Catherine hardly seems like the type of puzzle game to attract long-time gamers. After over a week of gaming though, I became obsessed with figuring out strategies to beat the insanely difficult stages.

Classic game fanatics will certainly think I’m crazy for calling this one of my favorite games of all time. However, the incredibly detailed graphics and intricate dialogue turns Catherine into a deep, mature adventure in the old-fashioned style of Lolo.

For anyone who hasn't heard of Lolo, he was once one of the most memorable mascot characters in the early days of the NES. In the classic known as The Adventures of Lolo, players controlled Lolo, a big-eyed blue blob with two legs and two arms. Lolo had to collect the jewel on each floor so that he could continue to ascend a tall tower. His main objective was to save Princess Lala, who was a pink blob with a bow on her head.

Although the story was simple, the opening literally struck people with a shocking cinematic intro. It literally begins with a loud crackle and some blinding negative polarity flashes as a large reptile hand grabs Lala. Even if the scene was extremely short, it added depth to the puzzle genre by plugging in an actual story. It was also one of the first glimpses of how developers could integrate hand-drawn images in video games for dramatic effect. The first Adventures of Lolo game started a magnificent trilogy of puzzle adventures with brief cutscenes of hand-drawn still images.

The block-shoving puzzle format from Lolo also returns in Catherine, but in a 3D perspective. Whereas Lolo had to push blocks to barricade himself from incoming enemies on a flat 2D plane, Vincent has to use the blocks to form a staircase. Although the premise seems simple, the challenging patterns of blocks actually heighten the difficulty to extremely challenging levels. In fact, the sheep in the game even discuss strategies with Vincent, to save players the trouble of racking their brains in later levels.

In a way, Catherine is like a reboot of the story-based puzzle adventure genre. Despite the unconventional use of sheeps, blood and horror theatrics, it is very cinematic from the get-go. The hero, Vincent Brooks, winds up in a black void with blocks ascending in a staircase to a ring-shaped handle dangling from the top. He only has one choice--to climb the top or fall to his death.

The hardcore nature of Catherine brings all of my favorite memories of Lolo, where I literally spent dozens of all-nighters trying to figure how to keep Lolo from dying. Even though the 3D perspective makes it look like a Q-Bert clone, the intensely challenging block patterns really bring back all the most grueling memories of keeping Lolo from getting shot by Medusa needles. And the death sequences in both games are brutally fun to watch.

Sure, I died a lot in Catherine. However, I enjoyed every second of it, because I knew that I could fix my mistakes after every life. Even if I lost too many continues, I could easily return to my last saved game, so that I could start over again.

Even if people make fun of me for praising a puzzle game as the best game of 2011, this game deserves the acclaim. Catherine is one of the best rehashes of a genre that I've missed for a very long time. The story is also incredible, but I'll save that for another discussion.

What is your opinion of Catherine? Do you think this unconventional puzzle game deserves all the acclaim it has received lately? Write your opinion in the comments below.