Catherine breathes new life into the gaming industry through its spellbinding story and addictive gameplay.
+ Addictive and fast-paced gameplay
+ Compelling story with alternative endings
+ Excellent soundtrack composed by Shoji Meguro
+ Exceptional cast of characters that gamers can relate to
Cons:
- Steep learning curve
- Punishing difficult may put off casual gamers
Catherine marks Atlus's first venture into current-gen consoles, and it is one that has been long overdue. Famously known for their Persona games, Atlus have managed to create an IP that deviates from their turn-based games, while still retaining elements that made the Persona series a joy to play. At its core, Catherine is a horror game that relies heavily on its story to draw gamers in, while simultaneously providing a fresh gaming experience through puzzle solving and social interaction.
The story revolves around 32-year-old Vincent Brooks who lives a simple life and enjoys spending most of his time drinking and chatting with friends. His girlfriend, Katherine, has been hinting for a while that the two of them should get married, and this causes Vincent to panic a bit. However, things turn for the worst when Vincent finds himself one morning sleeping with another girl he just met at the bar (who is aptly named Catherine), and what ensues is the worst week in Vincent's life. The premise is simple enough, but if there is one area that Atlus have been consistent with over the last decade is how well they are able to flesh out a simple plot and turn it into an absolute gem of a story. Catherine's roller coaster of a journey is compelling, and will keep gamers on the edge of their seats from start to finish.
Story aside, Catherine's other major strength is its gameplay, which can be broken into two segments-- social interaction during the day and puzzle solving in the night. It is a formula Atlus have used before and it works seamlessly well in Catherine. During the day, you spend time chatting with your peers; drinking; sending text messages and playing the jukebox, among many other activities. This daytime interaction acts as a bridge between the game's cutscenes and its 'Nightmare' stages, giving gamers a chance to play the game at a slower pace. The bulk of your time however will be spent in the game's nightmare stages where the meat of Catherine's gameplay can be found. During the night, in Vincent's dreams, you are tasked to scale a stack of blocks that form a tower. This at first seems an easy task, but things get a lot harder when the puzzles become more complex requiring some strategy to be employed. It is essential to think fast and use various techniques to create a stairway to the top before the floor below you gives way. The difficulty ramps up with every stage as blocks with different properties are put into the mix. Some will break when stepped on; while others will explode on contact, and it is this gradual increase in difficulty that negates this game from ever being repetitive. Even on its normal difficulty setting, the game can prove to be quite a handful. Gamers who enjoy a challenge will thoroughly get a kick out of playing Catherine. On the other hand, casual gamers may be put off by Catherine's punishing difficulty.
One of the first things gamers will notice when they play Catherine is the voice acting. Surprisingly enough, it is well done, and the voice actors do a more than adequate job of bringing life into the characters they portray. There are however some issues with lip-synching, and the audio levels between the engine based cutscenes and anime styled cinematics are not balanced, with the latter being a lot louder than the former, but once again, this is just a small gripe and can be overlooked. The soundtrack perfectly complements Catherine's fast-paced gameplay and creates an eerie atmosphere that only Shoji Meguro is capable of creating.
A vibrant color palette is used to illustrate the world of Catherine. The in-game cutscenes look great, but what stands out the most are the anime styled cinematics. Fans of anime will really appreciate the effort Atlus have put into creating these cinematics, and thankfully, there is a good chunk of them in the game. Unfortunately, Catherine does not include a 'gallery' mode where one can re-watch these gorgeous cinematics. It is a small gripe, but in this day and age games (especially story driven ones) are expected to feature a gallery mode in one form or the other.
Catherine's story should take roughly 10-15 hours to complete, but this of course is largely skill dependant. Once you are done with the main story there really is not much else to do with the game. An offline 'Colosseum' mode is available to those who wish to play with a friend in a competitive setting, but this does little to prolong the life of Catherine. Additionally, by achieving gold prizes/trophies in the nightmare stages, an extra mode is unlocked titled 'Babel'. Here, your puzzle solving skills will be put to the test as the game challenges you to scale randomly generated towers. The stages will differ every time you start over, making this the ultimate test in Catherine.
To summarize, Catherine is Atlus's most ambitious game to date. It is an absolute joy to play, and in a market heavily dominated by first person shooters, Catherine stands out as a game that is willing to do something different by creating a single player experience that gamers both young and old will thoroughly enough. As an avid gamer and follower of Atlus, I hope they continue to inject new life into the gaming industry by making games that follow in the footsteps of Catherine.