Catherine

I seem to be getting later and later with these, but I've been really quite busy lately. Strange I know, but the point is: I managed to drag myself away from Mass Effect 3 long enough to type a coherent page. I recently played Catherine (which was released overseas last year), a pure puzzle game. And it's strange to see a pure puzzle game have such lastability. But is it also fun to play? Find out now!

STORY
Catherine follows a week in the life of Vincent Brooks, a middle aged man with a fear of commitment. This happens to be a big week, as his long time girlfriend, Katherine, starts hinting at wanting a marriage, as well as some other life changing events that could be around the corner for Vincent. As he drowns his sorrows at the bar one night, Vincent is cornered by an attractive, promiscuous girl named Catherine, and Vincent's inner turmoil begins as he tries to figure out what is important in his life, and where his morals lie. These struggles all manifest themselves as nightmares about falling.

To make matters worse, there are also alot of mysterious, cheating related deaths happening at the same time.

Catherine is a game with a surprising story; not many games can base a story on a man's relationship and have it work so well. Sure there's a side story about mysterious deaths, but the main focus is Vincent's inner turmoil, trying to figure out if he wants to stay with Katherine and live a consistent life, or stay with Catherine and live a life of chaotic freedom. The characters that Vincent meets each night before his dreams are mostly quite likable, and Vincent himself has a quite goofy charm.

PRESENTATION
The most striking feature of Catherine is most certainly the cell shaded graphics during the gameplay and in-game cutscenes. At other times, the game uses anime style animation cutscenes, and these not only look great, they look very distinct compared to other game cinematics.

The music is suitably frantic during the nightmare puzzles, contrasting with the games downtime in the bar, The Stray Sheep, which has soft jazz music. It's a good way to change the feeling the player gets when play through either section.
The voice acting is also pretty good, with none of the characters being particularly boring or over the top. Most NPC's hit the sweet spot.

GAMEPLAY
This is where Catherine really shines, as we've seen few games that function the same way. Catherine's main gameplay feature are the block puzzles that Vincent encounters in his nighlty horrors. Each nightmare requires Vincent to climb an impossibly tall tower of blocks, by way of shifting and stacking the blocks in the proper form.

This mechanic is surprisingly deep, as moving a block isn't as simple as it sounds. Blocks can be pulled so long as there's a space for Vincent to stand, and multiple blocks can be PUSHED at the same time. Impossible staircases can be created using the principle of edge connecting where, so long as the edge of two blocks is touching, gravity does not apply normally.

As Vincent climbs ever higher, new kinds of blocks are added to the mixture. Ice blocks force you to slow down and plan your climb better, while bomb blocks may force you to climb faster, away from the blast. It's difficult to imagine a game with such a basic premise with some much variety, but I honestly found it to be quite entertaining from start to end.

To top it off, there are boss levels, where Vincent not only has to climb, but he has to out-climb a monstrous creature that embodies his current fears. This is where the player really has to think, and use all the techniques they learn up until that point.

And before I forget, you'll often see sheep climbing the towers. These sheep are the representation of other people having the same dream as Vincent. These men can also be interacted with in the bar, during Vincent's down time. Just a sort of side thing I'd like to mention.

REPLAYABILITY
I've been told there are actually multiple endings to Catherine, which would explain the use of a morality meter, but that's not the best reason to play Catherine over and over again. No, the best reason to play Catherine over and over is to keep yourself on your toes. The block puzzles are some of the most challenging tests that I've seen in a game, and while some of them verge on infuriating, when they get beaten, you get an immense sense of accomplishment.

OVERVIEW
In summary, Catherine is a damn good game. I easily spent over 15 hours playing Catherine, and while a lot of those hours were spent tearing my hair out, the sense of accomplishment you get from beating a difficult puzzle is entirely worth it. The story is interesting (and different), while the presentation is really different to the rest of the games industry, it may not appeal to many gamers. It almost requires a previous appreciation of anime and the culture surrounding it.

Next week, definitely reviewing Mass Effect 3. Trust me, however, it's AWESOME. If you can't wait a week, take this as my summarised review. Mass Effect 3 is the fitting end to an epic trilogy. Like the other games? You'll love this one too. See you next week!