Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

20 to 40 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Total letdown"

I've been dreaming about pushing blocks lately. A lot of people are viewing these puzzles as filler for the cinematics, but the trials in Catherine manage to be both torturous and bizarrely addicting. In fact, I would have liked to have been thrown further down the rabbit hole.

It all starts with Vincent Brooks, a thirty-two-year-old with little ambition. We won't all set the world on fire, right? He has a job, an apartment, a girlfriend in Katherine, and little incentive to reach for anything more. Yet change seems dead set on finding him. Katherine wants to progress their relationship and a beautiful yet dangerous seductress named Catherine winds up in his bed one morning. Oh, and he starts having nightmares that could be the death of him.

But, of course, Vincent keeps to his schedule. He sees Katherine during his lunch breaks, who manages to be firm, caring, and generally more capable than Vincent. After work, he heads over to the local dive bar to soak his problems. There he meets up with his friends, most of whom he's known since his youth, and the player gets a chance to speak with the other chatty patrons who seem to be drinking for the same reasons. These barflies will come back later, so it is best to get to know them.

Over the course of the night Vincent will receive text messages from both of the women in his life and you can choose how he should react to both through an ingenious range of preset options that mirrors the limited conversational ability of texting (I can't believe the number of times I've seen somebody making drama with their boy/girlfriend with the handicap of text messages). These texts and some responses to bar patrons will effect a morality meter that partly determines the plot and Vincent's inner monologue justifications as he tries to hold off his two girlfriends. The meter itself evokes the image of the angel and devil on your shoulder, but there are fittingly two angels and no apparent devils. "Morality" is probably a bad way to describe it, but the game outright tells you eventually and I'll let any potential players hang on to their own interpretations to be squashed.

Try as Vincent might to forget the imminent terrors of his sleep, they are never quite out of mind. Among other (more shocking) mementos of his troubles is a retro arcade game, complete with changing high scores to spur your competitive instinct. It reduces his struggles to a whimsical retelling of Rapunzel, but also lets you practice for the nightmares.

But Vincent does need to sleep eventually and that's where the meat of the game lies. Block puzzles are gaming hell, so its fitting that they would be the centerpiece of Vincent's nightmares. Thankfully, they aren't the "push the block onto the pressure plate to continue" variety. No, these are staggering towers with a disregard for gravity that need to be scaled. Blocks hang dangerously on edges, crumble beneath Vincent's feet, and, among other surprises, occasionally move on their own. The bases of these towers are always falling away, making swift decisions of utmost importance.

The stage is set for a surreal struggle that mirrors Vincent's waking life problems. That is, sadly, after a tutorial where the mechanics of pushing blocks are spelled out for you. A more effective tutorial system involves meeting up with other stray sheep in between levels and getting coached on techniques as well as doing a little shepherding yourself.

Each night is capped off with a boss battle of sorts. In addition to having the floor perpetually falling out from under him, Vincent is chased by a monster based on his fears. These monsters can crush him even if he does escape the falling blocks as well as randomly change his terrain to work through. They make for deliciously chaotic puzzles but the emotional chaos isn't quite there. Rather than making the player closely follow along to the plot, the bosses are named for what they represent and their visual designs aren't hiding much either (shortly after an early reveal that Vincent will become a father, he gets chased by a giant nasty baby in his dreams).

Its a shame that a game clearly meant for an adult crowd to appreciate doesn't fully treat users like adults. Even more than brief pacing issues or how it feels just a little condescending to have to sit through a block pushing tutorial, it really is about the ultimate appreciation of the game. However, don't mistake me for saying Catherine is bad game, as I that isn't how I feel at all. It's genuinely funny and there were many times that I was on the edge of my seat. The player will eventually solve Vincent's life crises and confront his fears. Unfortunately, the Persona Team felt they either had to dictate how I interpreted their game or ensure that I did interpret it. Dreams aren't always obvious and oftentimes the best conclusions are discovered on one's own.