"Better than I expected."

Whenever I approach a game I try to be as open minded as possible. I had heard nothing but negative things about Catwoman, both the movie and the game. Having seen the movie and played the game I have to admit the game is more enjoyable than the movie.

The story of the game follows the plotline of the movie. Patience Phillips is an artist working in the marketing department of Hedare cosmetics working on an ad campaign for their latest product. She accidentally stumbles onto a company secret and is killed. She is revived by an egyptian cat and imbued with catlike powers. Now the goal of the game is to find out why you were killed.

I have to start by mentioning the graphics which are beautiful. All of the environments are heavily detailed and very realistic looking. While the various character models are all nicely done, it is obvious that all of the work went into perfecting catwoman. From the way she runs on all fours like a cat to the way her hips sway when she walks, it's obvious that alot of work went into this game, and it definitely shows in the graphics.

I have heard many complaints about the controls, and I have to wonder if maybe this game is just too difficult for most people. First, only buy this game for the PC if you have a control pad. I recommend the logitch dual action, its set up just like a ps2 controller and works great with this game. I had no trouble getting catwoman to do exactly what I wanted her to do. Do not attempt to play this game with a keyboard/mouse setup. Most people complain about the use of the right analog stick to control catwomans attacks and their directions bit I found it to work quite well.

The sound is another high point for this game. Thank you EA for using an appropriate orchestrated soundtrack instead of some stereotypical hip-hop soundtrack. I have heard many complaints about Halle Berry's voice acting in the game but I found it to be perfect. From the sound of her whip cracking to the screams of a guard when you pummel him the sound in this game is great.

The gameplay for me was more than adequate. It's lots of climbing and pole swinging, very reminiscent of Prince of Persia 2. If you played POP2 and had no problems then you should have no problems with this game either. The hardest part of the game for me was figuring out where to go and exactly how to get there. If you are stuck all you have to do is turn on the cat sense and you will see footprints of midnight the cat pointing in the direction that you need to go. All poles and whip grappling points glow with a purple light making this game even easier then POP2.

As far as replayability goes, it's in there. Every level has a different number of moves that have to be accomplished in order to get the best score and some of these moves are unavailable at the start of the game. Since I have enjoyed this game so far I would have no problem replaying some of the levels trying to get a perfect score.

As far as negatives go, the only real bad thing about this game in my opinion is that the camera angles at times can make it difficult to fight and manuever around the levels. No automatic camera system is perfect, and I feel that the developers did a great job. If you are in a jumping/pole swinging part of a level, the camera will usually focus on exactly where you need to go next. Sometimes when fighting the camera will position where you can't see the enemies. When that happens I just move to another part of the level where the angle is better. I'ts a no brainer.

So far I have enjoyed the time I have spent with the game and am pleased with my purchase. If you liked the movie and enjoy challenging platform style games, then I believe you will like Catwoman.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 08/03/04