'Catwoman' can't even scratch the surface of game fun
With the recent influx of the movie/comic book-licensed games, I knew soon after the announcement of a "Catwoman" film, it would be only a matter of time before someone would make a game of it.
Based on the DC Comics character, gamers will find themselves playing the part of Catwoman while closely following the plot of the movie. The story starts with mild-mannered Patience Phillips, an employee of Hedare Beauty -- a giant cosmetics corporation on the brink of releasing a new anti-aging product with a bit of a catch. When Patience discovers the side effects of this new product, she is dealt with by Hedare's goons and is left for dead. With her lifeless body washed up on a nearby beach, a mystical Egyptian cat revives her while also giving her the super-human abilities of a cat.
Although EA has had tremendous success with another movie-turned-game extravaganza via the "Lord of The Rings" series, this latest effort has greatly missed its mark. Even though the graphics are exceptionally clean and the movements of the Catwoman model are fantastic and fluid, the controls and camera movements are poor at best. I think that EA got a little too artsy with it's use of the in-game camera that it sacrificed the real reason for a camera in the first place -- to help the player see around in the virtual world. Here, the camera angles were so odd at times that it was hard to discern exactly where to move Catwoman during certain levels.
It also was extremely difficult to hone in on the enemy while fumbling with the controls during the fighting sequences. With the left thumbstick used for moving Catwoman and the right thumbstick controlling her kicks, I was at a complete loss when trying to pull off the easiest of maneuvers, let alone any combo strikes. It got more frustrating as I advanced levels because, at some points, I knew where to move Catwoman, but I couldn't pull off the trigger-plus-thumbstick combinations with any accuracy. Note to developers: Make the game difficult enough to keep interest but not so much that it makes the player want to toss their controller across the room and never want to play the game again.
Despite the poor choice of one particular actress to fill the shoes of the feline hero in the feature film, Electronic Arts naturally followed suit with the use of Halle Berry for the voice of Patience Phillips, a.k.a. Catwoman, in the game. Her performance, although adequate, had poor inflection and was substandard in comparison to Tobey Maguire's work in the "Spider-Man" games.
Again, the graphics are gorgeous. The city textures were beautiful and vivid, with great use of light and shadow. The powdering effect as bullets struck the walls and pavement were great as was Catwoman's Cat Sense, a sixth-sense that allows her to see in the dark, follow invisible trails and anticpate oncoming danger. Too bad it all couldn't have been enjoyed more had the design been better executed. Let's hope this game doesn't have nine lives. Additional Information:
Details
'Catwoman'
Grade: D+
Developer: EA Games.
Publisher: Electronic Arts.
Platform: Gamecube, PS2, Xbox.
Genre: Action.
ESRB: T for Teen.
Retail: $19.99.
