GameCube

Catwoman

Zu Beginn dachte ich, dass mir Catwoman die Wartezeit bis zum zweiten Teil von Prince of Persia erträglicher machen würde, so angetan war ich von dem Spiel. Spätestens nach einer Stunde wusste ich es aber besser. Aufgrund eines wirren Leveldesigns, vieler unfairer Kletterpassagen und eines lächerlich simplen Kampfsystems ist Catwoman nur ein (viel zu kurzer) Actionhappen für zwischendurch. Da selbst die Technik des Spiels ziemlich schnell an Qualität verliert und nicht ansatzweise mit der anderer EA-Filmumsetzungen mithalten kann, bekommt das Spiel von mir noch nicht einmal eine Kaufempfehlung für Fans des Kinofilms. Wer in diesem Sommer unbedingt einen Superhelden nachahmen will, sollte lieber zum wesentlich besseren Spider-Man 2 greifen!

It used to be that you'd have to wait awhile to see games based on the big summer movie releases. But these days, the simultaneous movie-video game release seems to be rapidly becoming the norm. Electronic Arts, which has done some great work recently with its games based on the Lord of the Rings movies, is now delivering a game based on the upcoming Halle Berry movie, Catwoman. Catwoman attempts to deliver some Prince of Persia-like acrobatics, but its sharp graphics are offset by bad control, weak voice work, and shoddy gameplay.

With the success of Spider-Man, a series of comic book characters are now seeing life again on the silver screen and of course, in front of computers and consoles. This companion release to Catwoman can be lauded for its timeliness. It came out around the same time if not on the same day as the movie. It features a virtual Halle Berry as Patience Phillips. And you may even get to see this Berry in that leather outfit even more than in the film itself. But that's about all the strengths I can think of with this game. Once the adventure starts, it all goes downhill from there.

This single-player adventure may be worth a weekend rental for fans of the film -- and it can be easily completed in that time -- but others should steer clear of this hairball of a game.

I am going to be totally honest. The day that big bad Hollywood announced that they were going to make a movie based on Catwoman I knew it was going to be a major bomb. First and foremost I pretty much despise anything that tumbles out of the hole that is called Hollywood. They take big stars (who made them big, not me?) and put them in situations that just downright suck. When will people wake up and see that stars do not make a movie. It is the storyline that drives it. And they chose everybody’s new Hollywood drool tool Halle Berry. I never took the time to see this horrid excuse for a movie, but I know that the fools at Warner Bros threw about $135 Million into this mess, and it has been a huge box-office bomb, making a pathetic $32 Million since its release a few weeks ago. So somehow the Catwoman game landed on my desk at the Next Level Gaming offices. So here we go, but I warn you right now that this review is not going to be pretty.

The world has been saved by a bat, by a spider, and by a man who is unbreakable. Humans with mutant powers have continuously kept the world's dangers at bay. Next summer the world will be saved by Elektra, the woman who Daredevil fell for in the movie that he saved the world in. Hundreds of "beings" have had their chance to be a comic book hero – now it's the feline's turn.

Just the thought of watching the Catwoman movie makes me vomit a little in my mouth. The idea of playing the game that is based on this waste of film is the equivalent to dunking my head into the world’s dirtiest toilet and gargling. After spending two complete days with this killer app (killer as in you’ll die a little inside each time you play it), I can safely say that I’ve experienced horrors that your mind can’t even begin to comprehend. In short, playing this epic-sized monstrosity is similar to being scratched to death by a house cat…not only is it painful, it’s also embarrassing.

Games with popular movie licenses have been all the talk this summer. With surprise hits like Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay and Spider-Man 2, developers have been shaking the stigma that you can't make a good game from based on a movie. However, given what seems ample material for a quality action-adventure title, EA misses the mark by a mile.

Basically, there’s nothing to like about Catwoman outside of the graphics. At the very most, the game deserves a rental. However, you’ll be just as happy saving the $6 and maybe trying out the film instead. It’s unfortunate that companies try to bank so much on these movie licenses. You’ll probably get more enjoyment out of a scratching post than this game.

To highlight the sheer ineptness of this title, leave your joypad alone for a few seconds and marvel at the extent to which the developers created an idle animation. Sure we've seen Sonic wag his finger at you and Mario fall to sleep, however Catwoman struts her stuff in this elaborate cut-scene styled effect whenever you let go off the pad for a few seconds, it's just a shame that this much effort wasn't put into the actual game.

Electronic Arts has enjoyed a great run in the last few years, trumping everyone with dozens of great games, million-plus selling franchises, and innovation that is tough to compete with. Every so often it's bound to happen, though. You know a slip-up, a mistake, a wrong guess. That one game that maybe they shouldn't have bought the movie rights to. That's Catwoman. Or as I like to call it, Shatwoman.

C'est fou comme une mauvaise jouabilité peut flinguer un titre. Puisqu'il est quasiment impossible de manier Catwoman comme on le voudrait, on ne s'amuse pas à suivre le personnage dans ses aventures. Souhaitons un destin tout autre au film sur grand écran.

By now we’re all well aware of the Curse of the Movie License, the nearly unchallenged theory that games based on films suck. Catwoman, however, is that rare double-whammy of despair, that tragic one-two punch of tastelessness: a bad game based on a bad film.