You have no idea what you're getting into.

User Rating: 9 | Catherine X360
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PLEASE NOTE: The following is a non-biased review, based solely on my own impressions of the game after completion, and every sentenced should be taken with a grain of salt, as it only another opinion.

The guys over at Altus have been consistently known for developing quirky games that introduce brilliant concepts and ideas that keep long time fans returning, the Persona and Soul Hacker games are perfect examples of this, however prepare to add another one to that list, one of which you've never played any like before. That game is Catherine.

Catherine PROS:

In today's video game industry the whole theme around choice and morality has become quite common, however very few games dare to take full advantage of it and go the whole way. The difference with Catherine is, that it actually does, and the way it does it is incredibly unique. Essentially Catherine is a game about a tall lanky guy called Vincent who has a loving caring girlfriend called Katherine, who wants to get married. He frequently spends every night with his friends, discussing problems and getting drunk over at their favourite place to hang out "The Stay Sheep" However his problems in his life begin to multiply drastically when a beautiful young blonde enters his life one night with the name "Catherine" of which he finds in his bed the next morning. Vincent then also begins to start having these strange nightmares of which he cant remember the next morning, however it is these nightmares that make the core gameplay of this game. Without going into any spoilers of course, every night will have you puzzling your way through an ever difficulty increasing tower of blocks. Using logic, luck and skill the game requires you to climb your way to the top every-night.

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This concept is interesting and fun to play around with, but its the eagerness you will have to find out what happens the next day in Vincent's life, that will have you desperately trying to march your way through the nightmares. Never in a video game have I felt the urge to finish a 15 hour game in a mere 2 sittings, due to my impatience to find out how Vincent's life will unfold the next morning, its crazy how addicting the story is in this game. On with the story....to put it simple, its brilliant! the amount of tention this game manages to build up is intense at times, and the decisions Vincent will make through out this situations will depend on your morality system, which brings us to choice making sections of the game.

Prior to the nightmare sections of the game, you will play around as Vincent in his favourite Pizza establishment, as you talk to others, gather clues, respond to conversations in ways you seek fit and even receive and send text messages which will boost moral depending on which girl you decide to favour. This makes the game interesting as it gives the puzzles sections a rest and lets you push through the story how you want in such a unique way. These decisions you make important as there is up to eight different endings which require specific karma/moral inorder to unlock them, they all play out for about 15 minute cutscenes and are incredible. The cutscenes in this game are presented in the form of a well designed anime, which is great as it helps absorb you into the game your playing through common film elements, including sound effects which are absolutely brilliant and help to build suspense and atmosphere in the scene. The voice acting in this game is also excellent, and helps to flesh out every character you will encounter....oh and did I mention Vincent (the guy you play as) is voiced by Troy Baker! the same guy behind Booker Dewitt from Bioshock infinite, Joel from The Last Of Us and Joker from Batman: Arkham Origins.

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Catherine CONS:

As much as I absolutely adore this game and praise it for all its unique elements that make it brilliant, its hard to deny the fact that this game comes with its few faults. It should be noted that this game is very difficult, even on the easy difficulty setting players will find a tough challenge at times, if you're fine with that, like I was then put all that aside and lets dive into the real faults.

Climbing through the blocks will be one of your main concerns throughout the game, and as intense, fun and captivating as it comes across it can also be extremely frustrating at times thanks its controls, which aren't as tight as they probably should of been unfortunately, you will get used to the eventually but it will take a while.

Catherine VERDICT:

Catherine is undeniably one of the most absorbing and unique games I've ever played, every second presents its own challenge and tense situations which set it far apart from most other games, and makes it brilliant! and apart from the questionable controls at times, Altus couldn't of done a better job with this game. This game has easily peaked its way into my top 5 games of all time, and its well deserved. I couldn't be more proud to hand out a 9 to this masterpiece.