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This thread has been linked to the game 'Catherine'.
It’s been a long road for Atlus’ unique and quirky title for us Europeans with the US getting this game last summer and Japan nearly an entire year ago. With such a long wait we’d all but given up hope over here, but the date has finally arrived and Catherine in all it’s twisted glory is now on shelves. But is there more to this game than two hot girls and a bunch of sheep?
Vincent is a young, good-looking dude who’s moving forward with his career and has a gorgeous girlfriend named Katherine (with a ‘K’). Life seems good right? Wrong. Lately a series of mysterious deaths have started occurring to young men while they sleep. Found in their bed with the most horrified look on their face, police are stumped. Unlucky for Vincent he has been having some pretty scary and weird dreams featuring monsters and plenty of sheep which could possibly be linked to these deaths. Whatsmore his girlfriend is slowly pressuring him with the idea of marriage and to make matters even worse he ends up cheating on her with another gorgeous young girl called Catherine (with a ‘C’). The game then sees you taking the role of our troubled young cheater as he tries to piece together what he wants to do with his life as well as attempt to survive his nightmares.
Catherine is tough to describe. It’s part puzzler, part adult adventure and part survival horror. Yes while it sounds like the most bizarre combination for a video game ever, believe it or not… you’d be absolutely right. The actual game itself is split into two sections. The first and perhaps most ‘game-like’ sections occur when Vincent falls asleep and has his nightmares. These consist of a series of puzzle stages that sees Vincent trying to climb stacks of blocks in order to reach the summit and escape. Blocks need to be pulled and pushed into place so as to build an accessible staircase style route upward. Things start off fairly simple but quickly escalate as more hazards and tricky puzzles are thrown your way. In all you’ll end up facing eight floors, each with around three or four actual puzzle stages. The first few require you to outrun a slowly crumbling base, while the final stage has you trying to elude a huge (and quite frankly disturbing) boss as he chases you up the blocks. These are very similar to the regular levels but a lot more tense thanks to the constant threat of being stabbed with a giant fork or licked to death with a giant tongue. One wrong move almost certainly means death.
The other half of the game meanwhile focuses on Vincent’s social life and takes a more adventure style approach as you’ll spend your time listening to plenty of conversations and watching the story unfold through cut scenes. This part of the game is a lot slower paced and much more relaxed as you can take your time wondering around your local bar chatting to the randoms, drinking yourself stupid or playing an arcade machine called Repunzel (which basically offers a retro style version of the main nightmare puzzles from the main game)
Conversations with people can be done via text messages or face to face allowing brief moments where you can pick how to respond. For example when replying to a text message from Katherine who asks to see you the next day, you can either answer back with a more polite tone and offer to meet her or if you’re feeling a little rude tell her she’s being too sensitive and needs to back off. This is just a small example, with exchanges later on offering more choices. So why even bother conversing with others? Every answer you give affects how the story will play out with a possible nine endings to find in all. The differences are subtle often coming down to picking between being a sleazeball or trying to be a nice guy, but thanks to the engaging conversations, you’ll find yourself heavily invested in what path you take Vincent and want to talk to as many people as possible to uncover more secrets.
Sadly if you’re not into sitting and listening to others chatter on, then these sections of the game may not be for you. Of course if you wish to skip the social aspects of the game and not engage with anyone at all then Catherine gives you that choice allowing you to focus purely on the puzzles. To do this though, would do the game a huge injustice as these sections not only make up a good chunk of the game but also work so well at getting you involved with every decision Vincent makes as he battles his demons both in his nightmares and reality.
Catherine may not be the most sophisticated of titles, but that doesn’t stop it telling one hell of a story with enough twists and turns to keep you guessing where the tale may take you next. With a combination of excellent anime style cut scenes and brilliantly scripted conversations the overall flow feels very natural. You’ll learn to really care about these characters and thanks to some great voice acting and music it all comes together perfectly.
As I mentioned before, the game is a real challenge. In fact it’s probably after the second floor of puzzles and the game takes a dramatic spike in difficulty that some gamers may be put off. When you take into account the crumbling blocks, spike traps, ice blocks, contending sheep and epic boss chases, it can all become far too much at times. Fortunately continues (in the form of Mystic Pillows) are frequent enough that you can keep coming back to tackle puzzles again. However with just one checkpoint on each stage and a crushing difficulty curve you may find yourself tempted to hurl the control across the room, repeating the same section over and over after constantly getting caught out off guard and killed. Catherine dangerously walks the line between tough and frustrating and unfortunately finds itself verging toward the latter too often. I tried the game on the average difficulty setting which did have me cursing at points hurting the fun somewhat. One minute I’d be enjoying myself, the next switching the console off in anger. Those who want things a bit more gentle can also try an easier option although again this still delivers a difficult experience. I dare not even venture onto the harder mode!
The overall structure of the game can also grow a little tiresome as you approach the final few points of the game. Every day has you watching a series of lengthy cut scenes that further the plot, followed by a trip to the local bar with your buddies where you can drink and interact, before finishing with a series of nightmare puzzles as Vincent sleeps. It follows this formula throughout giving a slight feeling of repetition. While it never gets to the point of becoming a chore, it would have been nice to have had some curve balls thrown at you every now and again to keep things fresh.
Outside the main story are a few interesting features. First is the option to join a friend in multiplayer. This offers the chance to tackle puzzles with a friend or against them. Working as a team will likely cause rifts as you try to communicate and get to the top safely but it’s definitely good fun. Competitive is perhaps the highlight as you try to hinder your buddy’s progress aiming to make it to the top first. All in all they’re nice distractions should you have someone else to join in. If you lack the privilege however, you can replay story puzzles to get a better score or attempt Babel mode that features four more sets of even tougher stages.
Visually, Catherine is a weird and wonderful looking game. While not the most detailed title out there, the overall style and atmosphere of Catherine excels and that shows from every character you meet, to each terrifying nightmare chamber you come across. As I mentioned before the voice acting is excellent and the soundtrack can get your heart racing during puzzles one minute and then chilled and relaxed at the bar the next.
Catherine is one of those games where you can walk away and feel genuinely happy that you’ve experience something fresh and unique. You’ll find plenty of first person shooters, racers or fighters out there but believe me when I say you won’t find anything quite like this. Brutal difficulty and repetitive structure aside, Catherine is an excellent game that offers a gripping story, fun puzzles and is one of so few titles out there that can proudly say it’s different.
8/10
Vincent is a young, good-looking dude who’s moving forward with his career and has a gorgeous girlfriend named Katherine (with a ‘K’). Life seems good right? Wrong. Lately a series of mysterious deaths have started occurring to young men while they sleep. Found in their bed with the most horrified look on their face, police are stumped. Unlucky for Vincent he has been having some pretty scary and weird dreams featuring monsters and plenty of sheep which could possibly be linked to these deaths. Whatsmore his girlfriend is slowly pressuring him with the idea of marriage and to make matters even worse he ends up cheating on her with another gorgeous young girl called Catherine (with a ‘C’). The game then sees you taking the role of our troubled young cheater as he tries to piece together what he wants to do with his life as well as attempt to survive his nightmares.
Catherine is tough to describe. It’s part puzzler, part adult adventure and part survival horror. Yes while it sounds like the most bizarre combination for a video game ever, believe it or not… you’d be absolutely right. The actual game itself is split into two sections. The first and perhaps most ‘game-like’ sections occur when Vincent falls asleep and has his nightmares. These consist of a series of puzzle stages that sees Vincent trying to climb stacks of blocks in order to reach the summit and escape. Blocks need to be pulled and pushed into place so as to build an accessible staircase style route upward. Things start off fairly simple but quickly escalate as more hazards and tricky puzzles are thrown your way. In all you’ll end up facing eight floors, each with around three or four actual puzzle stages. The first few require you to outrun a slowly crumbling base, while the final stage has you trying to elude a huge (and quite frankly disturbing) boss as he chases you up the blocks. These are very similar to the regular levels but a lot more tense thanks to the constant threat of being stabbed with a giant fork or licked to death with a giant tongue. One wrong move almost certainly means death.
The other half of the game meanwhile focuses on Vincent’s social life and takes a more adventure style approach as you’ll spend your time listening to plenty of conversations and watching the story unfold through cut scenes. This part of the game is a lot slower paced and much more relaxed as you can take your time wondering around your local bar chatting to the randoms, drinking yourself stupid or playing an arcade machine called Repunzel (which basically offers a retro style version of the main nightmare puzzles from the main game)
Conversations with people can be done via text messages or face to face allowing brief moments where you can pick how to respond. For example when replying to a text message from Katherine who asks to see you the next day, you can either answer back with a more polite tone and offer to meet her or if you’re feeling a little rude tell her she’s being too sensitive and needs to back off. This is just a small example, with exchanges later on offering more choices. So why even bother conversing with others? Every answer you give affects how the story will play out with a possible nine endings to find in all. The differences are subtle often coming down to picking between being a sleazeball or trying to be a nice guy, but thanks to the engaging conversations, you’ll find yourself heavily invested in what path you take Vincent and want to talk to as many people as possible to uncover more secrets.
Sadly if you’re not into sitting and listening to others chatter on, then these sections of the game may not be for you. Of course if you wish to skip the social aspects of the game and not engage with anyone at all then Catherine gives you that choice allowing you to focus purely on the puzzles. To do this though, would do the game a huge injustice as these sections not only make up a good chunk of the game but also work so well at getting you involved with every decision Vincent makes as he battles his demons both in his nightmares and reality.
Catherine may not be the most sophisticated of titles, but that doesn’t stop it telling one hell of a story with enough twists and turns to keep you guessing where the tale may take you next. With a combination of excellent anime style cut scenes and brilliantly scripted conversations the overall flow feels very natural. You’ll learn to really care about these characters and thanks to some great voice acting and music it all comes together perfectly.
As I mentioned before, the game is a real challenge. In fact it’s probably after the second floor of puzzles and the game takes a dramatic spike in difficulty that some gamers may be put off. When you take into account the crumbling blocks, spike traps, ice blocks, contending sheep and epic boss chases, it can all become far too much at times. Fortunately continues (in the form of Mystic Pillows) are frequent enough that you can keep coming back to tackle puzzles again. However with just one checkpoint on each stage and a crushing difficulty curve you may find yourself tempted to hurl the control across the room, repeating the same section over and over after constantly getting caught out off guard and killed. Catherine dangerously walks the line between tough and frustrating and unfortunately finds itself verging toward the latter too often. I tried the game on the average difficulty setting which did have me cursing at points hurting the fun somewhat. One minute I’d be enjoying myself, the next switching the console off in anger. Those who want things a bit more gentle can also try an easier option although again this still delivers a difficult experience. I dare not even venture onto the harder mode!
The overall structure of the game can also grow a little tiresome as you approach the final few points of the game. Every day has you watching a series of lengthy cut scenes that further the plot, followed by a trip to the local bar with your buddies where you can drink and interact, before finishing with a series of nightmare puzzles as Vincent sleeps. It follows this formula throughout giving a slight feeling of repetition. While it never gets to the point of becoming a chore, it would have been nice to have had some curve balls thrown at you every now and again to keep things fresh.
Outside the main story are a few interesting features. First is the option to join a friend in multiplayer. This offers the chance to tackle puzzles with a friend or against them. Working as a team will likely cause rifts as you try to communicate and get to the top safely but it’s definitely good fun. Competitive is perhaps the highlight as you try to hinder your buddy’s progress aiming to make it to the top first. All in all they’re nice distractions should you have someone else to join in. If you lack the privilege however, you can replay story puzzles to get a better score or attempt Babel mode that features four more sets of even tougher stages.
Visually, Catherine is a weird and wonderful looking game. While not the most detailed title out there, the overall style and atmosphere of Catherine excels and that shows from every character you meet, to each terrifying nightmare chamber you come across. As I mentioned before the voice acting is excellent and the soundtrack can get your heart racing during puzzles one minute and then chilled and relaxed at the bar the next.
Catherine is one of those games where you can walk away and feel genuinely happy that you’ve experience something fresh and unique. You’ll find plenty of first person shooters, racers or fighters out there but believe me when I say you won’t find anything quite like this. Brutal difficulty and repetitive structure aside, Catherine is an excellent game that offers a gripping story, fun puzzles and is one of so few titles out there that can proudly say it’s different.
8/10
Good and fair review. Just gotten around to playing this after a hefty wait from LoveFilm. I'm at stage 3, but enjoying what I have played and feel that fine line of difficult versus fun kicking in. I will review upon completion, but feel it is going to be on par with what you have found.
It’s been a long road for Atlus’ unique and quirky title for us Europeans with the US getting this game last summer and Japan nearly an entire year ago. With such a long wait we’d all but given up hope over here, but the date has finally arrived and Catherine in all it’s twisted glory is now on shelves. But is there more to this game than two hot girls and a bunch of sheep?
Vincent is a young, good-looking dude who’s moving forward with his career and has a gorgeous girlfriend named Katherine (with a ‘K’). Life seems good right? Wrong. Lately a series of mysterious deaths have started occurring to young men while they sleep. Found in their bed with the most horrified look on their face, police are stumped. Unlucky for Vincent he has been having some pretty scary and weird dreams featuring monsters and plenty of sheep which could possibly be linked to these deaths. Whatsmore his girlfriend is slowly pressuring him with the idea of marriage and to make matters even worse he ends up cheating on her with another gorgeous young girl called Catherine (with a ‘C’). The game then sees you taking the role of our troubled young cheater as he tries to piece together what he wants to do with his life as well as attempt to survive his nightmares.
Catherine is tough to describe. It’s part puzzler, part adult adventure and part survival horror. Yes while it sounds like the most bizarre combination for a video game ever, believe it or not… you’d be absolutely right. The actual game itself is split into two sections. The first and perhaps most ‘game-like’ sections occur when Vincent falls asleep and has his nightmares. These consist of a series of puzzle stages that sees Vincent trying to climb stacks of blocks in order to reach the summit and escape. Blocks need to be pulled and pushed into place so as to build an accessible staircase style route upward. Things start off fairly simple but quickly escalate as more hazards and tricky puzzles are thrown your way. In all you’ll end up facing eight floors, each with around three or four actual puzzle stages. The first few require you to outrun a slowly crumbling base, while the final stage has you trying to elude a huge (and quite frankly disturbing) boss as he chases you up the blocks. These are very similar to the regular levels but a lot more tense thanks to the constant threat of being stabbed with a giant fork or licked to death with a giant tongue. One wrong move almost certainly means death.
The other half of the game meanwhile focuses on Vincent’s social life and takes a more adventure style approach as you’ll spend your time listening to plenty of conversations and watching the story unfold through cut scenes. This part of the game is a lot slower paced and much more relaxed as you can take your time wondering around your local bar chatting to the randoms, drinking yourself stupid or playing an arcade machine called Repunzel (which basically offers a retro style version of the main nightmare puzzles from the main game)
Conversations with people can be done via text messages or face to face allowing brief moments where you can pick how to respond. For example when replying to a text message from Katherine who asks to see you the next day, you can either answer back with a more polite tone and offer to meet her or if you’re feeling a little rude tell her she’s being too sensitive and needs to back off. This is just a small example, with exchanges later on offering more choices. So why even bother conversing with others? Every answer you give affects how the story will play out with a possible nine endings to find in all. The differences are subtle often coming down to picking between being a sleazeball or trying to be a nice guy, but thanks to the engaging conversations, you’ll find yourself heavily invested in what path you take Vincent and want to talk to as many people as possible to uncover more secrets.
Sadly if you’re not into sitting and listening to others chatter on, then these sections of the game may not be for you. Of course if you wish to skip the social aspects of the game and not engage with anyone at all then Catherine gives you that choice allowing you to focus purely on the puzzles. To do this though, would do the game a huge injustice as these sections not only make up a good chunk of the game but also work so well at getting you involved with every decision Vincent makes as he battles his demons both in his nightmares and reality.
Catherine may not be the most sophisticated of titles, but that doesn’t stop it telling one hell of a story with enough twists and turns to keep you guessing where the tale may take you next. With a combination of excellent anime style cut scenes and brilliantly scripted conversations the overall flow feels very natural. You’ll learn to really care about these characters and thanks to some great voice acting and music it all comes together perfectly.
As I mentioned before, the game is a real challenge. In fact it’s probably after the second floor of puzzles and the game takes a dramatic spike in difficulty that some gamers may be put off. When you take into account the crumbling blocks, spike traps, ice blocks, contending sheep and epic boss chases, it can all become far too much at times. Fortunately continues (in the form of Mystic Pillows) are frequent enough that you can keep coming back to tackle puzzles again. However with just one checkpoint on each stage and a crushing difficulty curve you may find yourself tempted to hurl the control across the room, repeating the same section over and over after constantly getting caught out off guard and killed. Catherine dangerously walks the line between tough and frustrating and unfortunately finds itself verging toward the latter too often. I tried the game on the average difficulty setting which did have me cursing at points hurting the fun somewhat. One minute I’d be enjoying myself, the next switching the console off in anger. Those who want things a bit more gentle can also try an easier option although again this still delivers a difficult experience. I dare not even venture onto the harder mode!
The overall structure of the game can also grow a little tiresome as you approach the final few points of the game. Every day has you watching a series of lengthy cut scenes that further the plot, followed by a trip to the local bar with your buddies where you can drink and interact, before finishing with a series of nightmare puzzles as Vincent sleeps. It follows this formula throughout giving a slight feeling of repetition. While it never gets to the point of becoming a chore, it would have been nice to have had some curve balls thrown at you every now and again to keep things fresh.
Outside the main story are a few interesting features. First is the option to join a friend in multiplayer. This offers the chance to tackle puzzles with a friend or against them. Working as a team will likely cause rifts as you try to communicate and get to the top safely but it’s definitely good fun. Competitive is perhaps the highlight as you try to hinder your buddy’s progress aiming to make it to the top first. All in all they’re nice distractions should you have someone else to join in. If you lack the privilege however, you can replay story puzzles to get a better score or attempt Babel mode that features four more sets of even tougher stages.
Visually, Catherine is a weird and wonderful looking game. While not the most detailed title out there, the overall style and atmosphere of Catherine excels and that shows from every character you meet, to each terrifying nightmare chamber you come across. As I mentioned before the voice acting is excellent and the soundtrack can get your heart racing during puzzles one minute and then chilled and relaxed at the bar the next.
Catherine is one of those games where you can walk away and feel genuinely happy that you’ve experience something fresh and unique. You’ll find plenty of first person shooters, racers or fighters out there but believe me when I say you won’t find anything quite like this. Brutal difficulty and repetitive structure aside, Catherine is an excellent game that offers a gripping story, fun puzzles and is one of so few titles out there that can proudly say it’s different.
8/10
Vincent is a young, good-looking dude who’s moving forward with his career and has a gorgeous girlfriend named Katherine (with a ‘K’). Life seems good right? Wrong. Lately a series of mysterious deaths have started occurring to young men while they sleep. Found in their bed with the most horrified look on their face, police are stumped. Unlucky for Vincent he has been having some pretty scary and weird dreams featuring monsters and plenty of sheep which could possibly be linked to these deaths. Whatsmore his girlfriend is slowly pressuring him with the idea of marriage and to make matters even worse he ends up cheating on her with another gorgeous young girl called Catherine (with a ‘C’). The game then sees you taking the role of our troubled young cheater as he tries to piece together what he wants to do with his life as well as attempt to survive his nightmares.
Catherine is tough to describe. It’s part puzzler, part adult adventure and part survival horror. Yes while it sounds like the most bizarre combination for a video game ever, believe it or not… you’d be absolutely right. The actual game itself is split into two sections. The first and perhaps most ‘game-like’ sections occur when Vincent falls asleep and has his nightmares. These consist of a series of puzzle stages that sees Vincent trying to climb stacks of blocks in order to reach the summit and escape. Blocks need to be pulled and pushed into place so as to build an accessible staircase style route upward. Things start off fairly simple but quickly escalate as more hazards and tricky puzzles are thrown your way. In all you’ll end up facing eight floors, each with around three or four actual puzzle stages. The first few require you to outrun a slowly crumbling base, while the final stage has you trying to elude a huge (and quite frankly disturbing) boss as he chases you up the blocks. These are very similar to the regular levels but a lot more tense thanks to the constant threat of being stabbed with a giant fork or licked to death with a giant tongue. One wrong move almost certainly means death.
The other half of the game meanwhile focuses on Vincent’s social life and takes a more adventure style approach as you’ll spend your time listening to plenty of conversations and watching the story unfold through cut scenes. This part of the game is a lot slower paced and much more relaxed as you can take your time wondering around your local bar chatting to the randoms, drinking yourself stupid or playing an arcade machine called Repunzel (which basically offers a retro style version of the main nightmare puzzles from the main game)
Conversations with people can be done via text messages or face to face allowing brief moments where you can pick how to respond. For example when replying to a text message from Katherine who asks to see you the next day, you can either answer back with a more polite tone and offer to meet her or if you’re feeling a little rude tell her she’s being too sensitive and needs to back off. This is just a small example, with exchanges later on offering more choices. So why even bother conversing with others? Every answer you give affects how the story will play out with a possible nine endings to find in all. The differences are subtle often coming down to picking between being a sleazeball or trying to be a nice guy, but thanks to the engaging conversations, you’ll find yourself heavily invested in what path you take Vincent and want to talk to as many people as possible to uncover more secrets.
Sadly if you’re not into sitting and listening to others chatter on, then these sections of the game may not be for you. Of course if you wish to skip the social aspects of the game and not engage with anyone at all then Catherine gives you that choice allowing you to focus purely on the puzzles. To do this though, would do the game a huge injustice as these sections not only make up a good chunk of the game but also work so well at getting you involved with every decision Vincent makes as he battles his demons both in his nightmares and reality.
Catherine may not be the most sophisticated of titles, but that doesn’t stop it telling one hell of a story with enough twists and turns to keep you guessing where the tale may take you next. With a combination of excellent anime style cut scenes and brilliantly scripted conversations the overall flow feels very natural. You’ll learn to really care about these characters and thanks to some great voice acting and music it all comes together perfectly.
As I mentioned before, the game is a real challenge. In fact it’s probably after the second floor of puzzles and the game takes a dramatic spike in difficulty that some gamers may be put off. When you take into account the crumbling blocks, spike traps, ice blocks, contending sheep and epic boss chases, it can all become far too much at times. Fortunately continues (in the form of Mystic Pillows) are frequent enough that you can keep coming back to tackle puzzles again. However with just one checkpoint on each stage and a crushing difficulty curve you may find yourself tempted to hurl the control across the room, repeating the same section over and over after constantly getting caught out off guard and killed. Catherine dangerously walks the line between tough and frustrating and unfortunately finds itself verging toward the latter too often. I tried the game on the average difficulty setting which did have me cursing at points hurting the fun somewhat. One minute I’d be enjoying myself, the next switching the console off in anger. Those who want things a bit more gentle can also try an easier option although again this still delivers a difficult experience. I dare not even venture onto the harder mode!
The overall structure of the game can also grow a little tiresome as you approach the final few points of the game. Every day has you watching a series of lengthy cut scenes that further the plot, followed by a trip to the local bar with your buddies where you can drink and interact, before finishing with a series of nightmare puzzles as Vincent sleeps. It follows this formula throughout giving a slight feeling of repetition. While it never gets to the point of becoming a chore, it would have been nice to have had some curve balls thrown at you every now and again to keep things fresh.
Outside the main story are a few interesting features. First is the option to join a friend in multiplayer. This offers the chance to tackle puzzles with a friend or against them. Working as a team will likely cause rifts as you try to communicate and get to the top safely but it’s definitely good fun. Competitive is perhaps the highlight as you try to hinder your buddy’s progress aiming to make it to the top first. All in all they’re nice distractions should you have someone else to join in. If you lack the privilege however, you can replay story puzzles to get a better score or attempt Babel mode that features four more sets of even tougher stages.
Visually, Catherine is a weird and wonderful looking game. While not the most detailed title out there, the overall style and atmosphere of Catherine excels and that shows from every character you meet, to each terrifying nightmare chamber you come across. As I mentioned before the voice acting is excellent and the soundtrack can get your heart racing during puzzles one minute and then chilled and relaxed at the bar the next.
Catherine is one of those games where you can walk away and feel genuinely happy that you’ve experience something fresh and unique. You’ll find plenty of first person shooters, racers or fighters out there but believe me when I say you won’t find anything quite like this. Brutal difficulty and repetitive structure aside, Catherine is an excellent game that offers a gripping story, fun puzzles and is one of so few titles out there that can proudly say it’s different.
8/10