Catherine, developed by the folks who were behind Persona 3 and 4 and Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne. The upcoming action-adventure title is set to cater to a more mature audience.
GenreAction Adventure
Platforms ps3
DEVELOPER Atlus | PUBLISHER Codemasters | RELEASE DATE
Catherine Reviews ps3
1up.com review
He scoffed and told me that Catherine is the kind of game teenagers want to play, because they only think it’s for adults. Maybe there’s some truth to that (thanks in large part to Atlus’ provocative marketing), but at the same time I feel that Catherine’s exploration of relationships and all the responsibilities they entail speaks to me as an adult far more than the hyperactive, blood-drenched, adolescent power fantasy that director was peddling. I also can’t help but think that Catherine will mean a lot less to a teenager than it does to me, a man in his 30s who’s lived Vincent’s experience (well, the waffling in the face of pressure to get married part, not the cheating with a bubbly seductress part).
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gamingexcellence.com review
The story for this game is, to put it lightly, pretty screwy. Vincent is an inherently likable protagonist who has fairly normal problems. He really cares for his Katherine, his girlfriend of many years, but he is afraid of commitment and the idea of having to settle down. Heck he even seems to be weirded out about the idea of moving in together. This is something a lot of guys can understand even if they don’t panic like our boy Vincent does and, when paired up with his otherwise normal nature, makes him easy to empathize with. A likeable, easy to sympathize with main character? I… I don’t know what to say…
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cheatcc.com review
Vincent is a pretty average guy in his thirties who lives in a modest apartment and has a standard underpaying job just like every other working schlub out there. Vincent has a longtime girlfriend, Katherine, who is looking to tie the knot and start a family with Vincent. Vincent, on the other hand, is okay with how things are. Marriage and fatherhood are both things he’d like to keep out of his life, at least until he can get it on track.
avclub.com review
Catherine’s puzzles are harsh but feel fair, except when viewing problems add to the difficulty. You have little control over your camera angle, which can make it impossible to see what Vincent is doing when he shimmies behind a block. When a boss gets close, the angle shifts so that it takes up too much of the screen, making narrow escapes even more unlikely. When you do complete a level, Vincent experiences a moment of exaltation. But it’s a brief reprieve, as the game continues to lay on the tension. Vincent may survive the night, but he still has to face his fears and indecision in the morning.
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gamerevolution.com review
The game’s opening quotes Shakespeare: "All the world’s a stage. And all the men and women merely players." But as the game suggests, it’s only the men. Vincent’s daily rest soon becomes haunted by nightmares where he and other men who appear as sheep must climb a towering wall of cubes before it crumbles before them. Chased by time and gargantuan bosses in the shape of their darkest fears, they ascend each cubic level to the chiming of a church bell—is it for a wedding or a funeral?—in the hope that they are not the next victims to plummet to their doom. It’s a wicked and warped deviation of Intelligent Qube, if it were framed by a romantic thriller where falling in a dream means dying in real life and where no one remembers their collective nightmare, apart from dubious rumors and the depths of fatigue.
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ign.com review
As if it wasn’t already obvious, I loved my time with Catherine. In many ways, I was completely blown-away by it. While I’m sure some gamers will be turned-off by its anime-style presentation and difficult gameplay, I implore those of you who are looking for something authentically different and outright fun to give Catherine a go. This isn’t a game just for puzzle fans or just for those who love anime. This is a game that melds so much together and is so different than anything else on the market that it’s for just about anyone who really loves games.
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destructoid.com review
The plot in Catherine is phenomenal for the first eighty percent of the game. The mystery slowly begins to unravel and characters show themselves to have surprising complexity as they all seek understanding as to what has been happening to them. Delightful use of subtle red herrings do a fantastic job of diverting attention from the truth. Sadly, when the curtain is lifted, what’s found to be the cause winds up a bit of a disappointment as the game veers sharply in another direction, though still within keeping of a late-night movie aesthetic (established in the game’s opening and then never referenced again until its conclusion some twelve to fifteen hours later.)
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ps3.ign.com review
His decision is initially made easier when another girl unexpectedly enters his life. This girl’s name is Catherine — that’s Catherine with a "C" — and after a drunken night of debauchery, Vincent wakes up in his bed to find this buxom blond bombshell naked next to him. Immediately filled with regret, Vincent’s quest is to get out of the sticky situation he’s found himself in, even if he’s doubtful about his future with Katherine and mildly curious about what a girl like Catherine would possibly want with him. And worse yet, the situation has plagued him with chronic sheep-filled nightmares that threaten to kill him in real life (these nightmares make up the core puzzle gameplay of Catherine, but more on that shortly).
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eurogamer.se review
No Synopsis Available
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thesixthaxis.com review
Just when you thought you figured the game out, a new obstacle is thrown your way. It’s constantly evolving right until the very end, never allowing you to get comfortable. There are heavy blocks, unmovable blocks, slippery blocks, traps and you’ll even encounter other sheep climbing the same tower. Sometimes the level itself will be one cramped up space that spans only three blocks wide.
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digitalchumps.com review
Catherine is one of the few videogames to offer legitimate moral complexity. Its protagonist, a man in his early 30’s named Vincent, is apparently content with a long-term relationship with his girlfriend, Katherine, but succumbs to infidelity when he winds up getting plastered and taking a young, blonde, and beautiful Catherine home from a bar. Catherine could have taken the easy route and constructed a game around Vincent getting his act together, but instead it opts for a design far more subdued, one that seems more interested in seeing how far down the rabbit hole goes rather than a preoccupation with escaping it.
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multiplayer.it review
No Synopsis Available
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machinima.com review
Nightmare controls are tuned for speed, which you can appreciate once you attain a level of skill with the game. There are some quirks that are hard to appreciate as a newcomer, though. First off, this game is fast and twitchy, which can make Vincent unwieldy for beginners. I would frequently run too far or flip off the edge of a block without intending to. The most annoying quirk is that when you’re hanging from a block, if you rotate around to the back of it, left and right swap. That means you can tap left, swivel around the back, then tap left again and go back where you came from. Holding the direction will keep Vincent shuffling in the same direction, even around the back, but it takes a while to get used to.
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gamechronicles.com review
Everything you do in the Nightmare portion of Catherine gains you a score value like moving blocks and ascending fast to raise your combo. Even picking up items such as the Mystic Pillows (retries) and coins will raise your points score and result in a bronze, silver or gold award. The gold awards on the normal difficulty or higher are the ones to shoot for to gain access to one of Catherine’s other modes. I will get to those in a bit, but first I have to mention the game’s morality meter.
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gameblog.fr review
No Synopsis Available
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