I'll let you in on a little well known secret. I haven't played a game properly in around 6 months. I got to sit down over Christmas and play a couple of games for a few hours but the last time I actually sat down with the intention of trying to finish something I start was around September, University has been tough on me in my third and final year, putting me in situations I never thought I would be in both for my degree and socially.
After having it sat on my shelf for several years but never actually getting round to playing it I stumbled across Catherine, a puzzle game from Atlus' Persona team. Considering my recent fling with anime and Japanese games I thought I would give it a shot over the course of a week...what a week it's been.
In Catherine you play as a man named Vincent Brooks. In his early 30's, Vincent works at a tech company and spends his free time at the local bar with his friends. He is in a relationship with a woman named Katherine, she is giving Vincent subtle pushes to wanting something more than just a simple relationship by putting marriage on the cards as well as announcing to him that she is pregnant.
Shortly after this, one night Vincent stays late at the bar and he meets a young girl named Catherine. After a few drinks and some flirting the two wake up together in Vincent's apartment, having done the dirty deed and inadvertently starting a new relationship together.
In the week that follows Vincent suffers from increasingly terrifying nightmares that (according to the local news) several men in the town appear to be having, climbing towers of blocks whilst being chased by some horrid deformed creatures. The News reports are also saying that men experiencing these dreams have been dying in their sleep.
It's up to you as Vincent to set his love life back on track, deciding which woman he should ultimately end up with whilst also figuring out why he is having these awful dreams and why people are dying from them.
After having it sat on my shelf for several years but never actually getting round to playing it I stumbled across Catherine, a puzzle game from Atlus' Persona team. Considering my recent fling with anime and Japanese games I thought I would give it a shot over the course of a week...what a week it's been.
In Catherine you play as a man named Vincent Brooks. In his early 30's, Vincent works at a tech company and spends his free time at the local bar with his friends. He is in a relationship with a woman named Katherine, she is giving Vincent subtle pushes to wanting something more than just a simple relationship by putting marriage on the cards as well as announcing to him that she is pregnant.
Shortly after this, one night Vincent stays late at the bar and he meets a young girl named Catherine. After a few drinks and some flirting the two wake up together in Vincent's apartment, having done the dirty deed and inadvertently starting a new relationship together.
In the week that follows Vincent suffers from increasingly terrifying nightmares that (according to the local news) several men in the town appear to be having, climbing towers of blocks whilst being chased by some horrid deformed creatures. The News reports are also saying that men experiencing these dreams have been dying in their sleep.
It's up to you as Vincent to set his love life back on track, deciding which woman he should ultimately end up with whilst also figuring out why he is having these awful dreams and why people are dying from them.
Catherine is something extremely special in the video game world. It presents a topic that many developers would be scared to tackle in an extremely mature manner, whilst also presenting a genre in a way it has never been seen before. It pays off amazingly well, mixing a deep intriguing narrative that explores some pretty taboo subjects with some complex puzzle platform gameplay.
The core gameplay takes place in Vincent's nightmares. In these you must move different types of blocks around a 3D space to be able to climb to the top of the tower and pass through the door to safety. You must do this whilst the tower collapses around you and in the final stages of each night whilst being chased by some creature that has some connection to the events surrounding Vincent's relationship troubles.
These puzzles are not an easy feat to beat. Even on the lowest difficulty setting the game is punishingly difficult, a string of trial and error attempts that will lead to frustration in many gamers. But the satisfaction of beating a puzzle is one of the greatest things about the game as it allows you to take in some more of it's juicy story.
The majority of Catherine's story is told during the daytime in Vincent's favourite bar, the Stray Sheep. Here he can talk with the other patrons about the nightmares they have been experiencing and trying to solve the mystery, he can also interact with his lovers via text messages. You can also take part in an arcade game to help hone your skills at shifting blocks and you can get drunk, which let's face it, is awesome.
Though when reading an overview like that the gameplay sounds pretty minimal, there is a hell of a lot to do in Catherine. Managing your relationships, ensuring you are able to solve the mystery and shifting blocks actually provides a pretty diverse amount of gameplay and one that rarely grows tiresome over it's 10 hour run time.
That being said, the ending does seem to go on for quite some time. Just as you think you are finished it throws a spanner in the works and increases the games length for another 2-3 hours, by which point it does begin to overstay it's welcome. Though this is a small problem in an otherwise superb game.
Catherine is presented in both 2D and 3D anime styles. The character models and environments are presented in 3D with detail being drawn on in 2D. Cutscenes also switch between traditional anime and 3D CG styles. It tends to swing more towards 3D CG for the most part, which is a shame as the 2D anime cutscenes are absolutely stunning and a real highlight of the game. That said, the 3D CG is very well done, with characters retaining the same look as their 2D anime counterparts. It's a game with a very distinct look to it, you'll be able to tell it apart from pretty much anything on the market and that certainly goes in its favour. The music is brilliant though the voice acting can sometimes let the game down, though it could be due to some rough translation from Japanese to English that causes it. The dialogue regularly seems a bit forced and some of the performances are a little wooden, though it's nothing that will ruin the game.
On the whole Catherine is a very solid experience. It's difficult yet never unfair and it provides you with a story quite unlike anything you'll have seen in a game before. As I mentioned before it does begin to overstay it's welcome towards the end. It also appears to be a lot less clever once you see the game through to the end, hidden hints throughout the story are always fun to find and look back at thinking how clever the developers were to structure the game like that, yet some of Catherine's hidden meanings seem a little cliché or cheap when you finally work them out. Things that have been glaring you in the face all the time don't make you feel clever for having worked them out at the end, but rather a little disappointed that it wasn't something a bit more original. Though these are small issues in an otherwise superb game.
The core gameplay takes place in Vincent's nightmares. In these you must move different types of blocks around a 3D space to be able to climb to the top of the tower and pass through the door to safety. You must do this whilst the tower collapses around you and in the final stages of each night whilst being chased by some creature that has some connection to the events surrounding Vincent's relationship troubles.
These puzzles are not an easy feat to beat. Even on the lowest difficulty setting the game is punishingly difficult, a string of trial and error attempts that will lead to frustration in many gamers. But the satisfaction of beating a puzzle is one of the greatest things about the game as it allows you to take in some more of it's juicy story.
The majority of Catherine's story is told during the daytime in Vincent's favourite bar, the Stray Sheep. Here he can talk with the other patrons about the nightmares they have been experiencing and trying to solve the mystery, he can also interact with his lovers via text messages. You can also take part in an arcade game to help hone your skills at shifting blocks and you can get drunk, which let's face it, is awesome.
Though when reading an overview like that the gameplay sounds pretty minimal, there is a hell of a lot to do in Catherine. Managing your relationships, ensuring you are able to solve the mystery and shifting blocks actually provides a pretty diverse amount of gameplay and one that rarely grows tiresome over it's 10 hour run time.
That being said, the ending does seem to go on for quite some time. Just as you think you are finished it throws a spanner in the works and increases the games length for another 2-3 hours, by which point it does begin to overstay it's welcome. Though this is a small problem in an otherwise superb game.
Catherine is presented in both 2D and 3D anime styles. The character models and environments are presented in 3D with detail being drawn on in 2D. Cutscenes also switch between traditional anime and 3D CG styles. It tends to swing more towards 3D CG for the most part, which is a shame as the 2D anime cutscenes are absolutely stunning and a real highlight of the game. That said, the 3D CG is very well done, with characters retaining the same look as their 2D anime counterparts. It's a game with a very distinct look to it, you'll be able to tell it apart from pretty much anything on the market and that certainly goes in its favour. The music is brilliant though the voice acting can sometimes let the game down, though it could be due to some rough translation from Japanese to English that causes it. The dialogue regularly seems a bit forced and some of the performances are a little wooden, though it's nothing that will ruin the game.
On the whole Catherine is a very solid experience. It's difficult yet never unfair and it provides you with a story quite unlike anything you'll have seen in a game before. As I mentioned before it does begin to overstay it's welcome towards the end. It also appears to be a lot less clever once you see the game through to the end, hidden hints throughout the story are always fun to find and look back at thinking how clever the developers were to structure the game like that, yet some of Catherine's hidden meanings seem a little cliché or cheap when you finally work them out. Things that have been glaring you in the face all the time don't make you feel clever for having worked them out at the end, but rather a little disappointed that it wasn't something a bit more original. Though these are small issues in an otherwise superb game.
STORY: 8/10
GAMEPLAY: 8/10
PRESENTATION: 9/10
LIFESPAN: 7/10
SCORE: 8/10
I learned a lot about myself when playing Catherine. It allowed me time to reflect on how I have treated people in the past and some of the more recent situations I have found myself in. It gives you the chance to fix Vincent's life as you see fit and evaluate your own in the process. It takes something very special indeed to be able to do that.