Winner: Catherine

Countless shooters and action games have been released this year forming a sea of sequel after sequel. While a lot of the sequels were actually worthwhile, it's not uncommon to want something new and fresh. Catherine was exactly that. The puzzles and intriguing storyline captured me for the moment and saw me playing though the game in under 4 play sessions. While the story got real Japanese right around the end-mark, it's hard to write it off just because of that.

I'll admit that I haven't touched Catherine (no pun intended) since I finished it way earlier this year. I kept telling myself that I'd eventually go back to it and complete the various challenges and extras, but I haven't. It's around this time of year to ask yourself why you haven't gone back to these games, and I've come to the conclusion that it was just because of the onslaught of different games coming out this year. I still plan to go back and finish it up even though it could have had a great story around the time that the twist occurred. Unfortunately, the writers must have thought that it had been done before too many times, and decided to go off the rails with the story. It works, could have been better, but doesn't stop the puzzle gameplay from being the most unique style of story and game I've played this year.