Review: Catherine

          With every other game site doing a review of Catherine, it was a matter of time that I too would do one.  About 5 days ago I finally picked up this game at the GameStop in the Mall after falling in love with the demo for PS3; strangely enough I bought it on 360 though.  Getting the "Professional" aspect of this review out of the way early.  Is Catherine a good game? Yes, by no means is it bad, its one of those rare gems that has something for everyone, whether its puzzles, an ethics system, multiple endings, replay value or the awkward experiences of the ever increasingly popular dating sims, this game has something for you.  Can you compare it to another game?  Not really.  See, Catherine isn't like any other games on the market, its a mishmash of variety, but to compare it to another mishmash, take the puzzles of Portal, art style of Valkyria Chronicles, a story that would feel quaintly at home in the world of Shin Megami Tensei: Persona, and place it all in a cutscene driven story such as Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots, throw in some awkward love story and you get Catherine.


          Not everything about the game is perfect though how lots of reviews speak.  The controls can sometimes cause you to die, either not by moving when needed or becoming reversed at a crucial moment, some levels have three-times to many checkpoints while other levels have so many it feels like every time you move a step you hit another.  I mentioned earlier that the game has numerous endings and can have nearly endless replay value, but just like with other heavily cutscene driven games like Metal Gear Solid 4, the cutscenes become tedious even on the first play-through, sure they can be skipped,but dialogue can change based on choices and the drama is the focus of the game as well as the choice system, so by skipping the constant cutscenes; you're skipping the whole reason you replayed the game to begin with.

         Now, for a bit of my experience playing through the game.  Catherine grabbed me by the nerve-endings and held me there for the entire trip, honestly, it was probably the best new release in recent memory.  Even though there were enough moments that made me want to throw my Xbox controller in disgust out the nearest window it kept me coming back, not because the puzzles challenged me in a way even Portal was unable to fully fulfill, but because of the story and wondering what was going to happen next and how it was going to end.  One thing I noticed during the demo was that Vincent didn't seem like a character I would enjoy playing as, but that changed, before I knew it I was feeling an actual link to the character wanting his pain to stop, very few games have given you this kind of link to a character to name some Alice Liddell from Alice: Madness Returns (that one was a big one for me, they did it perfectly), Zack from Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, the lone wanderer's death in Fallout 3, and the dog from Duck Hunt, who didn't feel like they loved the dog when he picked up the duck, and wanted to strangle it when he laughed as you missed?  By the end with my ending, Vincent and Katherine are married and I was generally happy about it, but am curious what will happen if I lean all the way over towards chaos next time more towards Catherine (Confusing, I know but play it and you'll get why they are named alike)  and what the ending will be like then.  Anyhow, Catherine has received great publicity and for good reason, it has something for everyone and is definitely a rollar coaster ride from start to finish and well worth the purchase.