Catherine
Developed by Atlus Persona Team
Published by Atlus
The Story:
Catherine follows the tale of Vincent Brooks who is a 30 something year old man who is finding a lack of excitement in his life, one night Vincent cheats on his girlfriend with a girl called Catherine, and at the same time is suffering severe nightmares in which he dreams he is climbing a huge tower and if he falls he will die, Vincent has to escape the nightmares and hide the fact that he cheated on his current girlfriend whose name is also Katherine.
The Gameplay:
Catherine is a puzzle game with a bit of a horror element mixed in, you will have two things you are tasked to do frequently Vincent will go to the local bar with his friends here you can drink text and talk to the other patrons the people who frequent the bar are all very interesting and are great to talk to its nice to see how well their characters are written, when Vincent goes home he will go to sleep and then you will have to escape the nightmare this is Catherine’s main gameplay element, the nightmares have you climbing a tower which is basically a block puzzle but much faster than usual block puzzles their are lots of different ways of climbing the tower it is surprisingly addicting, plus the different types of blocks such as the ice blocks where you slide off the edge if you move over them or the bomb blocks where they blow up other blocks around it, the controls can be a bit clunky at first but once you get the hang of them you should be fine.
The Sound:
Catherine’s soundtrack is simply phenomenal all of the nightmare themes are based off of pieces by famous composers for example the final boss theme is remix of Revolution by Chopin, as for the voice actors they all do a great job, Troy Baker is great as Vincent and the rest of the cast all do a great job of making their characters believable.
The Graphics:
I personally love Catherine’s style it’s the closest thing i’ve seen to an Anime in full 3D environments you shouldn’t expect anything close to Naughty Dog’s level of graphics but Catherine still looks great, And of course with most of Atlus games the Anime cutscenes look stunning and are very well animated.
Lasting Appeal:
Catherine is a pretty decently lengthy game it was about 12 hours the first time I played and there is a lot to bring you back including multiple endings and some people you might not have seen in your initial playthrough.
Overall Catherine is a very fun and mature game that is a very different experience and is a joy to behold.
My Score – 9.5/10
The Good:
- Very Well Written Story
- Amazing Soundtrack
- Clever Gameplay
- Great Voice Acting
- Multiple Endings
The Bad
- Clunky Controls
Catherine is available from all retailers now for PlayStation 3 & Xbox 360. Be sure to let me know what you thought of the review in the comments section below and be sure to stay tuned to UGNN for all your gaming news and reviews and remember to follow us on WordPress, Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, LinkedIn, Reddit & YouTube.
Review by Jonnie Dixon
