Written by: Alex

 

 

 

"Catherine" comes from Shin Mikami Tensei, the creator of a host of JRPGs, not least the acclaimed Persona series. It is the designer’s first HD title and hopes have been high for the kind of deep gameplay experience his previous games offered.

 

To cut to the chase (if you haven’t heard already) what has been received is quite different to all expectations and hopes, with the game itself revolving around block puzzles. But while the mechanics may not be what was hoped for, Catherine manages to offer an interesting and thought provoking story dealing with issues games rarely tackle with more subtly than I would ever have expected.

 

 

Catherine revolves around single premise, a 32 year olds man’s emotional conflict at settling down and marrying. It hits very close to home for me in a dozen ways, I am 31, recently separate from a fiancé and have moral values that are divided between the west and east due to seven years living in Japan. This added an extra layer to events for me as I projected my own life in to the game, looking to see if the life of the hero, Vincent, would follow a similar pattern to mine.

 

Vincent is a nice enough guy who has just found a new job and is happy in his carefree, but attached, life. (Here is when things get confusing) Vincent is with Katherine who wants to marry him but doubt about his future, and giving up his life style of drinking with friends every night, has him feeling resistant to the change. After a day of Katherine laying on the pressure, Vincent hits the town to relax. At his usual bar, The Stray Sheep, Vincent meets his friends. They all take off home fairly quickly, which is when he meets the titular Catherine. This coquettish damsel quickly seats herself with him, and they get drunk only to find themselves together in his bed. This is where the trouble begins. Beset by guilt (and lust) Vincent is thrust into a world of lies, trying to balance his life with Katherine while still always waking up next to the flirtatious Catherine.

 

It is a simple web of romantic lies, but runs in to a few problems when it comes to making emotional ties. Having been with Katherine for years Vincent is supposedly very much in love with her. The problem is that in trying to achieve comfortable familiarity while remaining alluring to a newcomer is a challenge. Katherine seems over bearing and quite mean through out much of the game, making it hard to see how Vincent could like here. Catherine (the person) on the other hand is friendly, kinky, underdressed and willing to please. Now understand this isn’t something to aspire to (in the long run) but it is much easier to understand the attraction on the level of detail given. I suspect this is partially intentional, it is hard to make the commitment to the stable settled relationship because however mature you are, however much in love, lust and novelty stays powerful. In the contest of the story however Katherine wouldn't have had a look in were I not projecting my life into the characters.

 

 

As a backdrop to all of this there are of rumours of an evil witch cursing unfaithful men coinciding with spate of deaths with no discernable cause. Vincent begins to suspect that he is one of those cursed as his nights become haunted by horrible nightmares in which he must climb a tower to freedom, a premise that makes up the majority of the game.

 

 

Each day begins (or ends depending on your perspective) with a dream, and it is here where the block puzzles play out. In these dreamscapes Vincent’s goal is to reach the top of the tower of blocks as those below drop away, if he falls he will die both in his dream and in real life. To climb the tower Vincent must push and pull blocks, within the various rules and physics of the world, to form staircases. Some blocks are immobile, others are traps that can kill, plus all manner of other variations mix up tactics, but at its core the gameplay does little to chance through out simply getting progressively harder by limiting blocks and forming ever more precarious routes forward.

 

To offer a few more tactical options Vincent is able to carry a single item at any time. These give him the power to climb higher, create a variety of blocks or even kill the games occasional minor enemies. In truth the game offers little in the way of tangible antagonists, mostly aggressive sheep. These sheep are incarnation of others dreamers who have been sucked in to the snuff dream. Each of the other climbers is being driven slowly crazy by their involvement in the nightmare, and as they progress up the tower their attitude towards Vincent becomes filled with ever more evil intent.

 

Standard enemies are joined at the end of each dream by a boss phase, physical manifestations (better seen than described) of Vincent’s fears that chase him higher. They blend a faster play speed with new mechanics, as the huge creatures cut away the base and change the properties of upcoming blocks. Like much of the game the symbolism and metaphor is a little heavy, but it does offer a quirky distinctness to the experience that is at least entertaining.

 

Problematically Catherine’s block puzzles seem to progress from easy at the start to nigh on impossible towards the end. Challenging puzzles are perplexing, but are exacerbated by perspective. Always viewed from a single side the camera can be swung slightly from its focal point but never allows every angle to be seen. This causes an unreasonable barrier to solving some later puzzles, especially when hanging from the back of blocks where movement is reversed. I found the mechanics and idea of the puzzles interesting when they could be reasoned through, but when the camera became a growing obstacle on later levels it quickly moved from enjoyable to frustrating as I wrestled to see what was going on.

 

 

 

Catherine’s looks will be for many its main attraction, and yes you can probably read that as either the game or the character. Between its anime aesthetic attracting many Japan-o-philes and the skimpy box art drawing in teenage men expecting something more than is present, I suspect the content will be jarring for more casual gamers picking it up on a whim. Heavily stylised art blends perfectly with 3D CG and the game engine to offer a wonderful, cohesive whole. Luckily for those who know what is in store however, the style will prove a pleasant bonus.