Catherine Review

[Susan Arendt]

Oh wow, great score and great review to boot? *o*

Catherine is definitely not a game for everyone, and your making me re-think playing easy mode and going for normal, which is both intimidating and crazy to me, but dammit.. I think.. i can do this.. lol

Stick with it! I promise you, you'll get better as you go. I struggled for aaaaages on the second boss, and then went back and did it in one try when capturing footage for this review. I was like "Huh...I can't remember what I found so hard about this."

 

[Catolf]

Oh wow, great score and great review to boot? *o*

Catherine is definitely not a game for everyone, and your making me re-think playing easy mode and going for normal, which is both intimidating and crazy to me, but dammit.. I think.. i can do this.. lol

Stick with it! I promise you, you'll get better as you go. I struggled for aaaaages on the second boss, and then went back and did it in one try when capturing footage for this review. I was like "Huh...I can't remember what I found so hard about this."

Okay, I'll play it on normal.. i hope I don't pull my hair out. lol

 

[Susan Arendt]

Oh wow, great score and great review to boot? *o*

Catherine is definitely not a game for everyone, and your making me re-think playing easy mode and going for normal, which is both intimidating and crazy to me, but dammit.. I think.. i can do this.. lol

Stick with it! I promise you, you'll get better as you go. I struggled for aaaaages on the second boss, and then went back and did it in one try when capturing footage for this review. I was like "Huh...I can't remember what I found so hard about this."

Okay, I'll play it on normal.. i hope I don't pull my hair out. lol

Oh, well...you will. Just grab as many pillows as you can! (They're extra lives.)

 

[ice1985]

Having not played the demo, but read part of the review, I'm going to assume this is Echochrome with sex appeal. This pleases me.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Oh wow, great score and great review to boot? *o*

Catherine is definitely not a game for everyone, and your making me re-think playing easy mode and going for normal, which is both intimidating and crazy to me, but dammit.. I think.. i can do this.. lol

Stick with it! I promise you, you'll get better as you go. I struggled for aaaaages on the second boss, and then went back and did it in one try when capturing footage for this review. I was like "Huh...I can't remember what I found so hard about this."

Okay, I'll play it on normal.. i hope I don't pull my hair out. lol

Oh, well...you will. Just grab as many pillows as you can! (They're extra lives.)

Random question: Why didn't John review it? He seemed to always be the one posting Catherine articles and loves the Persona team. Not cracking on you, I'm just wondering why John didn't jump at the chance to review it.

 

[Susan Arendt]

Oh wow, great score and great review to boot? *o*

Catherine is definitely not a game for everyone, and your making me re-think playing easy mode and going for normal, which is both intimidating and crazy to me, but dammit.. I think.. i can do this.. lol

Stick with it! I promise you, you'll get better as you go. I struggled for aaaaages on the second boss, and then went back and did it in one try when capturing footage for this review. I was like "Huh...I can't remember what I found so hard about this."

Okay, I'll play it on normal.. i hope I don't pull my hair out. lol

Oh, well...you will. Just grab as many pillows as you can! (They're extra lives.)

Random question: Why didn't John review it? He seemed to always be the one posting Catherine articles and loves the Persona team. Not cracking on you, I'm just wondering why John didn't jump at the chance to review it.

Seniority has its privileges, and I've been looking forward to this game for ages. Also, John is no longer with The Escapist. He's off to China to teach English.

 

[aba1]

I can't get interested in a game where I have to play a male character.

well thats kinda sexist :s

 

[Hagi]

Don't think I'll ever play this game.

I have an irrational hatred for cheating and the spineless bastards who do it.

Vincent sounds like a guy who I'd genuinely hate, and there aren't many of those.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

Oh wow, great score and great review to boot? *o*

Catherine is definitely not a game for everyone, and your making me re-think playing easy mode and going for normal, which is both intimidating and crazy to me, but dammit.. I think.. i can do this.. lol

Stick with it! I promise you, you'll get better as you go. I struggled for aaaaages on the second boss, and then went back and did it in one try when capturing footage for this review. I was like "Huh...I can't remember what I found so hard about this."

Okay, I'll play it on normal.. i hope I don't pull my hair out. lol

Oh, well...you will. Just grab as many pillows as you can! (They're extra lives.)

Random question: Why didn't John review it? He seemed to always be the one posting Catherine articles and loves the Persona team. Not cracking on you, I'm just wondering why John didn't jump at the chance to review it.

Seniority has its privileges, and I've been looking forward to this game for ages. Also, John is no longer with The Escapist. He's off to China to teach English.

Awwwwww. ):
Him and Logan are my favorite News Room contributors. Well, I wish him luck.

 

[Augmented Conscious]

Here's hoping ZP gives Catherine a run through...

 

[Onyx Oblivion]

Normal it is.

Time to sit back and enjoy the strange tale of Catherine.

 

[Strife2GFAQs]

Well...UGH. You suckered me into Normal. I know I need to start playing tougher difficulty to get some of my old-school mojo back, but man; I'm going to dread this. That said, if any game is going to get me out of a rut, it'd be a game from Persona Team.

 

[Armored Prayer]

Played the demo and sadly its one of those games where I hate the gameplay and speed through it just to see the next cutscene because the story is very good.

Not to say its an overall bad game I mean its definitely good, but if it wasn't for the interesting story I'd completely skip it.

 

[RedEyesBlackGamer]

My game is about to arrive!
Good review. It seems to repeat some common themes I've heard from reviews. Hair pulling difficulty, branching cutscenes and endings, and a morality meter that really wasn't necessary. Seems to be a theme in games. *cough*Mass Effect*cough*

Edit: Also, Catherine being high pitched, but not totally annoying? Sounds familiar. The voice actor for Rise from P4 voices her.

And doesn't the VA for Yoskue voice the blond haired guy (Vincent's friend)?

Just checked. Yep, he does. After playing the demo, he came off as a loud mouthed airhead. Yep, I'd say that it is a good fit.

 

[dudeman0001]

Looks decent, if only a tad dull. But you wouldn't BELIEVE how terrible of an experience I had with the demo my first time around. Eveything was going fine, up until the part that was mostly immovable blocks. For whatever reason I just had one block floating on top of the edges of 2 immovable unreachable blocks, making the level incompletable. I didn't know I was stuck, I thought the game was just being difficult. I spent ages trying to figure out what do and it was frustrating as hell, because everytime I went back down to the movable blocks to see if I could fix it, the floor would collapsse under me and I'd have to redo the level, only to end up in the same imossible scenario. I was buttmad to the point where I ragequitted and deleted the demo. But leaving the demo unfinished was tearing me apart, I didn't wanna let that game beat me, so I redownloaded it, only to find out that this time the block was in a spot I could use to make stairs, and my last session I was just somehow stuck the whoole time.....wow.

despite the fact that block jumping is kind of a stale concept even with the fucked up things that are trying to kill ya, imo, the story seems interesting but I think I'll skip this one, I buy games for gameplay and even though the challenge is there, the overall gameplay's just kind of lacking, I mean it's BLOCK CLIMBING. Even with the craziness and hectic boss stages (not boss FIGHTS, stages. as far as I know you cant defend yourself, only run) it's just a dull concept, even for a puzzle game. Plus, the demo just left a really bad taste in my mouth, I suppose. X|

 

[mikev7.0]

Oh wow, great score and great review to boot? *o*

Catherine is definitely not a game for everyone, and your making me re-think playing easy mode and going for normal, which is both intimidating and crazy to me, but dammit.. I think.. i can do this.. lol

Stick with it! I promise you, you'll get better as you go. I struggled for aaaaages on the second boss, and then went back and did it in one try when capturing footage for this review. I was like "Huh...I can't remember what I found so hard about this."

Okay, I'll play it on normal.. i hope I don't pull my hair out. lol

Oh, well...you will. Just grab as many pillows as you can! (They're extra lives.)

Random question: Why didn't John review it? He seemed to always be the one posting Catherine articles and loves the Persona team. Not cracking on you, I'm just wondering why John didn't jump at the chance to review it.

Seniority has its privileges, and I've been looking forward to this game for ages. Also, John is no longer with The Escapist. He's off to China to teach English.

Well at least the admitted bias explains how this game got such a glowing review and a great score, seriously, I appreciate that because before I read that post I was wondering if I had demoed the same game.

I love puzzle games really. I'm still trying to get a copy of Steal Princess and Atlus makes some of my favorite games but I have to respectfully and totally disagree with you about Katherine. Faithful or no, the amount you actually get to play versus the inane soap opera you're forced to sit through makes it difficult not because of the puzzles (those were easy so I really disagree there, too.) but because of the story and the characters that I could care less about if I tried really hard.

I think what turned me off most (other than the easy puzzles.) was that you don't actually get a choice about cheating on Katherine the one character that seemed to have their life sorta' together (except the bit about not having already left a wishy washy non-productive relationship.)

Isn't the Escaptist a place that believes player choice (especially critical choices) is one of the most important things in a game? Then again you already explained the high score so there's that. So maybe that's just Extra Credits.

Yes I've been really hard on Catherine, that's because I know Atlus and they can do a lot better than this. I'm not quite as eagerly awaiting their next attempt. Not while teams are producing games like Child of Eden that cost a lot less money.

It's okay Atlus I still really really like you as a friend.

 

[Treaos Serrare]

I don't think this is fit for the Family part of the Family/Puzzle category, especially with the subject matter of adultery, murder, and sex in general

 

[Susan Arendt]

Oh wow, great score and great review to boot? *o*

Catherine is definitely not a game for everyone, and your making me re-think playing easy mode and going for normal, which is both intimidating and crazy to me, but dammit.. I think.. i can do this.. lol

Stick with it! I promise you, you'll get better as you go. I struggled for aaaaages on the second boss, and then went back and did it in one try when capturing footage for this review. I was like "Huh...I can't remember what I found so hard about this."

Okay, I'll play it on normal.. i hope I don't pull my hair out. lol

Oh, well...you will. Just grab as many pillows as you can! (They're extra lives.)

Random question: Why didn't John review it? He seemed to always be the one posting Catherine articles and loves the Persona team. Not cracking on you, I'm just wondering why John didn't jump at the chance to review it.

Seniority has its privileges, and I've been looking forward to this game for ages. Also, John is no longer with The Escapist. He's off to China to teach English.

Well at least the admitted bias explains how this game got such a glowing review and a great score, seriously, I appreciate that because before I read that post I was wondering if I had demoed the same game.

I love puzzle games really. I'm still trying to get a copy of Steal Princess and Atlus makes some of my favorite games but I have to respectfully and totally disagree with you about Katherine. Faithful or no, the amount you actually get to play versus the inane soap opera you're forced to sit through makes it difficult not because of the puzzles (those were easy so I really disagree there, too.) but because of the story and the characters that I could care less about if I tried really hard.

I think what turned me off most (other than the easy puzzles.) was that you don't actually get a choice about cheating on Katherine the one character that seemed to have their life sorta' together (except the bit about not having already left a wishy washy non-productive relationship.)

Isn't the Escaptist a place that believes player choice (especially critical choices) is one of the most important things in a game? Then again you already explained the high score so there's that. So maybe that's just Extra Credits.

Yes I've been really hard on Catherine, that's because I know Atlus and they can do a lot better than this. I'm not quite as eagerly awaiting their next attempt. Not while teams are producing games like Child of Eden that cost a lot less money.

It's okay Atlus I still really really like you as a friend.

You honestly believe I gave the game the score I did because I was looking forward to the game? You can't be serious.

I certainly understand your complaint that the story doesn't let you decide to cheat or not - it's necessary for the plot for Vincent to keep banging away at Catherine, and that's what he does, whether you want him to or not. Player choice is not the singlemost important determination in a game's quality, and the lack of it with regard to Vincent's adultery does not doom this game.

There are many reasons why someone might not enjoy this game - the difficulty level, the design of the puzzles, the overall weirdness, and the aspect you brought up. That doesn't change the fact that the story is extremely well presented and the puzzles are quite ingenious.

 

[Catolf]

Oh wow, great score and great review to boot? *o*

Catherine is definitely not a game for everyone, and your making me re-think playing easy mode and going for normal, which is both intimidating and crazy to me, but dammit.. I think.. i can do this.. lol

Stick with it! I promise you, you'll get better as you go. I struggled for aaaaages on the second boss, and then went back and did it in one try when capturing footage for this review. I was like "Huh...I can't remember what I found so hard about this."

Okay, I'll play it on normal.. i hope I don't pull my hair out. lol

Oh, well...you will. Just grab as many pillows as you can! (They're extra lives.)

Random question: Why didn't John review it? He seemed to always be the one posting Catherine articles and loves the Persona team. Not cracking on you, I'm just wondering why John didn't jump at the chance to review it.

Seniority has its privileges, and I've been looking forward to this game for ages. Also, John is no longer with The Escapist. He's off to China to teach English.

Well at least the admitted bias explains how this game got such a glowing review and a great score, seriously, I appreciate that because before I read that post I was wondering if I had demoed the same game.

I love puzzle games really. I'm still trying to get a copy of Steal Princess and Atlus makes some of my favorite games but I have to respectfully and totally disagree with you about Katherine. Faithful or no, the amount you actually get to play versus the inane soap opera you're forced to sit through makes it difficult not because of the puzzles (those were easy so I really disagree there, too.) but because of the story and the characters that I could care less about if I tried really hard.

I think what turned me off most (other than the easy puzzles.) was that you don't actually get a choice about cheating on Katherine the one character that seemed to have their life sorta' together (except the bit about not having already left a wishy washy non-productive relationship.)

Isn't the Escaptist a place that believes player choice (especially critical choices) is one of the most important things in a game? Then again you already explained the high score so there's that. So maybe that's just Extra Credits.

Yes I've been really hard on Catherine, that's because I know Atlus and they can do a lot better than this. I'm not quite as eagerly awaiting their next attempt. Not while teams are producing games like Child of Eden that cost a lot less money.

It's okay Atlus I still really really like you as a friend.

Because Vincent's cheating is the start and cause of the gameplay elements, it's like you wanting to have a say if the beginning of a games story can be changed because you don't like the way it began. You want a do over.

If Vincent never has doubts/ cheats then there is no game. Then he's just some hunky dory protag who is like "No I'm a robot, i have no doubts about everything." and the end.. game over. Vincent has doubts and while he did have a fling in the very beginning that can't be controlled you take over from there.

Do you feel guilty over what happen and decent to remain faithful and avoid the new girl, fix things with your girlfriend of 5 years. Do you not care and enjoy the new fling? That is up to you, that is player choice.

I think this might be more along the lines of you not agreeing with the cheating aspect. "How can you cheat, i don't want to be this cheating SOB" thats fine, they give you a choice to end it and stay with your girlfriend, you climb hurtles over your fears of commitment to make the choice you as the player feel is acceptable.

Also i'll address the bias you stated she has. No reviewer will not be biased about a game, to think that is silly. She was looking forward to the game, and gave a good review, but there are other reviews out that who were looking forward to the game as well and found that it wasn't enough and gave scores that show it.

I'm sorry you don't agree with her points/review but come on..

 

[mikev7.0]

Looks decent, if only a tad dull. But you wouldn't BELIEVE how terrible of an experience I had with the demo my first time around. Eveything was going fine, up until the part that was mostly immovable blocks. For whatever reason I just had one block floating on top of the edges of 2 immovable unreachable blocks, making the level incompletable. I didn't know I was stuck, I thought the game was just being difficult. I spent ages trying to figure out what do and it was frustrating as hell, because everytime I went back down to the movable blocks to see if I could fix it, the floor would collapsse under me and I'd have to redo the level, only to end up in the same imossible scenario. I was buttmad to the point where I ragequitted and deleted the demo. But leaving the demo unfinished was tearing me apart, I didn't wanna let that game beat me, so I redownloaded it, only to find out that this time the block was in a spot I could use to make stairs, and my last session I was just somehow stuck the whoole time.....wow.

despite the fact that block jumping is kind of a stale concept even with the fucked up things that are trying to kill ya, imo, the story seems interesting but I think I'll skip this one, I buy games for gameplay and even though the challenge is there, the overall gameplay's just kind of lacking, I mean it's BLOCK CLIMBING. Even with the craziness and hectic boss stages (not boss FIGHTS, stages. as far as I know you cant defend yourself, only run) it's just a dull concept, even for a puzzle game. Plus, the demo just left a really bad taste in my mouth, I suppose. X|

You are not alone. I think the most important part of the review that was missing was the simple sentance "For the love of all that which doth not suck play the Demo first!!"
Then again that probably wouldn't help sell games and when a site does a special video for the unboxing of the deluxe edition? Come on people....

Then again, "oooooooooooooo lookit da purtry undies!!" is about the intellectual depth that I would expect from this game after playing the cringe worthy demo. The animation was beautiful?? From what cell shaded maplethorpe hell are you reporting anyway?? It was as boring, uninteresting and repetitive as the "dialogue" which I swear was taken from soap opera commercials.