Catherine - Xbox 360

What's it to be? Your safe, steady, best gal of five years, or the blonde bombshell who's trying to tempt you away? Most of us haven't actually had to face this problem, but hopefully if we do it won't come complete with fast-paced puzzles that involve us scaling an ever-shifting tower of blocks. Yes, Vincent (our protagonist) is most certainly up against it.

And yes, Catherine is a rather odd beast. By day (the game world's day, that is) it's a dating simulator of the kind we don't often get over here. Vincent seems to have everything a chap could want from a relationship – a smart, successful and beautiful girlfriend and a good, steady thing going with her. She's started talking about the long term, though. Things are getting serious and Vincent's getting worried. Foolishly, he's gone out and gotten drunk, only to wake up next to the sexy, seductive Katherine. Gamers follow a week in the life of Vincent, navigating conversations and text messages as he tries to sort his life out.

By night, however, Vincent is tormented by nightmares – something else that will require the player's attention. He must climb a tower of blocks, with successive rows disappearing beneath him. Think of it as 3D Tetris with a poor little bloke stuck inside it. To make matters worse, blocks will be missing. And they might have spikes in them or they might be prone to exploding. It's up to the player, through the medium of Vincent, to move them around so he can progress.

Any way you slice it, Vincent is not your average puzzle game! more