Catherine: Full Body Review

Initial Release Date: February 14, 2019

Series: Catherine

Genre: Platform game

Developers: Atlus, Studio Zero

Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Nintendo Switch

Links to Purchase

Nintendo Switch - Standard Edition: https://amzn.to/3kadVlo

Standard Edition - PlayStation 4: https://amzn.to/3idYDdH

Launch Edition - PlayStation 4: https://amzn.to/2PsgjWp

“Heart’s Desire” Premium Edition - PlayStation 4: https://amzn.to/33yWoxz

"Review Code Provided by Sega"

What happens when you mix in elements from a puzzle based game, Adult Swim esque dark anime, the movie Alfie’, and mix them all together and through them in the extended universe of the Shin Megami Tensei franchise and you have Catherine. This game was originally released in 2011 on PS3 and Xbox 360 and went on to become a cult classic that fans clamored to have released on modern consoles and we got just that but with a twist in the updated version of the game known as Catherine: Full Body which is now available on PS4 and Nintendo Switch. With slightly updated visuals, new characters, a new scenario, and many quality of life enhancements to improve the game; the real question to be answered here is if Catherine: Full Body is worth picking up and playing nearly a decade after it’s original release and does it hold up? Let’s find out.

Story

Catherine Full Body follows the day to day life of Vincent Brooks, a 32 year-old programmer that’s currently in a bit of a mid life crisis dealing with the pressures of his girlfriend Katherine who wants marriage and a baby and the aforementioned titled character; Catherine, whom is the complete opposite of his girlfriend in every way shape and form. After a night of lust with Catherine, Vincent’s life spirals into chaos. So essentially a love triangle right? Or more so a Love Square as Full Body introduces a new character and route in the 3rd love interest; Qatherine (often called Rin) which further complicates things for Vincent’s life. Who will Vincent ultimately choose? That’s up to you and what choices you make to land one of the 13 endings.

Gameplay

The gameplay of Catherine Full Body takes place both during the day and in Vincent’s nightmares. During the day you will interact with a variety of characters as well as replying to text messages which affects the morality system that’s in place which helps determine the ending that you will receive. Your interactions have multiple choices that can have some of the most hilarious and character-building aspects to the story. The core of the gameplay happens in Vincent’s nightmares as each night you have to bravely scale up a nightmarish structure and move various boxes while avoiding hazards and more. You have to manipulate the boxes and place them in certain ways in order to climb up them to get to the end of the nightmare sections; this seems like a simple task however it is not as you have to contend with boxes that disintegrate, angry sheep constructs, and scary looking beasts that climb up the structure to have you meet your demise.

What’s new in the Full Body edition is the “Safety Mode” which allows you to skip all of the puzzle sections of the nightmares and allows you to just focus on the story instead of gameplay if that’s your cup of tea. There’s also a “Remix Mode” that brings in newer puzzle boxes that make scaling the nightmare structures a test of endurance to say the least.

You can play with a friend in the Colosseum mode where you both race to the top of the structures and if you want even more of a challenge then you can play the Babel mode where you have to deal with randomly generated structures which can be climbed cooperatively or individually if you prefer.

Oh and before I forget; there’s the Persona 5 additions to the game with costumes for Joker, Panther and more and for those who don’t know: Catherine is part of the Persona and Shin Megami Tensei world.

Graphics

The presentation of the game holds up very well even a decade after its initial release with its quasi 3Dish cell shaded art style which provides a lot of personality in the characters and in their expressions. The art style screams Atlus as it is the style that is often used in it’s Persona series. All in all there isn’t much to say here other than the fact the game graphically looks good and holds up well till this day a decade later.

Downsides

Downsides…….. I don’t have any? I honestly don’t as the game runs smooth on the Switch and had no framerate drops or any performance issues either docked or in handheld mode nor any issues on my Nintendo Switch Lite either.

I know a lot of modern reviewers have been making it a point to complain about the game’s depiction of the Catherine’s and it’s depictions of women and here’s my opinion; I’m not a Social Justice Warrior nor does the depiction of how the women are offend me in any way because I’m not like the majority of overly sensitive gamers these days nor do I think every medium should change it’s creative expression to appease my opinion of what is my opinion of what is socially right because the problem is that so many now want conformity even when it’s of cultures that are in no way similar to what is the new western norms.

People just need to chill out and stop pushing SJW agenda’s and being “triggered” by everything because their push for censorship in our games these days to conform to what they feel is socially acceptable is no different than the censorship that was forced on us in the 90s as gamers and anime enjoyers. It needs to stop.

The Verdict

With an engaging and fun story, over 500 puzzles that force you to think on your toes, and a wealth of varied content to indulge yourself in along with brand new content and new endings; Catherine Full Body is a worthy addition to the Nintendo Switch library and is a game that YOU NEED in your library!