully conscious of it, but refuses to stop digging. My brain = a mess.
My final issue with Catherine is sort of a duality. I love and hate the puzzles. I think it's brilliant of Atlus to incorporate such a system, and more importantly have it work so well. The fact that each stage has a different challenge forces the player to think on their feet and come up with new strategies to help them complete each nightmare. However, this is also where my problem stems. I don't mind the puzzles being difficult, or the fact that they essentially put you on a timer. I don't even mind the fact that they award trophies depending on how well you do. My problem is how the game wants you to completely it as quickly as possible, but also wants you to be intelligent. Normally, that's not so much of an issue for me, but I'm sure anyone that has played this game has made careless mistakes. I made several of them that resulted in death and putting us on a retry system just seems a bit dated. Granted, the system is easy to exploit (I have over 50 retries as of this moment), but that's also because I kept dying and the retry pillows also respond when you die, thus increasing the amount of retries. It just feels like I'm being rushed to make foolish mistakes and putting more and more puzzles in there seem to only make the game sort of suffer from the most universal problem people have had with it, which is balance. Although I won't disagree, completing a puzzle is very satisfying and the bosses are wonderfully terrifying.
Despite all my complaints, I'm really enjoying what time I can spend in Catherine's world. I hope that this game did well enough to encourage more developers to take risks and branch out. Hopefully that'll result in a better constructed experience too.
As for the review, it's hard to say what hasn't been said already. You did a great job of describing the game for those who haven't played or heard of it before, and it definitely gets you rather curious to sit down with the game and see how it is and that's always been a very strong point that you've had.
My apologies about the rant, but absolutely flawless review!
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