Review: Catherine: Full Body

A beautiful port (looking for it?)

Atlus is a hell of a business. Following his success with the Persona, Shin Megami Tensei, and Etrian Odyssey series, the editor decided to release a little old game on the climbing blocks in a nightmarish hellish landscape and navigation (sometimes infernal) relations.

Catherine is just as good now as in 2011. The question is whether the new additions "Full Body" are worth doubling.

Catherine: complete body (PS4 [reviewed], Vita (Japan only)
Developer: Atlus (Studio Zero)
Publisher: Atlus
Released: February 14, 2019 (Japan), September 3, 2019 (WW)
MSRP: $ 59.99

Catherine: complete body is basically a reinforced version, retouched from the original. Before you start, it's important to note that this version costs $ 60 and that the PS3 version can be purchased for about $ 15 again, even less used. Catherine Classic is on Steam for $ 20. Now, I know that many of you do not have a PS3 or a PC game, but I thought I would say it: you can decide if the difference is worth it at the end of this exam.

More cinematics, more characters, more music, more levels, more multiplayer, more or less described The whole body to a tee-shirt. There are more concessions for a lowered entry bar with accessibility options, which does not shame the player and still offers the opportunity to fully experience the story (with some tipping in the game if you just need help for a more difficult game). Wait, puzzles? Yes, this relationship simulator has riddles: a lot of them!

You enter Vincent's skin: a 32-year-old man in a relationship who wakes up in bed with another woman at the beginning of the story. Vincent's effectiveness as a character and metaphor for engagement has been debated over the past seven years. but I think the Catherine The team is able to strike real, poignant and relatable chords throughout the story.

This is partly because there is no real meat on Catherinebones. Most of the storytelling takes place in a dive bar, with a dedicated drink button, the ability to chat with customers and friends, and respond to SMS from your potential relationships (the number goes from two to three in The whole body with Rin). Sometimes you will have the opportunity to make important choices that impact the story and converge towards one of 13 (current) terminations. This is a one-of-a-kind game punctuated with a subtle and obvious symbolism of responsibility and adherence to the past.

To facilitate the new story, new animated cinematics have been added and the retouched visual style is somewhere in the neighborhood of a remaster. It's not as if the advanced graphics were really meant to enhance a game like this that's mostly about menus or dialogs, but some of the more sanctified game backgrounds in the puzzle game seem much better. .

As has always been the case, the narration can be forgotten. Rin is an interesting character at first, but some choices for his story do not really follow. That said, she does not feel attached at all: as if she had always wanted to be there, and even slightly influences the gameplay with her pianist skills. Honestly, I'm more interested in the puzzle aspect and this timeless formula still holds up.

Ah, so on those elusive puzzle pieces! Imagine Q * bert on crack and you will have the basic essentials. Every night, Vincent is plunged into a "nightmare", a series of vertical labyrinths stacked with cubes. With a simple control system in hand (movement, a button to shoot / push blocks and a thrifty backup press) you will need to grab blocks and climb up to the top to avoid falling to the ground or to make you eat. a monstrosity (which serves as a serial-level end-of-series boss fight). When you reach the top, Vincent wakes up, has another live nightmare of the day, and then goes back until he discovers why this happens.

Given the unique sets of rules of physics blocks and the large number of different types scattered throughout the game, there are often several ways to solve each trick. The action is also well paced because there is a sense of urgency, but in a contained way that does not turn Catherine in a masher. It's amazing how much this idea resists eight years later and how much it forces you to think differently: some of the later puzzles are far more devilish than Seymour Skinner. The same goes for the arcade game in the world of bites Super Rapunzel, which is the concept of the main cube.

Perhaps the most sustainable The whole body feature is multiplayer. In case you have not noticed, Catherine is basically played as a fighting game at many FGC events. The multiplayer mode is activated online and available immediately (without having to end the campaign once), with new steps to start. The local game also offers the opportunity to play cooperatively or the opposite, one of the first being one of the main elements of the game world. This is the kind of old-school flair that one would expect from Atlus. With more levels, it is just as resplendent as in the original version.

Catherine: Entirely body contains a lot of stains from the original but doubles the number of puzzles, which is a net gain. If you are already full, you can just as easily catch up on some of the new purposes and call them every day.

_{[This review is based on a retail build of the game provided by the publisher.]}

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Catherine: complete body reviewed by Chris Carter