Game On: Catherine

So, my new year's resolution was to review every game i beat, so as to leave something behind, or something. I'm not sure why i decided on that, what I do know is that I'm doing it.

I'm making it happen.

Today's game is Catherine, on the PS3.

Totally not hentai, I swear.

In a Nutshell

Vincent Brooks is a 32-year old software engineer who's been going out with Katherine McBride for some time. Then Catherine, with a C, comes up in his life and he has an affair. While this is happening, he is plagued by nightmares in which he must climb an incredibly tall tower that crumbles below his feet.

Ever had one of those nights? Waking up next to an attractive stranger...

Story

The story is one of the strong points for this game. in fact, about half the game is set in the Stray Sheep bar and consists of mainly talking to people, having a drink, putting some tunes on the jukebox or playing the arcade. The characters are rather interesting, I certainly was interested in each of the characters' problems and troubles. The story is interesting in that your actions affect it, the choices you make actually matter in this one, even though it uses a simple bar for your "moral choices". Taking a page from Persona, the side characters' issues are interesting and develop as you get acquainted with them, and their fate is in your hands.

The actual plot itself is not standard fare, not by a longshot. This is a story about relationships, it's a game about choices, and about people and their everyday challenges.it's actually very well handled, making for a very different game story. Of course, that's one half of the story. The other half is the supernatural side of things, which was handled a bit more badly. Around the end of the game, at least, following the path I did, the disconnect between the mundane and supernatural was very jarring. Catherine is a strange game with a plot and gameply that could be separated and made into two distinct games, one about relationships, one about the supernatural. It simply is a bit jarring how the two connect, but at the same time, it makes for a very interesting mix. The frontier between the two is constantly blurred as the mundane and supernatural sides of the story constantly meet each other.

Another point of note is how your choices affect the story and ending. This is a game with quite a few different endings, depending on your choices throughout the game, and not one with a single good ending, a bad ending depending on whether you were baby eatingly evil or puppy pettingly good.

All in all, the story is something I didn't see before and it was handled in a very interesting, compelling way. The characters are interesting and draw you in while the supernatural and mundane world have their frontiers blur and move the story forward.

Exciting bar action

Gameplay

Catherine is both a bit of a "visual novel" style game and an action-puzzle game. I'm mostly going to focus on the action-puzzle part because, well, Visual Novels may be fun, there's not much gameplay-wise to really talk about. Basically, you have to climb towers of blocks, that slowly fall, forcing you to hurry up. Those tower segments could be compared to Jenga, in that you have to push and pull blocks, without toppling the whole thing and making progress impossible.

The game starts off easy, but difficulty ramps up as you're expected to come up with various climbing techniques, deal with various special blocks and examine situations over pulling random blocks. The result is a rather challenging game, one that always sends new situations your way and is never lacking in challenge or variety. Completing each stage nets you a rank, from Bronze to Gold, which adds a reason to return to each stage, consider also the fact that there is an "Arcade" Mode featuring randomly-generated towers, and a puzzle mode, the Arcade Game Rapunzel, which gives you levels that have to be completed a certain way, with limited moves and you have a puzzle game with all the trimmings, one that doesn't lack replay value. Especially when you compound the various different endings, the trophy/achievements and leaderboards... This is a well-rounded game.

As for the visual novel-style parts, they succeed in developing characters and story alike and making your choices feel like they have weight, like they matter to the storyline. Plus, it's nice to see how people answered the various questions asked throughout the nightmare levels.

In general, this is a fun game that feels fresh and doesn't lack meat around the bone.

"Fucking blocks, I'm gonna climb the shit out of you!"

Presentation

Over all, the game has a very typical Atlus look, upscaled for the new generation of consoles. The characters all have very nice designs that don't look too much like the Persona games, which is a nice change of pace. The nightmare levels, however, give off a very nice vibe of mysticism, with symbols and metaphors everywhere. The blocks themselves are crafted with sigils and columns and statues giving the appearance of a veritable tower of Babel. The various special blocks all show clearly what they do, from the unmovable dark blocks to the moving monster blocks, adorned with a toothy mouth.

Musically, we can recognize Shoji Meguro's work, who gives us a very nice soundtrack that mixes jazz with classical music depending on the situation. To be perfectly honest, i was a bit too preoccupied by the puzzles to really pay attention to the music, but it never felt out of place.

One thing I liked about the presentation was the nightmare levels showing you a map of the tower, with Vincent running in place as the stairs were drawn, in a way very reminiscent of Ghosts and Goblins. Even the first movement of the music for quite a few levels sounded like a jingle that reminded me of the Ghosts and Goblins music. It was a very nice little reference I quite enjoyed.

This game is a feast for the eyes without ever sacrificing clarity for style, this is a very good mix of style and substance, a game that feels like it should, with a good dose of graphical flair. This is certainly on par with other Atlus games.

Should we follow the herd on this one?

Verdict

All in all, this is an entertaining game that tackles themes you rarely see in video games, and does so much more tastefully than you'd expect by just looking at the box art. It's a very interesting, deep and somewhat addicting puzzle game wrapped in a story that can be played out in several different ways. This is a game that's easy to learn, but hard to master. It's more than a novelty and i'd go so far as saying it's a Very Fun Game out of five. I would suggest buying it.