Catherine: Full Body (PS4) Review - Full bodied in name and nature

The girls of Vincent's affections! Catherine, Rin and Katherine [Sega, Atlus©, Image Source: GameSpot]



Like the wine analogy it’s named after, Catherine: Full Body is a game that’s aged well since its original 2011 release. Back again after 8 years, this current gen remaster not only brings some needed quality of life improvements but also a whole new story line and some drastic changes to the existing plots the game had. It is by no means a perfect game, I’d argue that if you didn’t like the original game then this version won’t go far to change your mind. But if you were a fan or are at the least bit curious, then Catherine: Full Body is very much the way to play this game.

Admittedly I can’t quite list all the quality of life improvements made in this rerelease, only a couple. I haven’t played the original since its release and even then, I was focused more on getting through the challenging levels than noticing any game mechanics. They’re more so the kind of things that you wouldn’t really notice unless they were pointed out to you (as it happened with me). First and foremost is the whole new difficulty setting, Safety mode. The biggest complaint that most people had with the original game is just how difficult its puzzles were, even on Easy mode! The developers must have taken this on board when remastering the game as Safety mode is, and I mean no exaggeration, really frigin safe. The game still gives a challenge; enemies can still hurt you, bit monsters can still kill you instantly and you can still fall off blocks. The difference however is that when any of this happens, you’ll simply go back in the games “Undo” system. You literally cannot die or lose on safety mode.

Keeping on Safety mode, the blocks don’t fall from the bottom of the tower either removing the biggest incentive for you to move your ass. Trap blocks come in all shapes and sizes like spikes, black holes and ice but on Safety mode, they’re all covered over and act as normal blocks with all risk removed entirely. If you’re feeling particularly lazy or are just completely in the game for the story, you can essentially skip the puzzle sections altogether with the “Auto Play” feature. Activate it and your character will just climb his merry self to the top of the tower. It seems like I’m giving the new mode flack but in all honesty, I thought it was a great way to play if you really struggled to get through the normal game. Not to say that everyone should play Safety mode; if you were good back when it came out or are interested in the challenge then by all means keep on Easy mode or higher. But for those out there who like some reasonable puzzles along with our story, then this new feature is great.

I should really talk about the basic game for anyone who hasn’t heard of this game before! So it’s essentially a puzzled based story game; the story is tailored to how you play and the choices you make during the day. During the night you have nightmares that involve climbing towers made of blocks. You’ll push, pull, hang off of and climb up a variety of blocks to reach the top. This side of the game is pretty far removed from how you make your choices however; you won’t suddenly get a bad ending or the opposite ending because you misjudged a gap and fell to your death. Whenever you’re awake you make decisions that affect the story as well as in-between puzzle levels when you’ll be asked questions about… your real life experiences with relationships… It’s very invested in the whole love life thing!

So, let’s look at the story and characters. You’ll play as Vincent Brookes; he has an unspecified job and spends most nights drinking with his friends in the Stray Sheep (your hub throughout most of the game). He’s been in a “serious” relationship with Katherine for about 5 years and she’s starting to talk about “the next step”. Like a stereotypical guy, Vincent isn’t too keen to get married and have kids (who can blame him really). So while he whines away his troubles to his friend and drinks through the night, he wakes up to find he’s accidently cheated on Katherine with some younger blonde girl who happens to also be named Catherine. The ensuing drama is almost identical to the original release with slight story alterations due to the new girl on the block!  Don’t worry, her name is just Rin. She arrives in typical anime fashion; landing right on top of Vincent with his face in her crotch (Oh Japan!). She’s got no memory though, so Vincent is keeping an eye on her until she remembers. Now this sounds vague as hell, that’s because I really don’t want to go into any story spoilers because that’s this games biggest draw; giving anything away makes it seem pointless to play the game. Twists and turns lose all intrigue and the motivation to carry on is lost when you know what’s around the corner and believe me, some of this shit you will NOT see coming.

Coming right around to a verdict, it’s a very straight forward kind of finisher though. If you have played Catherine before then you’ll already know if you like it or not; if you do then you could do worse than picking up this version to experience the new pieces and story. If it wasn’t for you then this rerelease is unlikely to sway you. However to those that haven’t experienced this game before, then it’s one I’d definitely recommend for its great story and unique gameplay and puzzles. Catherine: Full Body is the definitive way to experience this game.