Catwoman (PlayStation 2)

CATWOMAN hints at a storyline shared with the film of the same name: After accidentally overhearing that a soon-to-be-released anti-aging cream actually contains bacteria that makes consumers age rapidly if they discontinue use, mousy corporate underling Patience Philips is killed by CEO Hedare's thugs. But she is magically resurrected by a cat, who imbues Patience with feline faculties, including an enhanced sense of smell, vision, climbing and jumping abilities. Now she's on a mission to avenge her death and stop the distribution of the tainted tincture.

Catwoman does this by pursuing Hedare and his minions through a series of missions, beating up baddies, amassing a wealth of diamonds to trade for new abilities, and collecting "bling" to unlock Catwoman-related gallery items (such as comic book images, drawings, etc).

The gameplay draws heavily on superior predecessor Prince of Persia, with its three-dimensional environments and its preference for swinging, scaling, and jumping over combat. When the fur finally does fly, Catwoman pits her impressive, nicely animated combat moves against the lamest bunch of faceless pushovers a video game can offer.

It's hard to imagine who this game is for: Catwoman does a curious job of trying to mix the sassiness of Eartha Kitt's Catwoman, the darkness of Tim Burton's Batman film, and Prince of Persia-inspired gameplay. And with few secrets to unlock, there's only the occasional entertaining challenge. The pace of the game is odd, too -- players will breeze though sizable sections of levels, only to come to a grinding halt to attempt the same series of jumps in hopes of advancing through trickier spots. Overall, this certainly isn't a game players will be dying to get their claws on.