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When I first heard about Catherine, I wasn't really sure what to expect. Catherine sounded quite different from anything the Atlus team had ever given us -- Persona, Digital Devil Saga, and Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne to mention a few. But Atlus's "Persona Team" as they're called has never let me down before, so I kept an eye out for it. When the pre-order went up, I made sure to reserve a copy through Amazon.
As anyone who has played the Persona series can attest to, Atlus crafts excellent stories, and Catherine is no exception. The story focuses around Vincent Brooks. Vincent is in his early thirties and has been dating his girlfriend Katherine for the past few years. They have a good relationship, but recently Katherine has been dropping hints about setting down and making their relationship more permanent. When the game begins, Vincent's world turns upside down -- he begins to have strange, terrifying nightmares that threaten his very life in the real world and he meets a mysterious, seductive beauty named Catherine.
Before I continue, let's get this out of the way, since this question almost always seems to come up about this game. In case you're wondering if Catherine is just a game meant for shallow men, let me dispel those beliefs right away. Catherine takes itself very seriously and is far from being simply eye candy for teenage boys. Catherine is a game that is far more interested in examining the complexities of human relationships and emotions than providing cheap thrills. Okay? Good, now let's continue on.
The gameplay is split between two parts -- Vincent's nightmares and the time he spends in the local bar with his friends. In the nightmare sequences, the game behaves like a puzzle game. Vincent starts at the bottom of a tower of blocks and must push, pull, and climb his way to the top before time runs out. Early on, the puzzles aren't too bad, but by the 5th or 6th day, the difficulty will have grown significantly. Not only are the arrangements of blocks more challenging to deal with, but as the game progresses, new types of blocks will appear -- ice blocks that make Vincent slide, trap blocks that will kill Vincent if he isn't fast enough, and spring blocks that will propel him to new heights. Let me assure you that as simple as moving blocks may seem at first, there is a great deal of depth to these seemingly simple game mechanics.
Make no mistake -- Catherine is a very difficult game. Whether it's harder than NISA's "Prinny 2" is arguable, but this is hands down going to be one of the most difficult games you play all year. Some of the later puzzles become particularly tricky to solve at points, and since the bottommost blocks will be falling as time progresses, you don't have the luxury of being able to take your time. Furthermore, each "stage" of puzzle gameplay ends with a boss level -- the goal is exactly the same, but now you also have to contend with a boss that is trying to kill you, so you'll have to be extra fast. While some people might complain about the difficulty, I think that this was a good choice by Atlus -- the difficulty you face gives further meaning to Vincent's struggles and frankly, the puzzle gameplay would be boring if it was too simple (like Demon's Souls -- think about it, would that game have been nearly as much fun if you had no challenge?).
After you beat a boss, you're treated to a few cutscenes and before you know it, you'll be in the local bar with your friends. Here you can walk around, play the arcade, change the music on the jukebox, talk to people, and have some drinks. Each of these activities has benefits -- for example, talking to people can impact their fate in the storyline and drinking lots of alcohol will make you faster during the nightmare sequences. This is much more casual gameplay, but believe me, by the half-way point in the game, you'll be ready for those breaks in block climbing. (As a fun aside, the music in the jukebox is all music from previous Atlus games, along with Catherine's music itself. Fans of Atlus games will have lots to enjoy there.)
The thing that grabbed me the most about Catherine is that it is so unique; there's really nothing else on the market that's quite like it. You could compare it to puzzle games, but very few puzzle games have this much of an emphasis on characters and story. You could compare it to something like "Heavy Rain", but even that isn't quite fair since that would completely disregard the puzzle aspect. And the storyline examines human relationships and love in a way that video games have never sought to do before. Regardless of whether or not you are interested in this kind of game, you have to admit that this is certainly unique. There's *nothing* else like this coming out this year.
Audio was great for the game. Voice acting was fantastic, especially for Troy Baker, Michelle Ruff, and Laura Bailey in the lead roles of Vincent, Katherine, and Catherine respectively. Overall, the music isn't quite as good as some of Shoji Meguro's previous works, but to be fair it's also hard to top Digital Devil Saga and Persona. It's still quite a good soundtrack -- especially the music for the puzzle gameplay, which features Shoji Meguro's own "modern" versions of classical music by composers such as Holst, Bach, and Chopin.
The only major downside I can come up with is that the game is somewhat short -- I finished my first run in about 15 hours. Fortunately, there's plenty of things to do -- there are 8 different endings to the game based on your choices and there is additional content to unlock (including local multiplayer -- climb the blocks with (or against!) a friend). Whether or not that's worth $60 is up to you. If you're interested, I'd advise not waiting too long to pick it up -- Atlus games don't seem to be as rare as NISA titles lately, but since Atlus games tend to be niche titles, it's always a possibility that they'll stop printing new copies.
Lastly, if you're on the fence, give the demo a shot -- it's free and gives you a sample of a few early levels (including the first boss). Plus you'll get to see a few of the cutscenes, so you'll get a feel for the storyline as well.
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Reviews with images
Catherine video game review
Never got a chance to play it when it first came out but I guess better late than never. This game hardcore puzzle game with an interesting story but I was socked after seeing all the reviews online how challenging it was and recommend starting on easy because even on that difficulty I still needed to replay few later levels, the game also has like 8 different endings depending on choices you make as Vincent main character. If you still have old gen console now like I do my PS3 and never played this one as great man onece sad. Just Do It
Top reviews from the United States
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Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2011
Platform For Display: PlayStation 3Edition: Standard EditionVerified Purchase
Reviewed in the United States on August 19, 2011
Platform For Display: PlayStation 3Edition: Standard EditionVerified Purchase
Top reviews from other countries
Fernando Jesahel
No para todo el mundo...
Reviewed in Mexico on August 31, 2021Platform For Display: PlayStation 3Edition: Standard EditionVerified Purchase
Fernando Jesahel
Reviewed in Mexico on August 31, 2021
Por mucho que me duela, este juego no se recomienda, es demasiado único y la única manera de saber si te va a gustar es que tú lo juegues. Por mí parte sólo puedo decir que me encantó todo; el soundtrack que son remixes de melodías clásicas de Choppin, Mozart, Beethoven, etc., así como los escenearios que derrochan un diseño único, personajes interesantes, una historia bien contada e intrigante, con sus toques de comedia y drama así como de cosas sencillamente loquísimas. Este juego es una experiencia única, que peca de poca accesibilidad, pues el juego sólo se encuentra en inglés (hablando de esta versión de PS3) y con trofeos extrañamente en japonés. El juego dura unas doce horas, que pueden llegar hasta 50 si quieres sacar el 100%. Es un platino difícil que te hará enojar de vez en cuando, pero muy divertido de sacar.
Catherine, para mí, es un juegazo al que vuelvo de vez en cuando debido a su rejugabilidad, a ese diseño de niveles ingenioso. El gameplay no es para todo el mundo, es un juego de puzzles disfrazado de novela gráfica, pero la única manera de saber si el juego es para ti, es jugandolo.
Images in this review
Kulita
Génial
Reviewed in France on October 6, 2023Platform For Display: PlayStation 3Edition: Standard EditionVerified Purchase
Josué
Buen juego
Reviewed in Spain on April 6, 2019Platform For Display: PlayStation 3Edition: Standard EditionVerified Purchase
A. Woods
Thumbs up from my son
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on March 9, 2019Platform For Display: PlayStation 3Edition: Standard EditionVerified Purchase
Haris Saeed
Great game, if you're looking for something different from ...
Reviewed in Canada on April 15, 2015Platform For Display: PlayStation 3Edition: Standard EditionVerified Purchase
