Catherine Semi-Review

Thought I'd share my experience with Atlus Persona team newest game: Catherine. When I first started the game up, I just wanted to see how it was like, but I ended up finishing the story all the way through. You control Vincent Brooks who is struggling with his relationship between two girls. You spend time with his friends at the Stray Sheep bar having a conversation, but the main gameplay takes place in his nightmarish dream where death becomes reality. Not only must he survive his nightmares, but also make a decision between Catherine and Katherine. Only you can control his fate and decision that will affect the outcome of the story.

Difficulty
I'd say the difficulty factor relies on how you are coordinated with a puzzle game like Catherine. I will admit that this game can be unforgiving, and I played it on easy mode. I think the easy difficulty was just right for me, and I'm sure I can do normal mode with enough patience if I had more time that is.

You can switch the difficulty during the game to see the difference. I did try on hard mode out of curiosity, and it definitely showed that the lower blocks drop quicker, blocks and items rearranged, and no undo feature.

Atlus did respond to a majority of players who complained about how difficult it is, even on easy. They plan on releasing a free patch to make it easier at an unknown time.



Fan Factor
The drama cut-scenes are fascinating to watch even if you don't understand Japanese. The tension and their expression builds up where you can get a hint of what's going on. During the conversation when Vincent is in trouble, he goes into his inner thoughts wondering how he should answer. According to your previous actions of being naughty or nice with your choices will determine how he'll respond.

Despite the hard difficulty, I find the puzzles quite engaging. At some point I get stuck when the answer is right in front of me cause I overlooked one area. Once you reach the top, Vincent yells out a victory cry that I sometimes want to mimic myself. Catherine is the kind of game where you don't need to know the language to know how to play. All you need is patience and a imaginative brain to overcome the obstacles.

Each night has multiple stages and one boss where it really gets your adrenaline going as it approaches you slowly as you are climbing up the blocks. As you progress further, the puzzles gets more complex where you will encounter different types of blocks that you'll have to remember what they do before you step on it.

Music
I have a huge interest in classical composers like Chopin, Bach, Handel, and even Beethoven. So mixing the classical period music with Shoji Meguro's touch is the best combination I could ever ask for.

If classical music is not your cup of tea, then you'll still enjoy how he remakes it to sound more modern that we normally hear. If you watch morning cartoons when you were little, it has some classical music playing in the background that you'll instantly know that you've heard of it before.



Conclusion
There hasn't been any announcements of a western release date as I make this post. I call this a semi-review because of language barriers and plus I kind of rushed through this game. There are multiple endings, and you can engage in conversations that I skipped through.

I did broadcast this game on my Justin.TV channel, so if you want to catch a glimpse on how I played should definitely check it out. Spoilers beware though. If they do plan for an American launch, I would like to play this game again.

2-28-11 Edit: Looks like we'll be playing this game when it comes out in America this summer after all.