SoulCalibur VI (PS4)
It's been years since the last SoulCalibur game and SoulCalibur VI marked the series 20th anniversary when it released back in 2018. Continuing the renowned fighting gameplay and tale of legendary swords, it was great seeing SoulCalibur back again. I've been interested in the series after playing SoulCalibur II HD years ago and loving it, so I had to check out the latest game sooner or later.
SoulCalibur VI's story revolves around a legendary evil sword knwon as "Soul Edge", said to give immense powers to those who wield it and the tales of the warriors out to get it. The story is presented in visual-novel form with many texts to read and fights in between chapters. Each character has their own story chapter with a brief backstory and their reasons for going after Soul Edge and the new characters' stories like Groh and Azwel's were pretty interesting too. Overall, I enjoyed the story though I wished there was more cut-scenes in the story as seeing the same character stills got boring after a while.
SoulCalibur VI is a weapons-based fighting game where each character has a unique weapon like swords, axes, nun-chucks, and fight it out. The gameplay is fun to play with the mechanics and variety in characters also kept things interesting. Aside from your basic attacks and combos, you can pull of attack "Reversals", which lets you parry and enemy's attack while dishing out a counterattack, if timed correctly. You can also unleash a special attack with "Critical Edge" after a characters attack meter or "Soul Gauge" is full. Both mechanics were easy to grasp but tricky to master and I had a lot of fun using them. Better yet, Geralt of Rivia from The Witcher series appears as a guest character with his own moveset and story. He blended well with the game's fantasy and magic setting and didn't feel out of place.
SCVI's modes range from genre standards like Arcade, Training, Online but the game's "Libra of Soul" mode is a highlight. It has you creating a custom character as they embark adventure parallel to the main story in search of Soul Edge--- in RPG-fighting game manner! The game's customization mode was neat as you have a decent amount of flexibility in creating your dream fighter and weapon of choice. Some of the online builds were impressive to say the least too. While it got repetitive after a while, Libra of Soul was a good 10 hour adventure.
Presentation-wise, the game looks great as the backgrounds and character models are neat, though it falls short compared Bandai Namco's other fighting game, Tekken 7, which was way more visually interesting. That's not say SCVI is bad, just that I wish it got the same visual treatment. That said, the game ran great on PS4 Pro with a few instances of slow-downs. The voicework was good, with some cheesy performances here and there. As for the soundtrack, it was good as I liked the main theme and the battle themes. Overall, SoulCalibur VI was a great time all-around and the gameplay was enjoyable as well. The single-player content will last you a while though sadly many of the game's interesting characters are DLCs and online mode is fairly empty nowadays.
Catherine (PS3)
An underrated gem, Catherine is a puzzle-platformer from non-other than Atlus, developer of the Shin Megami Tensei and Persona games! It's been sitting in the backlog for years and since I'm taking these past months to chop it down, it's no surprise Catherine was next. I've been constantly reading praises for the game and I finally gotten around to playing it recently, and it was a great time.
Catherine follows out hero Vincent, a man in his early 30's whose unsure where his relationship with his longtime girlfriend, Katherine, and his future are going. He soon starts having life-threatening nightmares and ends up being seduced by beautiful girl named Catherine, after getting drunk. Who is the mysterious Catherine and what's her connection to Vincent's nightmares? It's going to be one hell of a week for Vincent to figure it out. The game's cast were all well-written and interesting, with Vincent's journey from a weak-willed man to an awesome bad-ass was engaging. Also, the game's themes of love and commitment were well-handled, and the moral questions you'll be tasked to answer being tough as well. The game has six endings in total, each based on how you answer the story's questions and will see Vincent choosing either Catherine, Katherine, or neither!
Catherine is a puzzle-platformer game where you control Vincent as you must reach the exit, located at the top of a tower... whose floors as slowly falling. You'll be pushing and pulling blocks to create new paths and reach higher ground. Each level is different in its layout, adding stage gimmicks like traps to slow you down. You can collect money and items that come in handy in tough spots too. While I'm not a huge fan of puzzle games, the gameplay was easy to grasp and gradually challenging and tricky later on. I had a lot of fun shuffling and switching blocks in the game's harder moments.
Outside the nightmares, you'll get a better glance of Vincent's social life by visiting the "Stray Sheep" bar and get to talk with his friends about his current dilemma as well as interact with other side-characters and help them with their problems. You can also send text messages (which affect your aliments thus impacting the ending), learn trivia about drinks, and play Rapunzel, an arcade game that's good practice for the actual levels. This was my favorite section of the gameplay as you get to explore the bar and chat with the side-characters, as each time they have new topics to talk about.
Between the nightmare levels you'll come across a "Landing Zone", where you get to chat with other men in Vincent's predicament (though in sheep form) and gather info on the stage. You can also buy items like an extra life or energy drink that gives you a boost in stages as well as learning new climbing techniques. My favorite part of the stages where against the boss fights, which range from a crazy, maniacal version of Katherine to a baby with a chainsaw chasing you to the top--- just goes to show that Vincent's got some weird dreams.
The game took around 16 hours to beat and that included getting the "True Ending", which is one of the six endings. There's replay-value with the game's co-op mode, where you can play stages with a friend, and a bonus hard mode called "Babel", which pack hard stages to beat. That aside, there were a few gripes I had with the game like the random difficulty spikes and lack of a transparent view when hanging off blocks from behind, both of which can get frustrating at times.
Catherine holds up even though it's over 10 years old. The character models, stage design, and anime cut-scenes all looked great and the game itself ran smoothly. The English voicework was top-notch with many fantastic performances all-around, as expected from an Atlus game. As for the soundtrack, it's composed by the legendary Shoji Meguro and it sounds awesome. The main theme, stage themes, and bar themes ended up being my favorite tracks. All in all, Catherine was a fun yet challenging game and those looking to check it out should try the new version on PS4.
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