Catherine
Overview -
Certain pieces of horror fiction present this interesting idea: if one dies while in an unconscious dream state, he or she will not awake. This rather creepy premise has been carried over into video game form, with Atlus’ Catherine. A mixture between a romantic love triangle RPG and a puzzle game, it doesn’t skimp on the nightmarish idea whatsoever. That’s exactly where its, “Climb or Die!” tagline comes from.
Video Review
Catherine’s emotional angst and terrifying imagery is presented using an anime visual style. Hand-drawn to near-perfection, the game has a great look that stands out amidst the current generation library. It’s colourful yet somewhat realistic, with characters who feature a pretty good visual range of emotions. Some of them are a bit absurd, including a strange female host with furry red sideburns.
The featured block puzzles you’ve heard so much about, are shown as a floating cubic staircase, over top of an eerie black backdrop. Although their look can become a bit bland after a while, it’s necessary to mention how this game’s puzzles are at least interactive with moving characters. That isn’t the case with a lot of other puzzle genre releases.
Audio Review
Thankfully, Catherine’s characters are voiced by a quality cast. It was a good idea to include this feature, as the game’s storyline wouldn’t have been as impactful if it only used text-based dialogue. That’s especially true when it comes to the nightmarish sequences, where characters such as a crying baby and a heinous female character, can be heard making tormenting vocal sounds. You can still read subtitles if you’re having trouble following along, or happen to be hearing-impaired.
It’s hard to find faults with the presented audio, which includes original music, impressive writing, creepy sound effects and the aforementioned voice acting. However, the titular character’s voice acting can become a bit grating, due to how aloof she sounds. It’s a minor complaint, which really doesn’t affect the audio department’s overall quality.
If you’re a connoisseur of innovative video games, then Catherine should definitely be a part of your collection. While it’s not for everyone and is perhaps too challenging for many, it’s a high-quality game that begs for a try. Although quite a few great games were released this year, it stands out more than most, due to incredibly unique content and circumstance.