Step into a new kind of murder mystery from the creator of Phoenix Wright.
Developer: Capcom
Publisher: Capcom
Release Date: January 11, 2011
ESRB Rating: T
Score: 4.5 / 5
At any given moment, there are probably thousands of people looking up information on the next Ace Attorney title; they are eager to see what happens next with the cast of characters, and what twists and turns will come up in the story. The Ace Attorney creator, Shu Takami, has been putting plenty of time into his newest brainchild, Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective. This newest title combines great characters with an engaging, twist-filled storyline and combines it with some fresh and innovative puzzle gameplay that will get you hooked and keep you there, just like the Ace Attorney series did.
The storyline is quite significant in this game. You play the part of Sissel, a recently diseased man who doesn’t know anything about himself, except that he’s dead. Despite his condition, however, he is not powerless: he possess the ability to perform “ghost tricks”, which let him manipulate objects in certain ways. Using these powers, he will work to save the lives of others who have died, and unravel a long and complicated mystery of the events that are occurring. You’ll disappear at morning, however, so you’ll have to solve the entire mystery in this one night.
The main character, Sissel, is a little less fleshed-out than some of the other folks, though he’s generally quick with a sarcastic quip and eager to help people out. The other characters in the game, however, are wonderfully enjoyable caricatures, acting in extraordinary and over-the-top ways that you can’t help but laugh at when you see them. There are several memorable characters in the game; the main heroine, Lynne, is the most down-to-Earth of the cast, though her personality cannot be said to be “boring”. Missile the dog, on the other hand, is sure to leave a mark on the heart of whoever plays this game.
The story, in typical Shu Takami fashion, starts out with an open-ended mystery that leaves you asking a number of questions. As the game proceeds, few questions are answered and even more come up in the early stages, but the pacing of the mystery is superb; with every chapter that you complete, you’ll be left scratching your head or picking your jaw up off the floor, and either way you’ll be compelled to play a bit more to see what comes next. This game is one that is very hard to put down.
Fortunately, the gameplay is also very compelling. As stated before, you’ll be able to use “ghost tricks” in order to manipulate items in the land of the living; each item has one specific action that can be executed, and you’ll often move from item to item, using your ghost tricks in order to perform some very specific maneuvers that will usually help you save someone’s life in a convoluted manner. You’ll have to perform these ghost tricks with specific timing, however, as these puzzles are carried out in real time, as humans and animals are wandering around; if you’re too late with one of your ghost trick, it could be curtains for the person you’re trying to save.
The timed puzzles bring a level of excitement to the game that wouldn’t be there if you were just performing actions in sequence, and the game benefits greatly for it. It also presents a bit of a detriment, however, in that it makes the game quite difficult in the later stages. Some levels can have up to two dozen objects to manipulate, and considering that each one has different effects at different times, there are a huge number of options available to you. It’s a little bit overwhelming at times.
The game is basically designed around trial and error for this reason. Fortunately, the game recognizes this fact, and even seems to encourage this behavior. It’s certainly rewarded; with nearly every object you try manipulating, Sissel will pop up and give you a brief hint as to how it might be used, so it’s to your benefit to explore as many options as you can. It can be a little tedious at times, but it’s not too often that you’ll grow bored. More often, you’ll just get stuck; even with the help the game provides, learning what sequence of items to manipulate and when can be extremely challenging, especially in later levels. Finding the solution is pretty rewarding, but for some gamer types it might not be worth the effort that’s put into each puzzle. It really comes down to your personal preference (and patience).
The game has a very nice presentation to it. The visual style feels like a sort of cel-shaded, three-dimensional cartoon that’s easy on the eyes. Watching characters move about in this graphical scheme, especially with the eccentric movements that many of them have, is quite a bit of fun in itself. The music is excellent as well; plenty of characters have catchy and familiar themes, and it’s worth playing the game with the sound on. Replay value, however, is also somewhat on par with the Ace Attorney games; once you’ve beaten a puzzle, it’s going to be beaten the same way every time, so I’m not sure what the benefit is to playing through the game several times.
Ghost Trick has a few misgivings, but overall the positives of this game far outweigh the negatives. The gameplay is engaging, the characters are endearing, and the story is going to keep you playing for hours and hours to see what happens next. The difficulty might be a bit too much for some, but anyone willing to put in the time is going to find an excellent and inventive puzzle game on their hands. This game isn’t something to tide you over until the next Ace Attorney game, it’s a main course all on its own. Anyone who wants to try a new kind of puzzler should give this a try.
