Catherine — A Wild Sheep Chase

The lede of many game reviews usually consists of describing the game the reviewer is about to discuss with the readers, involving a comparison between where the game derives its concept and inspiration from. It’s been said by many that we’re either reaching or have reached the ceiling for new ideas — not only for video games, but nearly all forms of entertainment media. “Reaching” would be the better word to use here, because every now and then we have something that will shows audiences that original ideas can still be born, despite the prevalence of cynicism with companies buckling down to try and appeal to as big of an audience as possible due to rising budgets.

I used that as a preface because in all my years of gaming, I’ve never played a game like Catherine before. You haven’t either.

In fact, you’d know this upon merely hearing the genre. Catherine is a puzzle/adventure game from a good portion of the Persona development team at Atlus. It tells the story of a man named Vincent Brooks, a troubled guy in between jobs who’s currently hesitant to marry his fiancée, Katherine McBride. The situation is shaken up big time when another woman enters his life mysteriously, who just happens to go by the name of Catherine. If you’ve been paying attention to the game’s advertising, you’ll know all about the “who will you choose” nature of the adventure aspect of the game.

That’s your dream girl, gentlemen!

However, to get to that point, you’ll have to survive the puzzle sections. Within Vincent’s recent and mysteriously reoccurring nightmares, he’ll have to venture to the Nightmare This is an area where he’ll have to reach the top through cunning wit and maneuverability to survive not only in the nightmare, but in real life. You’ll have to get to the goal by shuffling blocks around and climbing them to prevent Vincent from falling or being trapped in another obstacle. Like a good puzzle game, it begins simple enough, but they become much more complicated as the game goes on.

In fact, you could argue that things become complicated a little too soon. Catherine is a game that pulls no punches; it will give you a good challenge. Some items that you’ll gather along the way can help make the trek easier, but it will still give you a tough time regardless. There’s no better modern game around to get you to swallow your pride if the game proves too tough for you on “Normal” difficulty (even with the added “Undo” feature in the American version). Though the challenge level is lower on “Easy,” it’s still quite difficult.

Just keep telling yourself to stay calm. Even while the floor is crumbling below you.

Really though, the fact that each difficulty offers a challenge is a good thing. While progressing through the levels, you can feel yourself getting better at solving each of them; by the time the game reaches the halfway point, you’ll be much more adept at progressing through each scenario. This, of course, is also helped by some of your buddies giving you some pointers when you encounter them within the nightmare. Most of the levels were designed this way, and will throw you curveballs so you can’t use the same strategy over and over again. And that’s “most” because some of the later levels are noticeably easier than a few earlier ones. You probably won’t complain about that, though.

(Of course, you can skip this intricately designed difficulty by using the hidden “Very Easy” setting. But it almost plays the game for you, so I’d recommend going no lower than “Easy.”)

Not all is perfect in the puzzle aspect, however. The controls will take some adjusting too. That’s because Vincent moves differently from most other characters you’ve played in a video game. A legitimate problem here is the controls are reversed when moving behind blocks, which is incredibly annoying — especially when you’re in a rush to get to the top, and are in a place where you can’t be hindered by fighting with the controls. Fortunately, it doesn’t happen very often.

The “adventure” aspect occurs in the bar Vincent and his friends frequent, called Stray Sheep. Before heading home to tackle the latest nightmare, it’s recommended that you
spend plenty of time here talking to Vincent’s childhood friends, Jonathan, Orlando, and, to a lesser extent, Toby. There are also plenty of patrons to chat with while wandering around, including the barmaid, Erica, and The Boss of Stray Sheep. Other non-talking options are responding to text messages you’ll receive, drinking (which helps you move faster in the nightmares), and an arcade game called Rapunzel, the last of which is basically an arcade version of the puzzles Vincent experiences in the Nightmare.

Real life and otherworldly situations are discussed here.

You’ll want to talk to all of the patrons of Stray Sheep solely for the sake of experiencing the conversations. Trust me. It’s evident the writers responsible for the dialogue at Atlus Japan did plenty of research before penning it for each character, because nearly all of it sounds like a natural conversation real people would have at a bar, which range from humorous to depressing. Of course, it’s also possible the writers obtained this technique through real-life experiences, and it’s likely that you’ll personally find something to relate to. Many of the patrons you talk to are burdened by problems in their lives, and Vincent can actually help them if you discuss their problems with them frequently. Just keep in mind that you’ll want to be careful about who you talk to at which time, however, because some of them tend to leave earlier than others. For instance, you’ll want to save Erica and The Boss for last. They’ll stick around the longest considering they work there.

Also noteworthy is that all of the dialogue is voiced; and voiced well. It took a short while to get used to Troy Baker as Vincent and Michelle Ruff as Katherine, as you can tell they were just settling into their roles; fortunately, they do so incredibly quickly. Laura Bailey, however, soothes right into her role as Catherine, and steals the show. All of the other voices for every character are incredibly well done, precisely what you’d expect from an Atlus USA localization.

Throughout the game, you’re required to make decisions; many of which will affect your Karma meter, whose alignment is integral to obtaining one of the game’s multiple endings. This is affected by how your respond to text messages from both Katherine and Catherine, and by questions you’ll receive at the end of each non-boss stage in the Nightmare. Similar to a Megaten title, you’ll either be Law, Neutral, or Chaos-aligned by the time it’s over. You’ll receive questions from other people that might affect this as well.

The hell you should! His decisions will affect that meter.

Catherine also looks splendid. (You know, the game. Not to say she isn’t a looker.) It appears the Gamebryo game engine must be cheap for developers to use after being thoroughly ravaged by critics due to Bethesda’s titles supposedly being glitch-fests because of it. This game demonstrates that it wasn’t the engine at fault here, as Atlus has made a game that runs incredibly well and looks fantastic. It’s not a high budget game, but it’s proof that a good art style — coming courtesy of the Persona franchise’s Shigenori Soejima — can come a very long way in presenting a pretty aesthetic. The anime cut scenes from Studio 4°C are also nice, but the in-game cut scenes actually look better.

The Shoji Meguro-composed soundtrack is also a delight to listen to, especially if you can pinpoint the origins of some tracks during the nightmare sequences. All of them are remixes of classical tunes from composers such as Beethoven, Francois Chopin, and Dvorak. Other sections feature tracks that wouldn’t be out of place in a Megaten game, consisting of a fusion of jazz and new age — perfectly in-fitting with the game’s time period and setting of modern-day America. The majority of the soundtrack is mellower than what we usually hear from Meguro, but he’s proven that he’s good at the jazz genre as well.

Catherine is designed in a way that no element feels disparate from each other. Both of the genres it approaches mesh well due to it being intricately designed to ensure nothing feels like useless filler. It’s also a game that earns its M-rating through being a game that goes through problems the average person endures in entering adulthood rather than through gratuitous, egregious violence. It’s an all-too-rare treat, one that deserves the support of anyone who enjoys seeing innovation in a time where it’s perpetually and depressingly dwindling.