Catwoman

"Catwoman: Short, repetitive, but overall fun experience"

I'm not going to lie to you. Catwoman is in no shape or form a great game. Its controls are a bit clunky, its graphics are below-average, and its voice acting is...pathetic. It's also extremely easy and the main storyline missions can be beaten in 6-8 hours. But the good thing about it is that even though it has all these shortcomings it still manages to deliver a sense of fun. I warn you now, DO NOT BUY THIS GAME. However, if you're looking for a good weekend rental, Catwoman might satisfy your craving .

STORY: 6/10

Catwoman closely follows the events of the movie. Halle Berry portrays Patience Phillips, who is killed when she discovers a deadly secret about a new cosmetics product that the company she works in is developing. However, she is "reborn" as Catwoman, a vicious feline who sets out to get revenge on the corporation. The story is not weird, it's plain stupid. There a couple twists and turns but there isn't anything THAT special. There's only about 15 minutes of cutscenes.

GRAPHICS: 5/10

Unfortunately, Catwoman's graphics shine in some areas and look terrible in others. The environments and textures look above average but Catwoman absolutely looks terrible, even in cutscenes. She looks cut out from a five year old game. The back of the box makes them look good but believe me, they're actually not.

SOUND: 7/10

The voice acting by everybody, including Halle Berry, is just terrible. Halle Berry moans EVERY SINGLE ONE OF HER LINES! For some time, this is fun then it just gets annoying. The dialogue is terrible as well. Catwoman only speaks one liners, and pretty bad ones at that. To me, "Working the night shift? So am I," just isn't alluring. The other sounds in the game, like explosions or enemy lines, are decent but certainly not memorable.

GAMEPLAY: 8/10

This is where most people will disagree with me. Catwoman consists of two gameplay elements: fighting and acrobatics. If you're played Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time or the Warrior Within, Catwoman handles much like those. You'll have to swing from bars, do several jumps, run up walls, and various other similar things. It's not super fun, but it's a good time-waster. The only problem with it is that many of the buttons are pressure-sensitive. After using up ten minutes to get somewhere, and then having to start all over because I pressed a button instead of holding it will really make you hate the game. In fighting, you pretty much kick enemies or use your whip to grab or throw objects at them. However, the game tries not to be overly violent. That means that you can't kill your enemies. The only way to defeat them is to kick or throw them into an exit point, which can be anything from a dumpster to an elevator shaft. You can also beat them up so bad that they jump in themselves. It's a silly element but it's a lot of fun. The good news is that an equal amount of time is spent on the two elements. If you're tired of jumping around every second, there's no need to worry because the next area will surely hold a fight for you. This helps to make the game a bit better, because fighting is a great way to cool off after a daring obstacle course. People claim to hate Catwoman because the gameplay is repetitive. Even though it is, it is still immense fun.

PLAY TIME/REPLAYABILITY: 4/10

Catwoman, as stated previously, can easily be beaten in under ten hours. The first time you go through, it'll be good and the second time, it'll really be boring. You can do various things in a mission to gain points to buy fighting skills to make replayability a bit more fun but really, as soon as you beat the game, it'll probably just be forgotten forever.

FINAL SCORE: 7/10

Catwoman's glitches and problems overshadow the good parts of the game, which are amazingly fun and entertaining. Paying a couple bucks to rent it for a week is what I would recommend. In that time, you can easily beat and enjoy it. Is it worth buying? Of course not. Don't let other reviews fool you; Catwoman is certainly not an atrocious game. But for what's it worth, it will deliver a fun and quick game experience.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 12/20/04