Catwoman
Cute, but she's got no claws.
Published: August 4, 2004
As track records go, EA has managed to cull quite the stable of successful movie-to-videogame translations. The Lord of the Rings games, for instance, pulled off a simple hack-and-slash dynamic while still delivering the grandeur and scope of Peter Jackson's vision of Middle-Earth. Even the Harry Potter games are passable (if middle-of-the-road) fare.
The Catwoman game, on the other hand has about as much substance as the movie, offering plenty to look at, but little else otherwise. In fact, the game seems to actively seek out that one little frayed nerve and pounces on it over and over until you rip the disc from your PS2 and hurl it across the room. From clunky controls to piss-poor camera to level design that was apparently constructed to simply force you to repeat the same section a dozen or more times in some masochistic cycle, this is the very definition of a bad game.
For those who haven't seen the movie (and I'm sure there are plenty of you who will rent it secretly along with that copy of Barb Wire you think nobody knows about), here's the gist of the storyline. Patience Philips, a meek, demure artist working for cosmetics ubercorporation Hedare Beauty. One night, after stumbling onto a dark secret about the company's latest anti-aging product, she's spotted, and then killed, only to be reborn as Catwoman after the spirit of an Egyptian cat breathes life back into her, imbuing her with the speed, agility and senses of a cat and an unquenchable thirst to don torn skintight leather.
If this seems a bit off from the comic book storyline, it's because it is. The movie and game storyline is hastily shuffled together without any respect for the source material it was borne out of, and the result is a debacle, both on the big screen and at home. The game, while loosely following the events of the film, never really seems to fall into any sort of narrative rhythm, mainly because events that should take all of five minutes to get through, instead can take four or five times that long easily.
The complications come from an unholy triumvirate of controller breaking frustration. Leading the charge are the sloppy, unresponsive controls. The ungainly button layout notwithstanding, Catwoman's biggest control problem is just that things don't flow with any sort of smoothness. The combat, bound to the right analog stick, is too unwieldy to allow for much precision, and the response and even triggers for events like leaping from the poorly transposed Prince of Persia-style pole flips mean half the time you won't be able to jump when you want to.
Couple the clunky controls with a camera utterly focused on presenting a constricted, barely adjustable static camera and you'll often find yourself repeating the same jump two or three times thanks to the view changing up without your control. And then there's the joy of being shot at off-screen, which the developers somehow thought perfect to do to you while you're trying to scale a building (slowly, I might add). It's possible to hop into first-person to look around, but the overlay during this mode and the fact that you're wide open to attack while trying to find your next wall to climb or pole to swing equal utter frustration. Since the camera is fixed with very, very little control over panning to where you want to see, your next task is often off screen, leading to aimless wandering until you happen upon what you were supposed to be doing.
The level designs round out the asinine trio of frustration, often using both the controls and lousy camera against you in delightfully frustrating ways. Because you can't move the camera, run and jump at the same time, you'll often have to leap blindly to catch a ledge or pole. This, combined with the fact that the detection on the aforementioned objects can be rather spotty, and the fixed camera angles that make judging depth impossible, and you'll very, very often find yourself retracing your steps after missing a jump again and again and again and again until you're ready to put the controller through the TV. It really seems like a concerted effort on the part of the controls, camera and level design to push you over the edge.
And it's unfortunate, really, because there are very, very rare instances when you're not in combat and just traversing a level (usually the first time you try it), that you can see how leaping from pole to chain grating to platform could've been fun. It's like EA UK tried to duplicate the brilliant exploratory sections of Price of Persia while tweaking things to fit in with the movie, but never really understood that their poor imitation was not only laid out poorly, but the controls made it all but impossible to get into any sort of flow from one section to the next.
I will say one thing for the game, though, it's pretty as hell. From the realistic glows and reflections to the soft shadows that distort and stretch properly and multiple colored light sources that bathe the game world in rich purples and pinks, the graphics engine at work here is among the best ever seen on the PS2. Halle Berry may not have supplied the voice for the slinky feline, but her visage is certainly well represented in-game. Even bigger complements go to the cutscene team, which animated the voluptuous lass with plenty of care (though it's a shame to see her pull off moves in short movies that are impossible in-game).
When animations are being carried out, they look smooth and fluid (though the tweening between one move and the next is jerky), with Catwoman twisting and contorting, shifting her weight to swing and leap. Even the bounding and wall-climbing animations look impressively cat-like. The engine piles on soft motion blurs and a silky sheen that gives the whole game an almost dreamlike, Vasoline-on-the-lens look. It's incredibly well done, and unfortunately ends up completely wasted on a game like this. Here's hoping it gets more play on this level in a game that actually puts the looks to good use.
The audio is also rather impressive. Most of the in-game music is particularly good when it stands out, though the majority probably won't do much to pull your attention away from the fact that you're running through the same section over and over again. The voice work (which sadly doesn't include any of the film cast) is certainly passable, though you'll probably tire of the cookie-cutter thug responses after a short while. The clap of leatherclad boot to face and gut, the punchy explosions and clattering debris from the random destructible parts of the levels all get a proper aural accompaniment.
Catwoman is little more than a pretty face and a sexy voice covering up for a cumbersome, pitiful attempt at an action game. Level designs that literally force you to try and retry an incredibly difficult section while fighting the controls and camera instantly suck any fun out of what could have been a nice attempt to mix Prince of Persia exploration and free-form 360 degree fighting (a la SCEA's Rise to Honor). Even if you really, REALLY liked the movie, there's almost no reason to give this game more than a passing glance.
The Catwoman game, on the other hand has about as much substance as the movie, offering plenty to look at, but little else otherwise. In fact, the game seems to actively seek out that one little frayed nerve and pounces on it over and over until you rip the disc from your PS2 and hurl it across the room. From clunky controls to piss-poor camera to level design that was apparently constructed to simply force you to repeat the same section a dozen or more times in some masochistic cycle, this is the very definition of a bad game.
For those who haven't seen the movie (and I'm sure there are plenty of you who will rent it secretly along with that copy of Barb Wire you think nobody knows about), here's the gist of the storyline. Patience Philips, a meek, demure artist working for cosmetics ubercorporation Hedare Beauty. One night, after stumbling onto a dark secret about the company's latest anti-aging product, she's spotted, and then killed, only to be reborn as Catwoman after the spirit of an Egyptian cat breathes life back into her, imbuing her with the speed, agility and senses of a cat and an unquenchable thirst to don torn skintight leather.
If this seems a bit off from the comic book storyline, it's because it is. The movie and game storyline is hastily shuffled together without any respect for the source material it was borne out of, and the result is a debacle, both on the big screen and at home. The game, while loosely following the events of the film, never really seems to fall into any sort of narrative rhythm, mainly because events that should take all of five minutes to get through, instead can take four or five times that long easily.
The complications come from an unholy triumvirate of controller breaking frustration. Leading the charge are the sloppy, unresponsive controls. The ungainly button layout notwithstanding, Catwoman's biggest control problem is just that things don't flow with any sort of smoothness. The combat, bound to the right analog stick, is too unwieldy to allow for much precision, and the response and even triggers for events like leaping from the poorly transposed Prince of Persia-style pole flips mean half the time you won't be able to jump when you want to.
Couple the clunky controls with a camera utterly focused on presenting a constricted, barely adjustable static camera and you'll often find yourself repeating the same jump two or three times thanks to the view changing up without your control. And then there's the joy of being shot at off-screen, which the developers somehow thought perfect to do to you while you're trying to scale a building (slowly, I might add). It's possible to hop into first-person to look around, but the overlay during this mode and the fact that you're wide open to attack while trying to find your next wall to climb or pole to swing equal utter frustration. Since the camera is fixed with very, very little control over panning to where you want to see, your next task is often off screen, leading to aimless wandering until you happen upon what you were supposed to be doing.
The level designs round out the asinine trio of frustration, often using both the controls and lousy camera against you in delightfully frustrating ways. Because you can't move the camera, run and jump at the same time, you'll often have to leap blindly to catch a ledge or pole. This, combined with the fact that the detection on the aforementioned objects can be rather spotty, and the fixed camera angles that make judging depth impossible, and you'll very, very often find yourself retracing your steps after missing a jump again and again and again and again until you're ready to put the controller through the TV. It really seems like a concerted effort on the part of the controls, camera and level design to push you over the edge.
And it's unfortunate, really, because there are very, very rare instances when you're not in combat and just traversing a level (usually the first time you try it), that you can see how leaping from pole to chain grating to platform could've been fun. It's like EA UK tried to duplicate the brilliant exploratory sections of Price of Persia while tweaking things to fit in with the movie, but never really understood that their poor imitation was not only laid out poorly, but the controls made it all but impossible to get into any sort of flow from one section to the next.
I will say one thing for the game, though, it's pretty as hell. From the realistic glows and reflections to the soft shadows that distort and stretch properly and multiple colored light sources that bathe the game world in rich purples and pinks, the graphics engine at work here is among the best ever seen on the PS2. Halle Berry may not have supplied the voice for the slinky feline, but her visage is certainly well represented in-game. Even bigger complements go to the cutscene team, which animated the voluptuous lass with plenty of care (though it's a shame to see her pull off moves in short movies that are impossible in-game).
When animations are being carried out, they look smooth and fluid (though the tweening between one move and the next is jerky), with Catwoman twisting and contorting, shifting her weight to swing and leap. Even the bounding and wall-climbing animations look impressively cat-like. The engine piles on soft motion blurs and a silky sheen that gives the whole game an almost dreamlike, Vasoline-on-the-lens look. It's incredibly well done, and unfortunately ends up completely wasted on a game like this. Here's hoping it gets more play on this level in a game that actually puts the looks to good use.
The audio is also rather impressive. Most of the in-game music is particularly good when it stands out, though the majority probably won't do much to pull your attention away from the fact that you're running through the same section over and over again. The voice work (which sadly doesn't include any of the film cast) is certainly passable, though you'll probably tire of the cookie-cutter thug responses after a short while. The clap of leatherclad boot to face and gut, the punchy explosions and clattering debris from the random destructible parts of the levels all get a proper aural accompaniment.
Catwoman is little more than a pretty face and a sexy voice covering up for a cumbersome, pitiful attempt at an action game. Level designs that literally force you to try and retry an incredibly difficult section while fighting the controls and camera instantly suck any fun out of what could have been a nice attempt to mix Prince of Persia exploration and free-form 360 degree fighting (a la SCEA's Rise to Honor). Even if you really, REALLY liked the movie, there's almost no reason to give this game more than a passing glance.
