2011
30JUL
Catherine
Title: Catherine
Platform: 360/PS3
Genre: Puzzle Platformer / Social Sim
FFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCKKKKKKKK
Alternate title: The Biggest Letdown.
I jumped on this one the moment Vincent first appeared in Persona 3 Portable. However, the letdown isn't that it's not Persona 5... it's that such a cool story and interesting cast of characters are trapped behind an impenetrable wall of mediocre gameplay.
I don't normally shy away from a decent puzzle game, but the puzzle segments in Catherine - 95% of the actual gameplay, of course - are deeply, deeply flawed. The control scheme is bizarre and practically inviting you to fuck up and fall to your death, which will happen all the time. The timing factor is completely unforgiving, even on easy difficulty, and especially on "boss" stages. The camera is the absolute worst I have ever seen; doubly so, considering how slowly it pans (and immediate snaps back when you let go of the stick), as if they forgot this is a timed game. The truly big problem is the balance of difficulty in general; you'll be breezing along for half the map and then hit an absolute wall where you will die repeatedly because there is just no time to analyze the structure and formulate a plan. The game showers you with extra lives, but the real limiting factor is your own patience - and mine ran out sooner than expected.
What's funny is, the gameplay itself is so simple at the same time: just push blocks around under very simple rules. Sure, occasionally a few gimmick blocks will appear, and the game goes hand over foot to teach you different "climbing techniques" that feel like an artificial injection of depth, but the overall goal never changes, so you'll be playing the same damn game for every stage, and with dying so often, the same exact segments of the same stages over and over. Maybe it's a meta-critique on married life? Regardless, it strangely never really "clicked" for me, despite its simplicity, and I gave up and shelved it on the fourth day's boss battle.
It's a real shame, too. "Easy" mode claims to be for people who want the story over the gameplay, but it doesn't solve the basic problems with the gameplay and still makes the puzzle segment an unfun slog. The story segments between these nightmare scenarios are really, really great though - with an interesting art style and very good voice acting - though the "morality" meter is a little too obvious and easy to game. I was actually compelled to "roleplay" Vincent as a decent but dogged guy, though a lot of the time, even though the game acknowledged this, there were still strange out-of-character moments that I imagine appear in either path. Still, I enjoyed chatting with the other bar patrons and helping out the other sheep in the tween-floor safe areas. The Persona games benefit from a legitimately fun exploration and combat system between social segments; this time, though, I kind of wish the puzzle segments were entirely optional, even though the metaphor is sound and some of the boss designs are deliciously fucked up.
You might have a better head for block puzzles than I do; in that case, I would say rent it first. Otherwise, I'm going to have to give it a pass. It might make a cool anime one day, though.
Platform: 360/PS3
Genre: Puzzle Platformer / Social Sim
FFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCCCKKKKKKKK
Alternate title: The Biggest Letdown.
I jumped on this one the moment Vincent first appeared in Persona 3 Portable. However, the letdown isn't that it's not Persona 5... it's that such a cool story and interesting cast of characters are trapped behind an impenetrable wall of mediocre gameplay.
I don't normally shy away from a decent puzzle game, but the puzzle segments in Catherine - 95% of the actual gameplay, of course - are deeply, deeply flawed. The control scheme is bizarre and practically inviting you to fuck up and fall to your death, which will happen all the time. The timing factor is completely unforgiving, even on easy difficulty, and especially on "boss" stages. The camera is the absolute worst I have ever seen; doubly so, considering how slowly it pans (and immediate snaps back when you let go of the stick), as if they forgot this is a timed game. The truly big problem is the balance of difficulty in general; you'll be breezing along for half the map and then hit an absolute wall where you will die repeatedly because there is just no time to analyze the structure and formulate a plan. The game showers you with extra lives, but the real limiting factor is your own patience - and mine ran out sooner than expected.
What's funny is, the gameplay itself is so simple at the same time: just push blocks around under very simple rules. Sure, occasionally a few gimmick blocks will appear, and the game goes hand over foot to teach you different "climbing techniques" that feel like an artificial injection of depth, but the overall goal never changes, so you'll be playing the same damn game for every stage, and with dying so often, the same exact segments of the same stages over and over. Maybe it's a meta-critique on married life? Regardless, it strangely never really "clicked" for me, despite its simplicity, and I gave up and shelved it on the fourth day's boss battle.
It's a real shame, too. "Easy" mode claims to be for people who want the story over the gameplay, but it doesn't solve the basic problems with the gameplay and still makes the puzzle segment an unfun slog. The story segments between these nightmare scenarios are really, really great though - with an interesting art style and very good voice acting - though the "morality" meter is a little too obvious and easy to game. I was actually compelled to "roleplay" Vincent as a decent but dogged guy, though a lot of the time, even though the game acknowledged this, there were still strange out-of-character moments that I imagine appear in either path. Still, I enjoyed chatting with the other bar patrons and helping out the other sheep in the tween-floor safe areas. The Persona games benefit from a legitimately fun exploration and combat system between social segments; this time, though, I kind of wish the puzzle segments were entirely optional, even though the metaphor is sound and some of the boss designs are deliciously fucked up.
You might have a better head for block puzzles than I do; in that case, I would say rent it first. Otherwise, I'm going to have to give it a pass. It might make a cool anime one day, though.