WHAT IS LOVE “Catherine” Game Review Sh’allo! I’m getting really bad at actually posting on this thing (I have however gone a major “Liking” binge. Or is it “heart-ing”? I’m not sure). So it’s been a minute to say the least. Anywho, speaking of heart-ing, what a fantastic, appropriate (and easy) segue into this particular entry! I haven’t been getting much gaming in these days honestly, but just recently I played and beat this game titled “Catherine”. If you’re thinking what I’m assuming you’re thinking, which is “The name of the game is a girl?”, then yes, you would be correct. The game in question is about a girl named Catherine. Catherine at its core is essentially a dating-simulator. Now before you jump the shark and question why I would divulge time and interest into a game like this, allow me to defend myself! While the premise of the game is about love and romance and your typical (or atypical, depending on how you play) relationship, behind the narrative is actually a solid puzzle-game. Yes, you read that right. A puzzle game within a dating-sim. I’m not very good at puzzle games and as such I don’t normally play them, but I decided to give them a shot on the principle that I had to play through these puzzles if I wanted to know what happened next in the story (I’m all about story). The game puts you in the shoes of Vincent Brooks, a 32-year old dude who has been in a five-year relationship with his girlfriend Katherine (with a K). When Katherine starts wanting to take things further and get more serious, i.e. marriage and a pregnancy scare, Vincent starts getting contemplating whether or not he’s ready for such a drastic upgrade. One night at a bar with his high school friends, he stays behind for more drinks when he is approached by a much younger blonde girl who subsequently seduces (er, forces herself onto) him into a one-night stand. Vincent later finds out that he essentially cheats on Katherine with this girl… who happens to be named Catherine (with a C). Wow, right? As a result of his unfaithful ways, Vincent is cursed with recurring nightmares that have him constantly running and attempting to escape various scenarios conjured up from his fears. These things appear to be highly exaggerated (and grotesquely demonic) imaginations of things like the bride from hell armed with a kitchen knife, a satan spawn baby wielding a machine-gun, among other things. In these dreams, he takes the form of a sheep, along with many other men who apparently decided to all cheat on their lovers at the same time. All the while Vincent is afflicted with these visions, he must somehow try to walk a fine line and clean up the messy situation between himself and Katherine and Catherine. The game sorts this out by letting you pick certain responses and actions, as well as answering a series of questions. Depending on what you say and do, you may end up breaking Katherine’s heart and falling for the attractive allure of Catherine, or do the right thing and stay true to Katherine and get rid of Catherine. It’s like those awesome Choose Your Own Adventure books from back in the day, y’know, like Give Yourself Goosebumps and such. This of course implies that there are multiple endings. The puzzle-game in question occurs in these nightmare sequences. Vincent must pull and push blocks in order to rearrange a tower/wall of blocks for him to be able to climb up it and escape before the whole thing comes crumbling down, killing him. And if you die in your dreams in this game, you die in real life apparently. So that’s bad. Think a weird mash-up of Q-Bert and Jenga and you’ll catch my drift. The puzzles were rather difficult even on Normal in the early going, so I had lower the difficulty down to easy, but even then some of the stages were mind-numbing in how frustrating they were. Not rage-quit-toss-controller-at-TV frustrating, but enough to make you think you’re actually not that intuitive hahaha. I played Easy mode because I just wanted to move along in the story, but if puzzles are your thing, then this game is definitely something you’d want to give a whirl. All in all, I really liked Catherine. Not gunna lie, it’s a niche-game on all aspects; it’s a dating-sim, it’s a puzzle game, and it’s presented as an anime, all three not really at the forefront of video games in this day and age. The rather tedious puzzle segments are bound to infuriate some and completely turn-off others to Catherine. But if you’re willing to look past that (kinda like looking past a girl’s exterior and go for what makes her tick, see what I did there?), you’ll find a rather well-acted and well-written and hilarious story line that everyone (even people that wouldn’t give this game a chance) can relate to: the misadventures of love and romance AKA the game AKA the wild world of dating. Single and lonely? Married and bored? It’s up to you to decide! \m/\m/\m/\m/ - 4 cornas out of 5 What is love? Baby don’t hurt me, no more -“What is Love?” by Haddaway

WHAT IS LOVE

“Catherine” Game Review

Sh’allo! I’m getting really bad at actually posting on this thing (I have however gone a major “Liking” binge. Or is it “heart-ing”? I’m not sure). So it’s been a minute to say the least. Anywho, speaking of heart-ing, what a fantastic, appropriate (and easy) segue into this particular entry!

I haven’t been getting much gaming in these days honestly, but just recently I played and beat this game titled “Catherine”. If you’re thinking what I’m assuming you’re thinking, which is “The name of the game is a girl?”, then yes, you would be correct. The game in question is about a girl named Catherine.

Catherine at its core is essentially a dating-simulator. Now before you jump the shark and question why I would divulge time and interest into a game like this, allow me to defend myself! While the premise of the game is about love and romance and your typical (or atypical, depending on how you play) relationship, behind the narrative is actually a solid puzzle-game. Yes, you read that right. A puzzle game within a dating-sim. I’m not very good at puzzle games and as such I don’t normally play them, but I decided to give them a shot on the principle that I had to play through these puzzles if I wanted to know what happened next in the story (I’m all about story).

The game puts you in the shoes of Vincent Brooks, a 32-year old dude who has been in a five-year relationship with his girlfriend Katherine (with a K). When Katherine starts wanting to take things further and get more serious, i.e. marriage and a pregnancy scare, Vincent starts getting contemplating whether or not he’s ready for such a drastic upgrade. One night at a bar with his high school friends, he stays behind for more drinks when he is approached by a much younger blonde girl who subsequently seduces (er, forces herself onto) him into a one-night stand. Vincent later finds out that he essentially cheats on Katherine with this girl… who happens to be named Catherine (with a C). Wow, right?

As a result of his unfaithful ways, Vincent is cursed with recurring nightmares that have him constantly running and attempting to escape various scenarios conjured up from his fears. These things appear to be highly exaggerated (and grotesquely demonic) imaginations of things like the bride from hell armed with a kitchen knife, a satan spawn baby wielding a machine-gun, among other things. In these dreams, he takes the form of a sheep, along with many other men who apparently decided to all cheat on their lovers at the same time. All the while Vincent is afflicted with these visions, he must somehow try to walk a fine line and clean up the messy situation between himself and Katherine and Catherine. The game sorts this out by letting you pick certain responses and actions, as well as answering a series of questions. Depending on what you say and do, you may end up breaking Katherine’s heart and falling for the attractive allure of Catherine, or do the right thing and stay true to Katherine and get rid of Catherine. It’s like those awesome Choose Your Own Adventure books from back in the day, y’know, like Give Yourself Goosebumps and such. This of course implies that there are multiple endings.

The puzzle-game in question occurs in these nightmare sequences. Vincent must pull and push blocks in order to rearrange a tower/wall of blocks for him to be able to climb up it and escape before the whole thing comes crumbling down, killing him. And if you die in your dreams in this game, you die in real life apparently. So that’s bad. Think a weird mash-up of Q-Bert and Jenga and you’ll catch my drift. The puzzles were rather difficult even on Normal in the early going, so I had lower the difficulty down to easy, but even then some of the stages were mind-numbing in how frustrating they were. Not rage-quit-toss-controller-at-TV frustrating, but enough to make you think you’re actually not that intuitive hahaha. I played Easy mode because I just wanted to move along in the story, but if puzzles are your thing, then this game is definitely something you’d want to give a whirl.

All in all, I really liked Catherine. Not gunna lie, it’s a niche-game on all aspects; it’s a dating-sim, it’s a puzzle game, and it’s presented as an anime, all three not really at the forefront of video games in this day and age. The rather tedious puzzle segments are bound to infuriate some and completely turn-off others to Catherine. But if you’re willing to look past that (kinda like looking past a girl’s exterior and go for what makes her tick, see what I did there?), you’ll find a rather well-acted and well-written and hilarious story line that everyone (even people that wouldn’t give this game a chance) can relate to: the misadventures of love and romance AKA the game AKA the wild world of dating. Single and lonely? Married and bored? It’s up to you to decide!

\m/\m/\m/\m/ - 4 cornas out of 5

What is love? Baby don’t hurt me, no more

-“What is Love?” by Haddaway

  • 08.17.11