Catherine - Making Choices Has Never Been So Hard. Pun Intended.

 

• Published by: Atlus
• Developed by: Atlus Persona Team
• Genre: Puzzle-Platformer, Adventure
• Number of Players: Single Player Story, Multiplayer Challenge
• M for Mature: Blood, Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Alcohol, Violence
• Available On: PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360

To be clear, I had been skeptical about Catherine when it was first announced. Puzzle games are not usually the genre of game I play in my free-time. But after finding out it was the Persona Team? I needed to have this game! The adult themes were really refreshing, since the Persona series can only get away with so much. I think I can handle pushing some boxes for the sake of a great story line. When has the MegaTen series ever let me down there?

Never.
 

It's easier said than done, you know. These puzzles are actually quite a challenge!

The game in a nutshell is that you are this guy named Vincent. You have a girlfriend named Katherine. You love her, you do, but things are getting a little to "real". Katherine wants a future, the whole shebang! Marriage, a home, kids...Vincent is starting to have second thoughts. Around this time, a mysterious girl shows up, named Catherine. With a C. Vincent starts forgetting what he does at night and starts having these strange dreams, where every one is a sheep but him! And when he wakes up? He doesn't remember that at all either.

The most fun you'll have with this game is you can choose to cheat on Katherine for Catherine, or stay faithful and truthful. You have a meter that tells you if you're "orderly" or "chaotic". It's not good and evil. The choices do affect your ending! Yay for multiple ending games! That usually means high replay value, right? Well...wrong. Unless you're a fan of puzzles.

What I found interesting is that even though it's a puzzle game, they were able to integrate bosses. There's no health bar, so it's a one hit equals game over policy, but they bosses get pretty creative, and reflect Vincent's worries about the future.

"DADDY, DON'T LEAVE ME!"

Try not to get your C's and K's mixed up as you send text messages. Yes, you can send text messages and depending on what you say, you can get some sexy, dirty pictures of BOTH C/Katherine's!

Just a taste of what they can send you...

And if you thought that wasn't enough decision making for you, guess what? You can interact with all of the other characters while you're at the bar! However, there is a "hidden" clock. Time passes while you do certain things. The bar's customer's will leave. And if they leave before you can talk to them? It can cost them their life. Yup. On the bright side, you can get shit-faced drunk to help you move faster in the dream world, and learn some interesting trivia about four different types of alcohol: sake, beer, cocktail, and whiskey.

Starting from the left, moving clockwise: Toby, Jonny, Orlando, and Vincent.

Not enough choices you say? Good, because there is more! During your sleep, you complete the puzzles to climb the tower. After every stage, there is a question to answer. This affects your Order/Chaotic Meter. If you play offline, you're going to get more accurate results from a poll conducted before the game was released! If you play online, your pie charts will be affected by people who chose certain answers for certain endings. Your pie charts are also divided up into male answers and female answers.

Questions vary from level to level and don't seem to be in any order. I'm inclined to say it's random, every time.

 The game gets better. If you really love the puzzles and/or want the surprise secret ending? There's a single/multiplayer extra mode called Bable. There is also a multiplayer stage called Colosseum. And if that wasn't enough puzzle solving for you, you are in luck! There's a puzzle solving game in the bar. It's the same block pushing fun!

If you get far enough into Rapunzel, you will be able to see some connections between the game and the real world...

 But are you ready for my biggest bit of happiness? This game put a jukebox in the bar.
"But Kera, what's so special about that?"

It is all music by Shoji Meguro. From Catherine and all other ShinMegaTen games.

Yes, this includes Persona 3 Portable, Persona 4, Digital Devil Saga, and Devil Summoner! Also keep an eye out in the bar for MORE cameos from the other games! Can you find all the Teddie's?

With  a mixture of both in game and anime cut scenes, this game is one you'll be keeping on your shelf for a long time.

The verdict?

Overall Rating: 9/10

Musical Score: 10/10
Voice Acting: 10/10

Graphics: 9.9/10

Game Mechanics: 8.5/10

Story: 10/10

Replay Value: 6/10

Comments

Musical Score: Shoji Meguro. If you do not already worship this man for his music, you need to start. No matter how repetitive it is sometimes, there is always a time for Shoji Meguro's music. On top of that, all of the songs in this game are CLASSICS. Literally classics. Beethoven, Chopin, Bach, Holst... remastered to the mind of Shoji Meguro.

Voice Acting: A-list cast of voice actors including Yuri Lowenthal, Troy Baker, Laura Bailey, Liam O' Brien, Kirk Thornton, and more! Leave it to Persona Team.

Game Mechanics: This is attributed to the controls during the puzzle. You know when you hear some one complain that the game is making them lose? Well, in this case, it's true. You use the D-Pad or control stick to press up, left, right, and down...but the puzzle is at an angle. Not only does that make it easy to screw up in a crucial moment, but once you get behind the puzzle area, good luck getting out of it. The controls reverse as soon as you stop moving and will reverse back again when you reach certain spots. It was probably the most frustrating part of the whole game. The only upside to the annoying angle was that you do have the option to undo your last few moves.

Story: Excellent story! We have a genuinely good story going here to the point that it would make a good OVA or anime instead of a game. Your choices affect the life or death of other characters, Vincent's thoughts, and which Catherine, if any, you end up with. If you play this story true to your choices, you're going to have a blast!

 Replay Value: Yes, despite it having multiple endings, a great soundtrack, and super sexy voice acting...for me, the replay value is still not high. Even going back to play the game on easy, it doesn't vary enough. The same things still happen- Vincent's thoughts just change. And the very end changes. Everything else is the same. So it's so much easier to just watch the endings. I would, however, go back and play it out of boredom. So it's not complete crap for replay. And I would still treasure this game and keep it, even if I didn't play it all the time, because it was an incredible experience. I expect more like this from the Persona Team.