Catherine

Had a good New Year. Nevertheless some turbulence but back on track. Then hit the jackpot of the sickness roulette. Which was strange because I got the complete opposite of cold symptoms of people I have come in contact with.

Anyways my point is when I got sick and like a sick middle schooler who stays home I lounged around and played video games for the good portion of the day with no care in the world.

For a long time I was hesitant buying the game because of G4's Xplay review leaned more to this game was a bit broken and needed some work. Well finally got this game for Christmas along with Red Dead Redemption whom my buddy on the psn has been suggesting I should get for the multi-player.
 This was a nice unexpected surprise its way different in a good way of any game out there.

Overall the game at times brought frustration and anger in my life and multiple times I had to stop myself from throwing the controller at the tv. To me the difficulty was reminiscent of older games where one had to rely on memorization techniques to clear a level. Games in contemporary times are much easier but this game was a challenge but not impossible.

Catherine is a unique game that has consequences to many actions and questions asked in the game. There are multiple paths and 8 different endings. A friend of mine suggested playing the easy mode so the in-game techniques can be used. But being stubborn I rose to occasion and maintained and finished on normal mode. Woohooo!

*Spoilers!*~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The story changes as the main character Vincent responds to other characters. There was a brief moment were I despised both of the main female characters and avoided them and played the blame game that it was not my fault for anything that has happened. And I turned the tables. The ingame friends were skeptical when I accused someone else for also doing what I have done.

 It is interesting the story is dictated by a mysterious meter which at first thought was a morality meter like other games. This was not the case. The meter is revealed in the end if the player opted for a life of true Freedom or Order.

After talking to a friend who had played this game who I talked to around starting the game told me to play the game as I would like to regardless of hurting others feelings. He told me that whatever ending that happened tells a bit about who you are. I was curious how I would end up. I was close to the freedom ending at times.

 Toward the end of the game I got dumped by the girlfriend and brooded in the rain for awhile. Then I realized she wasn't such as bad person and really thought about the situation. My character and attitude changed and so did the nagging girlfriend. In the end there was another chance and we worked it out. I got the normal lover ending where you wake up with the other person and talk about the future. My friend on the other hand got the Freedom ending where Vincent rides solo and is not chained down and is a free spirit.

 Catherine has a lot of hidden Easter eggs which were brought to my attention through my friend. Like for example in the real world if Vincent is real drunk he can move faster in the nightmare stages than if he was sober. It is a really a mature game not for kids.

It took a week to beat this game even when I put it down for a few days because of the frustration levels at times. But it is interesting the endings range from being a demon king with a harem of demon chicks clinging onto you, living your ultimate dream of raising enough money for a space tour by yourself and of course getting married.
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Definitely give this game a chance if your into something that is different and rewarding after solving the block puzzles.