Catherine Review

[Ioc2much]

I'm not trying to be harsh an everyone's opinion here, but why would you pay 60$ for a puzzle game? Honestly there's not much to this game at all. You do the same things over and over again, while controller a complete douche bag.

Why would I pay 60$ for a FPS all you do is shoot people over and over again
Why would I pay 60$ for a fighting game all you do is beat people up over and over again

You're logic seems lacking here. The puzzles are fun, the story is good, and if you can't tell I am a fan of this game. I suggest people play it before judging it.

 

[Vinny Albrecht]

I'm not trying to be harsh an everyone's opinion here, but why would you pay 60$ for a puzzle game? Honestly there's not much to this game at all. You do the same things over and over again, while controller a complete douche bag.

Why would I pay 60$ for a FPS all you do is shoot people over and over again
Why would I pay 60$ for a fighting game all you do is beat people up over and over again

You're logic seems lacking here. The puzzles are fun, the story is good, and if you can't tell I am a fan of this game. I suggest people play it before judging it.

Why? Because you get more bang for your buck out of FPS and Fighters than Puzzles. More unlockable's, and just a lot more to do. After you beat this game I doubt your gonna go back to play it anytime soon. The beauty about FPS's and Fighters and other multiplayer games is that your always striving for more. Games like Battlefield and Call of Duty have a longer shelf life than games like this because there's a lot more to them. That' why they are the highest grossing game types out there. I'd gladly hand over 60$ to a FPS or Fighter if they gave me enough to look forward to, but what does Cathrine have? pretty much all you see in the demo.

 

[Vinny Albrecht]

I'm not trying to be harsh an everyone's opinion here, but why would you pay 60$ for a puzzle game? Honestly there's not much to this game at all. You do the same things over and over again, while controller a complete douche bag.

Why would I pay 60$ for a FPS all you do is shoot people over and over again
Why would I pay 60$ for a fighting game all you do is beat people up over and over again

You're logic seems lacking here. The puzzles are fun, the story is good, and if you can't tell I am a fan of this game. I suggest people play it before judging it.

Why? Because you get more bang for your buck out of FPS and Fighters than Puzzles. More unlockable's, and just a lot more to do. After you beat this game I doubt your gonna go back to play it anytime soon. The beauty about FPS's and Fighters and other multiplayer games is that your always striving for more. Games like Battlefield and Call of Duty have a longer shelf life than games like this because there's a lot more to them. That' why they are the highest grossing game types out there. I'd gladly hand over 60$ to a FPS or Fighter if they gave me enough to look forward to, but what does Cathrine have? pretty much all you see in the demo.

 

[Vinny Albrecht]

Everyone is entitled to an opinion here, if you like it cool, I'm just part of the crowed that doesn't like it. Its not because I don't like puzzles because that couldn't be farthest from the truth. This game just didn't catch my eye, and I personally wouldn't pay $60 for it.

 

[Koroviev]

I'm not trying to be harsh an everyone's opinion here, but why would you pay 60$ for a puzzle game? Honestly there's not much to this game at all. You do the same things over and over again, while controller a complete douche bag.

I admit that I have had some issues with the controls. Sometimes Vincent just doesn't seem particularly interested in facing the block that I need to push/pull.

Edit: Clicking "quote" is the best way to reply to a specific post within a thread. Hitting "reply" makes it so that the person that you meant to reply to does not realize that you have done so.

 

[Daveman]

Did... did he just get attacked by a giant arse?

 

[Susan Arendt]

I'm not trying to be harsh an everyone's opinion here, but why would you pay 60$ for a puzzle game? Honestly there's not much to this game at all. You do the same things over and over again, while controller a complete douche bag.

The same reason I'd pay $60 for any game - because I find it entertaining and enjoyable. I love the story and find the puzzles to be a great deal of fun. I certainly understand why others might not have that reaction, though.

Everyone's criteria for personal entertainment is different. Some people require an enthralling story, others want a great deal of replay, still others want multiplayer. If your personal criteria don't mesh with Catherine's offerings (at least not at the full sale price), that's perfectly reasonable, but don't be so quick to consider other people nutty for thinking it's worth it.

 

[DustyDrB]

I have to ask: Is one of the hiring criteria as a reviewer for a site such as this an "ability to show remarkable restraint when faced with alarming levels of douchiness"?

Well, I'm still looking forward to this game. I just wish I wasn't a cheapskate and didn't pick the slowest shipping method...

 

[II2]

I had to move the player back to make sure I really did see a butt monster, and I sure wasn't seeing things!

I'm super excited that Catherine is finally here, quirkiness and all! I've been waiting for this game for quite a while and I'm definitely getting it right after work.

Shooting love out her vajayjay, yep. Creepiest goddamn thing I've seen in years.

I got a very amped up David Lynch vibe from the whole game; you feel that?

In a broad parallel, Lynch's seminal "Eraserhead (1975)" was (beyond all the weirdness) a movie about the fears regarding unplanned pregnancy and marriage from a dweeby, freaked out male perspective.

 

[shadyh8er]

It actually looks pretty good. Probably won't buy it, but I'll probably borrow it because the otaku in me hungers for it.

 

[Aptspire]

I've seen some love, as well as some hatred, for this game
That's okay, everyone has their own opinion
as for me, I've finished the third 'nightmare' part (second boss), and I'm LOVING both the cutscenes, therefore the story, and the nightmare, therefore the gameplay. I beliueve that the anime parts go quite well in it, and the discussions with the other patrons (as well as the sheep) are quite interesting.
as far as story goes, I enjoy a great traincrash

 

[mikev7.0]

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....

Do you see conspiracies everywhere, or is it just in videogame reviews?

Beg pardon? I never said anything about a conspiracy. Those are your words. I meant to imply that a site that has carried as many articles and given as much press to this game as the Escapist has, is very likely to also give it a glowing review. I'm sure you can do the math as to why. I find this upsetting as Catherine is by no means one of the best games in my opinon or deserving of an almost perfect review. It's average. Then again the Escapist took another average game with disturbing imagery and destroyed it. I'm learning things work different here. Not so much conspiracy as spin. Basically to me if it quacks, has downy stuff, webbed feet, and a bill, it should not be so defensive when someone suggests that it probably recieved it's advanced education in Oregon.

Yet do I see conspiracies everywhere? No. Although to be honest those 4th dynasty pyramids are looking more than a bit suspect. (Yet in a very good way so I'm cool with even them.)

Sorry mate, I'm British; I have no idea what "probably recieved it's advanced education in Oregon" means.

Anyway, am I right in thinking that the thrust of your argument is that because you didn't like Catherine, it shouldn't have received the score it did, and the fact that it did receive that score, means that we're either on the take, or bad at our jobs?

No not at all. Here let me finish what I was saying instead of just letting the thought trail off towards what I thought was the obvious. Come on people.... the Escapist (for whatever reason) is pro Catherine. It's obvious that you would like this game to succeed. Why the heck else would you be arguing with someone for just having a different opinion and pointing out that opinions do not equal facts? That's what confuses me because in the eyes of the general public it's one of those games that does the gamer cause about as much good as Duke Nuke Em' and you Anihillated that game.

Oh. "Probably recieved it's advanced education in Oregon" means that it's probably a Duck. Sorry I guess I was being a little "States centric" there. If I must use a hackneyed phrase at least allow a guy his obscure twist...

 

[mikev7.0]

It actually looks pretty good. Probably won't buy it, but I'll probably borrow it because the otaku in me hungers for it.

I'm asking this with zero sarcasm okay, but what is an Otaku? I keep seeing that word here and not in other places and it's not associated with gaming is it?

Anyway I love your avatar!! Sooooo cute! (warning: Incoming States centric humor.)

*waves at your avatar* Hi Congressman Wu!!

 

[mikev7.0]

So is the game fun for people who have no desire for sex? It just seemed so creepy, especially that title screen where he's wrapped with barbed wire. Also a monster that shoots things out of it's vagina? WTF? I haven't seen things this trippy since I badly OD'd on painkillers.

The sex is all implied - you don't see anything more hot and heavy than kissing on screen. The story is about relationships, and the various pitfalls - and rewards - they contain. And of course, the actual gameplay has nothing to do with sex at all. (Erm...ok, that one boss is a sex monster, but you get my drift.)

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....

Do you see conspiracies everywhere, or is it just in videogame reviews?

Beg pardon? I never said anything about a conspiracy. Those are your words. I meant to imply that a site that has carried as many articles and given as much press to this game as the Escapist has, is very likely to also give it a glowing review. I'm sure you can do the math as to why. I find this upsetting as Catherine is by no means one of the best games in my opinon or deserving of an almost perfect review. It's average. Then again the Escapist took another average game with disturbing imagery and destroyed it.

How do you know the game is average if you haven't played it?

In any event, has it not crossed your mind that the reason we kept running so much Catherine material was that our audience was extremely interested in the game? If we run a post about Catherine, and it gets a lot of traffic, yes, of course we're going to run more information about Catherine, because clearly it's something our audience wants to know about.

That's just it. I have played it.

No, that didn't cross my mind since I'm not used to ATLUS getting much press. Usually not many of us gamers are interested in the lastest from ATLUS I'm accustomed to being part a kinda' small club of ATLUS fans. Again I haven't been through the archives but I've never read anything else on here about any of the many other and better ATLUS games I own. I didn't know the articles got a lot of traffic. Thanks. That lets me know that sometimes it would be best to not post or check something out unless I really want to see more of it.

Look, to put it in perspective and hopefully close the book on all this (because Catherine isn't worth it to me frankly.) All I meant was that according to your own review it is my opinion that the review doesn't match the score.

However, in the words of a favorite stand up philosopher of mine "That's just my opinon, I could be wrong.."

When I was growing up I couldn't afford a lot of games so I relied on Electronic Games Monthly and their reviews to pick the best ones. I thought that anything they rated Silver or higher I would love and it was always true and the ones they rated as Gold (Believe it or not they took heat for daring to give FFVII a Gold. FFVII!!) are the very classics that are talked and joked about today at The Escapist.

The Escapist is what I use for the same reason today. I have bought two games based on your reviews miss Arendt and I would have bought this one if not for the demo. I would have purchased $60 worth of buyer remorse instead of $50 worth of refined fanboy awesome.

I would have made that mistake because I am under the impression that a Gold or 5 means my dough is safe. Those games are ones everyone should own. (That was sure true with the EGM Golds.)

I mean I'm sorry about your hair but in your own words "This game isn't for everyone." If that's true then why did it get what I see as the equivalent of "Gold"??

 

[mikev7.0]

I meant to imply that a site that has carried as many articles and given as much press to this game as the Escapist has, is very likely to also give it a glowing review. I'm sure you can do the math as to why. I find this upsetting as Catherine is by no means one of the best games in my opinon or deserving of an almost perfect review. It's average. Then again the Escapist took another average game with disturbing imagery and destroyed it. I'm learning things work different here. Not so much conspiracy as spin. Basically to me if it quacks, has downy stuff, webbed feet, and a bill, it should not be so defensive when someone suggests that it probably recieved it's advanced education in Oregon.

If you took a moment to stop impugning our integrity and stepped away from this specific review you disagree with. You'd find that your implications simply don't hold water. For example, if that was correct then Duke Nukem Forever (which we ran 14 trailers for as opposed to the 6 we ran for Catherine) should have received a "glowing review" instead of a 2 out of 5. That game also had far more actual sexual content than Catherine, which you seem to support as the only reason anyone gives a damn about it. Likewise on the flip side, games like Terraria or Frozen Synapse (both of which only had a single trailer posted) were games that I personally really enjoyed despite them both coming out of left field hypewise.

*facedesk*

"Impugning our integrity??"

*blinks*

What are you? Freakin' C-SPAN now?? I don't come to the Escapist due to it's intregity man. I-I don't think anyone really does. We come here for entertainment, sorta'. More like info about entertainment. So I wasn't impugning something I don't care about here.

I dared disagree, that was all. I forgot that wasn't allowed and neither is pointing out that no one has a right to declare their opinion as fact.

I also implied that the Escapist was pro Catherine and that people thinking of buying this game should filter the review through that possibility. So how does that implication not hold water? Other than the obvious fact that it wasn't meant to. It was meant to imply something.

If you read my above posts you would also realize that the fact that a game that every person that I actually know who plays it loves it and has a lot of fun with it (about five gamers now) got a 2 is also confusing to me. That would be Duke Nuke Em'. Both games are at least average. One gets panned, the other lionized. I was just asking (myself mostly) why since I've played both games and would call them at least 3s.

 

[shadyh8er]

It actually looks pretty good. Probably won't buy it, but I'll probably borrow it because the otaku in me hungers for it.

I'm asking this with zero sarcasm okay, but what is an Otaku? I keep seeing that word here and not in other places and it's not associated with gaming is it?

Anyway I love your avatar!! Sooooo cute! (warning: Incoming States centric humor.)

*waves at your avatar* Hi Congressman Wu!!

Literally, "otaku" is like the Japanese equivalent for "nerd." It's actually an insult in Japan, but in the west it's a seen as a synonym for "anime fan."

Hope that helps, and thanks for the avatar compliment!

 

[Susan Arendt]

I mean I'm sorry about your hair but in your own words "This game isn't for everyone." If that's true then why did it get what I see as the equivalent of "Gold"??

Because a game doesn't have to be for everyone in order to be fantastic. Not all kinds of games are going to appeal to a wide audience, but that doesn't make them any less excellent in their own right. Child of Eden is another great example of that.

I provided ample evidence why I thought the game deserved the score it got - you brush that aside and assume I gave it a 4.5 simply because I'd gone in with a preconceived notion that it was great. And yet you apparently agree with some of my other reviews - so apparently I only put my ethics on hold for this one?

 

[Torrasque]

The demo was a whole lot of fun, so I'll definitely be picking this up today =)

 

[Logan Westbrook]

No not at all. Here let me finish what I was saying instead of just letting the thought trail off towards what I thought was the obvious. Come on people.... the Escapist (for whatever reason) is pro Catherine. It's obvious that you would like this game to succeed. Why the heck else would you be arguing with someone for just having a different opinion and pointing out that opinions do not equal facts?

Urr, not really. I don't really care if you like Catherine or not, or whether or not you buy it for that matter. What started this discussion was you implying that we were on Atlus' payroll because we gave Catherine a score you didn't agree with.

 

[Slycne]

*facedesk*

"Impugning our integrity??"

*blinks*

What are you? Freakin' C-SPAN now?? I don't come to the Escapist due to it's intregity man. I-I don't think anyone really does. We come here for entertainment, sorta'. More like info about entertainment. So I wasn't impugning something I don't care about here.

I dared disagree, that was all. I forgot that wasn't allowed and neither is pointing out that no one has a right to declare their opinion as fact.

I also implied that the Escapist was pro Catherine and that people thinking of buying this game should filter the review through that possibility. So how does that implication not hold water? Other than the obvious fact that it wasn't meant to. It was meant to imply something.

If you read my above posts you would also realize that the fact that a game that every person that I actually know who plays it loves it and has a lot of fun with it (about five gamers now) got a 2 is also confusing to me. That would be Duke Nuke Em'. Both games are at least average. One gets panned, the other lionized. I was just asking (myself mostly) why since I've played both games and would call them at least 3s.

Alright, so we're simply dumb or bad at our jobs then? Is that what you're saying? Look I'm perfectly fine with you disagreeing, and I never said that was wrong in any way. My point of contention was always your notion that because we've posted any content prior to the release that our reviews are no longer objective.