Catherine Preview

Every guy's awesome worst nightmare?

I'm always on the lookout for some interesting new IPs, and E3 is the one place to sit down and find a flood of them. There aren't as many lately, it seems, since CoD and Gears try to hog all of the camera time and media attention. One company that always seems to put out interesting new IPs is Atlus, and in their tucked-away corner of the convention center, they're trying to start up a new relationship with gamers… with their lady-friend, Catherine.

Don't cheat on your girl, eh? You play as a fella who's conflicted with taking his current relationship (with a girl named Katherine) to the next level. But while he debates, he comes across another woman… a young, flirtatious blond named Catherine. Confused? Try explaining without the spelling difference. While he starts to see this new woman, his dreams start to haunt him and he finds himself with a decision to make out of a scripting workshop from "How I Met Your Mother".

Catherine's primary play is done throughout dreams that the main character (name here) has. In them you have a pair of horns because, like everyone else in the dream world, you're… a sheep. Yup, everybody else in that world is a sheep, and you've got the horns to match up. And as a sheep (well, nearly-naked dude with horns, kinda like a satyr), you have to hurry through environmental puzzles before you screw yourself over.

Along those puzzles, the human-ish sheep will be around blocking your path every chance that you get. Throughout the stage I was able to play - a giant tower of blocks that seems to match Persona's art with Q*Bert's play - the sheep will block your direct path and even move your blocks around to screw you up. Thankfully you do have an attack: smack 'em with the pillow you're carrying under your arm. It's a dream, so why not?

The play was pretty fun, but the puzzles (if the first is any indication) are deadly serious. There is some difficulty to be had and in the US, we're getting the nerf-ed version! Coupling some intense difficulty with some beautiful cut-scenes and animé sequences, the package should be an interesting ride when it comes out on July 26th. Just don't tell Katherine… erm, Catherine. Wait, Katherine? I'm gonna get slapped tonight...