PS3 Review – Catherine
Catherine has finally made its way from Japan to North America after a few months of localization. Atlus has made it a mission to make sure this puzzle game is unlike anything you’ve ever seen or played before, and we can confidently say that it strays from the norm in every way imaginable. But more importantly, is Catherine a game that’s just another one-night stand, or is it good enough to take home to Mama?
Atlus has formed a new style of game with Catherine by weaving several different game styles together. First and foremost, it’s a puzzle game at heart with a strong emphasis on story. The story focuses around the experience of Vincent, the protagonist of the game, and his hellish experiences over the course of a week. After dating a girl named Katherine for many years, another extremely charming girl comes into his life unexpectedly. As you might suspect, the new girl’s name is Catherine, and she seduces him without concern. The bulk of the narrative revolves around Vincent’s internal struggle to cope with the regret of cheating on his girlfriend, as well as dealing with Catherine as she brings an unwanted presence into his life.
Vincent is a difficult character to relate to, and his restrained personality can lead to aggravation during many of the game’s conversations. On the other hand, Atlus has captured the intensity of emotion in many of the sequences. Whether it be Vincent’s facial animations, the music, or the the dialog, Catherine offers a compelling adventure into the heart of a character who is forced outside his element. The story is a highlight of the game, and its dynamic nature with many different endings makes it feel like you can carve a path of your own.
Much of the gameplay experience occurs during Vincent’s nightmares at night where he is placed on the bottom of a large tower of blocks that he must ascend to survive. Blocks can be pushed, pulled, and hung from, and there are also several special blocks that appear to complicate things further as you venture deeper into the chapters. During each stage, blocks on the bottom of the tower begin falling, effectively putting a time limit on how quickly you need to scale the tower. During boss sequences, which there are plenty of, this is further amplified by the blocks falling out even quicker, which at times can be anxiety inducing. Speaking of which, the bosses are horrifying, and the game’s overly challenging nature makes a few of them mentally draining.
The game does reward you with additional currency and even trophies for climbing quicker, and even though the puzzles become increasingly more challenging, they never become more gratifying. This lack of satisfying gameplay mixed with the repetitive puzzle sequences and poorly balanced difficulty make the playable parts feel like somewhat of a chore. The difficulty can pose a serious problem during some of the game’s less forgiving sections, where advanced techniques are required. You might find yourself walking away from the game to do something else as you regain your bearings and try again, hopefully pulling it off the next time around. The unfortunate side effect of these qualities is that you might constantly look forward to completing the gameplay sections to be rewarded with cutscenes. While the puzzles have their moments, especially when you pull off quick moves to get over some of the game’s many hurdles, it never feels particularly fulfilling.
Thankfully, the puzzle sequences are interjected with several welcomed features. Most commonly, between levels Vincent is placed in a safe area which includes some strangers to talk to, a save point, and even a shop where you can use currency earned during levels to purchase usable items. More importantly, when you decide to leave this area to begin the next stage, a question is asked. The questions pertain to relationships, and one of two answers can be selected. These selections directly impact the narrative of the game, as well as the ending. They’re a nice addition, but much of the multiple ending design is limited to choosing from only two options and comes across as satisfactory but a missed opportunity.
Perhaps the most memorable moments in the game occur after you clear a stage. In every case, a long cutscene follows, develops the story, and then Vincent decides to head back to the nearby bar where the game began. The bar functions as somewhat of a social simulator, and is reminiscent of the Persona series. You can mingle with friends and strangers, drink, and most importantly interact with the two ladies in Vincent’s life via text message conversations. Text replies can be configured based on several preset options, and as with the dynamic dialogue and questions throughout the game, they change the direction of the narrative. The bar area fits well into the game’s context, and can be one of the most engaging parts of the experience, but it only plays a small part in the entire experience. It would have been great to see the sim aspect expanded upon, with more areas and more options.
Catherine has a very clear and polished presentation, from the menus to the visual design. It has some nice anime flair with decent animations, and a recognizable appearance. Some of the visuals are downright disturbing, and the game can be very strange at times, but this plays more for it than against it. Also, it’s important to note that the game is intended for mature audiences, and while it’s less suggestive than the box art might have you believe, it’s still not something you’ll want to play at a family gathering.
Music throughout the game is fitting, and a few tracks are quite catchy. Voice overs for the entire cast are well executed and enhance the personalities of the dozen or so characters. Unfortunately, the audio levels aren’t balanced well, and as a result the cutscenes are nearly twice as loud as the in-game audio, so keep that remote nearby. Songs from an array of Atlus titles are unlocked during playthough, and can be selected at the jukebox during the bar sequences, which is a nice touch.
The full experience can take anywhere from 12-15 hours to complete, but most importantly, there are eight endings. Because of the annoying puzzles, you might not feel compelled to play through again to enjoy the other endings, but thankfully Atlus has allowed the option to skip any levels that you achieve a gold trophy on. The minigame included, Rapunzel, can be even more enjoyable than the base gameplay, and with 64 rewarding levels, it’s easily one of the best side-game additions in recent memory. You can also play any of the levels competitively in local multiplayer once you beat the game, and while it is very enjoyable to play against a friend, it’s a shame you have to beat the game to unlock it.
Catherine is a great narrative with a unique blend of puzzle and simulation. It’s a shame that the simulation sections didn’t play a larger role in the experience, as they feel like the reward for completing the repetitive and frustrating puzzle sequences that make up the bulk of gameplay. There’s nothing quite like Catherine, and although the story is forced to stand on its own two legs, it’s able to do a good job of dragging you through the forgettable puzzles. There are several incentives to play more than once, such as multiple endings, and Rapunzel is an outstanding addition. If nothing else, Catherine is a trip through an intriguing tale full of strange surprises and characters that’s only hindered by its forgettable gameplay.
PlayStation LifeStyle’s Final Score
+ Great presentation, voice acting, and music. - Frustrating, unsatisfying gameplay and audio balance issues. |  |
20 Responses to “PS3 Review – Catherine”
I give this game 9/10…mostly just for being something completely different. While the puzzles are very difficult, they feel even more rewarding when you finally complete them. The story is definitely unique, the art style is great, I don’t really have much of anything to complain about with this game…there are issues but they are easy enough to look over unless you go into it expecting a AAA, shiny, big budget game. For someone like me, who usually has a hard time getting into Japanese games, I actually really enjoy it.
Am a sucker for SEXINESS !!!
I’m currently at the Stray Sheep before the 6th Nightmare, and I don’t think the gameplay is “frustrating” or “unsatisfying”. And I can’t speak for other gamers, but for me there is nothing more satisfying than beating a boss or an area that absolutely kicked your ass.
the demo showed me that for me this game is a buy when the price drops. it looks nice and i can allow myself to get hooked in the goofy story.
i love different games, like Okami, ICO and such, which is why the demo for El Shaddai: Ascension of the Metatron has me anxious for that game to release. it looks like nothing else
quick question for our reviewer Jonathan…do you usually enjoy puzzle games? Not that your answer changes the validity of your opinion. Just wondering if you’re a fan of the genre and this was a disappointment for you or if you don’t usually enjoy puzzle games and were hoping for more?
I should also clarify that I understand a 7 isn’t a horrible score…just the fact that you say the gameplay was unsatisfying and completing the difficult stages wasn’t gratifying makes me curious.
I love puzzle games, and have been playing them for years. As far as it not being what I was hoping for, I walked in with no expectations. My review and score is based simply on the impression it made. Nothing more, nothing less. If you love puzzle games, give Catherine a go! It’s not going to please everyone, but I can see quite a few people getting a good week or two of enjoyment from it.
Fair enough
Sounds like someone took what GameInformer said and repackaged a few thoughts with minimal opinion. Seriously, did you even play the game??
I’d give it a 9/10 just because of the audio balance issues. I really don’t find the puzzles frustrating… I mean I beat the last boss drunk off my ass after a party so how hard could it have been!? lol. Loved the story too xD
i haven’t played the retail yet,but i agree with Johnathan’s review
Everything in this game seems unique although the story and the sim part gameplay seem to keep things really interesting
The puzzles seem more or less the same over and over.It’s a puzzle game alright but Atlus could give diversity to that part and not feel repetitive as it seems to be.just adding challenges as you progress isn’t sufficient
Just imagine how it would be if Resident Evil,Tomb Raider,Uncharted and other many action games that blend puzzles into their gameplay had the same puzzle throughout their respective playthrough
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but I have to say I’m disappointed by this review score. I only played the demo of Catherine and honestly just from me playing the demo I would give the game at least a 8/10 for having a interesting/unique story(eventhough I just got a taste of it) and a interesting puzzle mechanic(eventhough the puzzle mechanic isn’t groundbreaking).
I’m not entitled to mine. Infact, my opinion has been completely deleted. So much for free speech in this country. This exactly the same review that GameInformer gave with one exception, Johnny-boy gave it a higher replay value. I thought this review was lazy at best, so I questioned if he even played the game. I guess Johnny-boy took offense to his credibility being in questione.
You’re right, it is very unique. The problem is that you played the demo (this also applies to the full game) and the puzzles are cool for a few stages. It’s when you get further that the fun factor begins slipping away. This won’t be the case for everyone, but it was for me, and I suspect the majority will feel the same.
I think everyone, not just the people commenting here, but the entire game industry, reviewers and readers of all and any sites need to take a hard look at review scores. 7 out of 10 is a good score.
Check our review policy: http://playstationlifestyle.net/review-policy/
“We recommend this game. It’s missing a few key aspects that would have made it great, but it’s certainly a decent game and worth picking up.”
This is exactly what Jonathan is saying about Catherine. We’re outright putting our seal of approval on Catherine and telling you it’s worth picking up. Why people take a 7 as a poor score is beyond me. That’s because there is something wrong with the way video games are scored. Everything that is “good” needs to be 8 or 9. Great is “10″ and anything less…? Well how dare we?
C’mon guys. We’re entitled to our opinion as much as everyone else is. As for what happened to your comment, I really don’t know what happened there so I cannot comment on it.
Agreed, a 7 out of 10 is still a very respectable score and says this is a good game but one that has a few issues keeping it from OMG GREATNESS STATUS.
I’ve read somewhere it was so difficult that the Japanese couldn’t even beat it and they had to release a patch to make it easier. Japan is known to be better at video games, hence why Super Mario The Lost Levels (a.k.a. Mario 2 in Japan) was only released there, while we got a clone with Mario sprites.
I really want the deluxe edition, if I can find that, I’ll get it, if not, I may wait for a price drop, as I think I’ll likely get stuck and give up on it after a while.
7/10 Harsh the audio wasn’t a big issue for me i just enjoyed the story and gameplay. I haven’t been sucked into a game this much since heavy rain. True the puzzles are hard but the feeling when you beat them overcomes the difficulty its amazing to finally figure out a puzzle on your own in normal mode lol can’t imagine hard mode but i’ll cross that bridge when i finish normal mode.
I’m on the last boss atm and so far i’m loving the game i give this game a 9 would’ve probaly been lower but theres so much to do in this game babel mode, rapunzel, and the story just endless fun.
i didn’t really like the game, thought it was a bit to weird, and the cut-scenes were a little too long. plus the story to me seemed kind of bland. but that’s just my opinion
“But more importantly, is Catherine a game that’s just another one-night stand, or is it good enough to take home to Mama?”
jajajaja that one is epic win