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.

If you are a fan of the old Batman show of if you have seen the Batman movies then you will already know the story here. This is just a different person playing the character. Catwoman is a story about Patience Philips (played by Berry). She is a woman who can’t seem to stop apologizing for her own existence. Patience works for Hedare Beauty as a graphic designer. When Patience stumbles upon the dark secret her employer is hiding, she finds herself in the middle of a corporate conspiracy. You all know the story. So you assume the role of Catwoman in the game. You start off in a Bank kicking some thug’s butts. They are there robbing the bank so you have to save the day. After you kick some goons around and knock some guy out of a window you have to run from the cops. Yeah, it seems they don’t like Catwoman either. So how does this game play you may be asking?

Presentation:

I will be straight with you all, the game is not very good. This is very sad because Electronic Arts really does know how to make a good based on movies. Just look at all of the great Harry Potter games. I am wondering if they just knew that this movie would stink like dead rotting fish? Either way, the game falls short in almost every department possible. Where do I start with this one? First off the game is very short. It will take you no more then a day to beat it. So the fact that it is a very short game really kills it.  Then we have the controls. They are very awkward to control. You basically have to use the analog stick on your controller to kick and perform moves as well as use your whip. It is all just very awkward and it becomes a pain while you are playing.  When you do encounter enemies it is just not very innovative. You kick them and hit them with your whip. Or you can kick them into trap doors, trashcans, etc. It is just not that fun to do. As you move Catwoman around, you can have her crawl on the ground, crawl up walls and fences and jump from wall to wall to reach high places. This kind of gameplay worked like a charm in games like Prince of Persia, but it just does not work too well in this game. The camera gets to be a pain and there is no way of changing angles. You can use the D-pad to move the camera slightly to the left and right, but without a camera button you are basically screwed. You can get power-ups to have Catwoman do more powerful moves, but it is really nothing special.

The controls remind me of what Tomb Raider would be if it were strung out on crack. I think I can honestly say that I hate the controls in this game. Why not make use of the buttons on the controller. Using the analog stick for performing moves is BAD! These controls are just not very good and after a while of frustration you just get bored and wanted to walk away. But I had to stick with it because I have to do a review here. It is not just the controls that are bad. The levels are also not very innovative at all. I mean there is nothing there that is very impressive! And you can’t really do a whole lot. You have your cat senses to pick up scents. One of the first levels has you following prints. There are no enemies and you are pretty much running from alley to alley and wall to wall. If that sounds exciting to you then you may like this title, but I was bored out of my mind after the first few levels. You can also use your whip. But attacking enemies is a task in itself. If you have to kick them into a door, it becomes a pain to get into the right position. And why do I have to kick these guys into things. I mean after kicking guys into trash cans and trap door walls, I was just ready to have a fist fight. 

Graphics:

The graphics are actually not that bad at all. This game takes place in gotham, where Batman is known to roam at night. So you know it will be dark and moody. The graphics are dark, but there is a bit of lask with it comes to mood and atmosphere. It seems like the developers spent a lot of time trying to make the videogame character of Halle Berry look exactly like her real-life counterpart. Her character is shiny and detailed. She moves and animates quite nice, jumping and sticking to walls. The other characters in the game do not move as fluid and not as detailed. The city and surrounding areas are not that bad as well there’s is also some pretty decent lighting effects as well. The whole graphic experience of Catwoman is OK, but that is about all. There is nothing really new or mind-blowing. But as you know graphics can’t save a game. If that was the case this game might have recieved a higher score. But sadly the controls make you overlook the graphics. The graphics are almost the same on all three platforms. The Playstation 2 graphics is not as detailed as the Xbox and GameCube version.

Music and Sound:

The music in the game is pretty good. My guess is that they took some of the tunes from the movie itself and put it into this game. Some levels have the sound of ambient music playing in the background. You will hear little things off in the distance like a baby crying or an animal moaning. Halle Berry supplies the voice, but boy is she annoying. I just don’t get the horrible one-liners. I mean they are just downright cheesy. And when Halle Berry speaks the one-liners it just sounds so cheesy and lame. Never before have I heard one-liners so over-acted before in my life. I mean you take an old game Like Resident Evil for the Playstation. That game had some bad voice acting, but it fit the game because it was a campy game. This is supposed to be based on a "Hollywood" film that was backed witha $135 Million dollar budget. And if her voice is as bad in the movie as it is in this game, no wonder the movie is the "Water World" of 2004. Catwoman always had a style, especially in the old TV show with Adam West. The ladies who acted as her did a good job. It was cheesy, yet the show was cheesy and it balanced out. This is just some very bad overacting in Berrys part. People need to look beyond her looks and body and see that she is not a very good actress. And you can now add ger to being not a very good voice actor in videogame.  

The Bottom Line:

I am sorry, I love Electronic Arts, but this game is really bad. The graphics are pretty decent, but it can’t save this game from its horrible controls and the fact that it is based on a movie that sucks very badly. And Halle Berry has my vote for the worst voice-over in videogame history. She over-acted every line and they are so cheesy to the point of where I wanted to turn my Television volume to mute. I would say that kids might end up liking this game because it is based on the movie, but judging from the outcome of the box-office bomb I don’t even think anybody took their kids to see it. I just thought this game was not very good. If it clocked in at $20 it might have received a few more points, but I see no reason to put $40 on the counter for this game. Not the PS2 version, not the GameCube version, and not the Xbox version. Stay away from this one!