'Catherine' takes gamers into sexual and obstacle filled nightmare

Remember those "choose your own adventure" books that let you make certain decisions and led to several multiple endings?

I would read them all the time when I was a kid, peeking at the end and making sure I picked the best ending.

I outgrew these books and moved on to video games, which have a genre of "choose your own adventure" games.

The most recent game with this theme is "Catherine," available for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3.

"Catherine," is about Vincent Brooks, a man who feels pressured by his long-time girlfriend Katherine, into getting married and possibly having children.

He talks about his problems to his friends at a local bar where he meets a young carefree girl named Catherine. Soon after meeting her, a new set of problems arise. Vincent wakes up to realize he had a one-night stand with Catherine.

He then starts having nightmares in which he is forced to climb up large obstacles while monsters creep up from below him, waiting for him to make a mistake.

During these nightmares, players can interact with several men whom the character met in the bar, but turn into sheep in the nightmare world. Meeting them is optional, but depending on how often players speak with them, the relationships with them change.

This also can occur with Katherine and Catherine; sending certain text messages to them will either make Vincent a good guy or a bad guy, ultimately changing the ending of the game.

It's a very challenging game that makes players stop and think about what move to make next. Also, there are other men/sheep trying to climb the obstacles with Vincent, they will block you from moving on unless you hit them and knock them off.

The blocks underneath Vincent will also slowly fall apart until it reaches the current floor he's on, making him fall to his death.

The controls are a little challenging. In the nightmares, players have to push, pull and jump on blocks while avoiding any sheep or monsters that may attack Vincent or block his path. There are certain kinds of blocks that do strange and specific things, but there are also some special items that can be used to help you reach the goal faster.

The main problem is that sometimes when players want Vincent to climb, he'll push a block instead.

Or if there's a sheep in the way, Vincent may grab a block and end up getting attacked by the sheep. Outside of the nightmares, players don't do much.

Players control Vincent as he wanders around the bar, talks to people there, goes to the bathroom (sometimes to check picture messages from Catherine) and also as he plays a mini-game to practice climbing the nightmare obstacles.

Other than that, it is a great game with amazing graphics and animated cut scenes to help make the game feel like you're watching a show. "Catherine" offers funny dialogue, good music and sexy, dramatic situations. My rating: B This game is rated M for Mature.