Generally speaking, cheesing is seen as completing a challenge in an underhanded way that isn’t in the spirit of the game, like leading an ultra-powerful boss off a cliff or shooting from a convenient hidey-hole where no one can reach you. In many circles these techniques are poorly regarded – cheesing is often said in the same breath as glitching or exploits, which are really just technical synonyms for cheating. But I don’t see those things falling into the same category, because cheesing doesn’t alter the basic framework of the game by prodding at frayed code. Cheesing a game comes from studying its many details and eccentricities, and using what you find to confront challenges in unexpected ways.

Take, for example, horror-romance-puzzle game Catherine. In between navigating the throes of romantic entanglement, your job is to rearrange the building blocks of a tower so you can create a path to the top. One boss in the game has the ability to change the blocks ahead of you into traps like spikes and black holes. It’s an aggravating segment that you can fail with an errant twitch, unless you realize that you have the ability to undo your last block-pulling move, which also undoes the boss’s spell. You can then hop to the next level and pull out another block before he makes a move, bypassing his cheap tactic with a cheap tactic of your own.

That gets you to the top on your own terms, and it wasn’t by abusively duplicating items or manipulating some other mix-up in the code. By paying attention to how the ‘undo’ function affects the game in less obvious ways and making creative use of what you learn, you’re able to utilize a mechanic in a way you may never have thought of otherwise. It’s not the same as trying to beat a game out of contempt or superiority (opens in new tab). It’s a battle of the minds against a game you respect and love enough to learn it inside-out.

Of course, you have to be open to the idea of the game cheesing back – I had to bite my tongue when a massive, stampeding pig killed me through the floor in Bloodborne. But in the end that means you’re interacting with the game on an even deeper level, which just makes playing it more personal and fun. So next time you snipe Sekrion from above in Destiny (opens in new tab) or goad Ceaseless Discharge into a bottomless pit in Dark Souls, banish the word ‘cheating’ from your mind. It’s just you and the game, having a Gotcha moment.

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Want to hang out with GamesRadar’s editors while taking a look at retro games, new releases, and totally random experiences? RadarPlays is for you. Mondays we’ll be checking out blasts from the past on RadarPlays Retro, Wednesdays we change things up to whatever we feel like playing with RadarPlays Shuffle, and Friday is packed with the strangest titles you’ve never (hopefully) heard of in RadarPlays Freaky. We’ll also release RadarPlays for all the new releases, so be sure to check back!

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A year has passed since the game hit shelves in its native Japan. And now that it’s finally out Down Under, the question asks itself: how will it fare? Will it pull in similar sales? Or has the delay meant that those who wanted to play it have already imported it?

If you need a refresher course, check out our Catherine coverage here (opens in new tab), from the earliest previews right up to its review. And let us know: did you wait to buy locally, or did you import?

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Above: “No… I think I WILLchallenge From Dust!”

Tim Pivnicny, who you and Atlus can thank for making sure Catherine was eagerly-awaited by more than just Famitsu subscribers and anime devotees, can’t give precise sales figures yet %26ndash; but admits that %26ldquo;Catherine has exceeded our wildest expectations.%26rdquo; Citing the game’s %26ldquo;mature themes, engrossing subject matter, and frantic, challenging gameplay,%26rdquo; Pivnicny thinks it only fitting that the title should break Atlus’ release-week records and continue to see strong sales as word of mouth %26ndash; key for a release like this %26ndash; spreads further.

Above: Who could forgettheir first encounter with Billy ButtTongue?

How do you think Catherine achieved its record-breaking opening? Has fortune favored the bold? Did the title successfully tap into a burgeoning Otaku market? Might the game’s psychosexual themes of confused young manhood tap into something deep within the gamer psyche? Or did you just like the chick on the cover?

Aug 2, 2011

The post Catherine achieves Atlus best launch sales ever appeared first on Game News.

A puzzle game at its core, Catherine is Atlus%26rsquo; first in-house HD title, and is an odd mix of a narrative-driven dating sim and a complex puzzler that explores the often not-so-simple relationships between men and women. Things start out innocently enough: we are introduced to Vincent, the 32-year-old dude who can%26rsquo;t seem to find his groove. Between a job that feels like prison and a relationship that feels like a job, his ambitions are… lacking. You see, he%26rsquo;s been dating his girlfriend, Katherine, for more than five years, and now she%26rsquo;s pressuring him to pop the question.

Wanting to continue his carefree way of life, Vincent frequently imbibes with his buddies at his favorite bar, Stray Sheep. It%26rsquo;s here we meet the titular character, Catherine: she%26rsquo;s flirty, she%26rsquo;s sexy, and she%26rsquo;s everything Vincent wants but knows he can%26rsquo;t have%26hellip; until he wakes up one morning and finds her sleeping next to him in his bed. Naked. That%26rsquo;s when the nightmares begin.

The cube-based puzzles that constitute Vincent%26rsquo;s nightmares are, for the most part, frantic and fun. You must reach the top of each towering puzzle by pushing, pulling, and scaling numerous blocks as the floor gives out beneath you. Multiple solutions allow for variation in your approach to each situation, though moving a series of blocks incorrectly can lead to a dead end – luckily, a rewind feature lets you reset your last few moves and try again. Even on the Easy setting, these challenges can become quite difficult.

The nightmares are populated with plenty of oddities and obstacles. Anthropomorphic sheep (a common motif throughout the game) often teach new climbing techniques, but also try to push you from ledges. Special cubes, such as dark blocks (which are heavy and require more time to manipulate), add variation to every puzzle, and we found plenty of items to aid our climb, such as powerups that enable you to materialize a cube out of thin air. Each chapter of puzzles ends with a challenging boss stage in which Vincent must escape the embodiment of some of his real-life phobias.

Character interaction segments and anime-style cutscenes propel the narrative and provide incentive to complete each series of puzzles. Outside of Vincent%26rsquo;s nightmares, the game%26rsquo;s setting exists primarily within the Stray Sheep bar, which acts as a hub for communicating with Vincent%26rsquo;s friends. Most character interaction is done via text messaging. When Katherine texts that she%26rsquo;s annoyed by your frequent bar visits, you can choose from a list of available responses and apologize or tell her to mind her own business. Your decisions ultimately decide which of the many endings you receive, and your responses are tracked through an unexplained meter, which, at first glance, resembles a morality system. Yet it%26rsquo;s important to note Catherine is not about good or bad choices in terms of morality, and we found the experience most enjoyable when we approached each situation as if we were in Vincent%26rsquo;s shoes.

The multiple endings lend themselves well to the game%26rsquo;s replayability, as the story is genuinely fun to watch unfold. However, by the end of the game we were anxious to witness the narrative%26rsquo;s conclusion, and started to feel annoyed by the necessity of completing puzzles before we could move on. Expect to spend around 12 hours or more in a single playthrough. Additionally, puzzle completion times and scores are tracked via online leaderboards, and there are even multiplayer modes for taking on friends head-to-head for those looking for some competitive action.

Yet, aside from Catherine%26rsquo;s quirky, unique style, perhaps the game%26rsquo;s greatest strength lies in its adult themes – not its occasional sexual implications, but instead its ability to confront the real-life, this-ain%26rsquo;t-always-easy world of relationships. Vincent is a very human character. He%26rsquo;s reached a point where he must decide who he is and what he wants. Does he sacrifice his carefree lifestyle and commit to Katherine? Or does he live solely for himself, acting on spontaneous impulses and selfish desires? In a sense, the puzzles become an allegory for fleshing out his problems – our problems. Do we play through the game with the intentions of ending up with a particular woman? Or does Vincent become an everyman, a filter through which our own desires and morals are exposed? Catherine is a breath of fresh air, an experience that is silly, fun, and serious all at once. Whether you%26rsquo;re looking for a one-night stand or a long-term commitment, we highly recommend giving it a shot.

Jul 25, 2011

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