N-Philes

Touch Detective

Posted December 3rd 2006 by Terry Harjanto.

There was a time when PC games involved little else but clicking on stuff. Point-and-click adventure games such as Day of the Tentacle and Monkey Island are some of the best known PC games among the older generation. But with the rise of the RTS and FPS genres, point-and-click adventure games suddenly found themselves with a very small slice of the PC gaming market.

However, point-and-click adventurers had a reason to celebrate with the release of the Nintendo DS. A portable handheld system with a touch screen was the perfect system for the genre. And indeed some developers and publishers agreed as games such as Lost in Blue and Trace Memory were released for the system. Unlike those two games however, Touch Detective definitely strives to fit itself directly within the traditional point-and-click genre.

As reminiscent as Touch Detective is, it is not exactly the best example of point-and-click gaming. The quality and difficulty of the puzzles are somewhat inconsistent, but thankfully there is a lot in the game that makes up for this shortcoming.

A lot in this game is appealing to those who adore and delight in cute things. Such people will easily find themselves amused by the main story of the game which stars Mackenzie, a young girl who has inherited her father's detective business. Though her father had a great reputation, Mackenzie still needs to make a name for herself. To do this she has to solve a series of mysteries organized into four episodes. These mysteries tend to have a fantastical slant to them: catch a dream thief, save a snow fairy, and so on. Those who enjoy Japanese anime or manga won't be surprised by the fantastical silliness, but it is still quite pleasant and charming.

I have never seen a game that's so cute in so many ways. The graphics in this game are excellent overall, the static backgrounds are wonderful, and the only plain looking scene that you'll see in the game is a clear blue sky. Character designs are unique and simple. The animation, apart from a few jerky transitions, is smooth. However, some of the animations are recycled: eating and giggling, for example, look exactly the same. Mixing light-tone colors and thick bold lines lends to a unique fusion of French and Japanese animation styles, and the overall impression is of a slightly gothic, Tim Burton look – except without the depressing and drab color scheme.

The audio is of the same quality and theme as the graphics. I found myself whistling along with the music that varies according to both areas and characters. The sound effects related to actions and objects are clear and distinct. There is a wide variety of "text speech" effects (the sounds said by characters in place of actual words) for many of the characters. Even the sound effects used in the menu interface are cute "swooshes" and "kerplunks".

Touch Detective features a wide variety of many unique characters who help bring the adventure alive. Each of the four mysteries in the game involves Mackenzie and her two best friends, Chloe and Penelope. As you could probably guess, all three of them are cute in their own way: Mackenzie is the kind of kid that tries to be more mature than she really is; Chloe is a wild mix of hyperactivity and narcissism; and Penelope... likes to break out into song and dance in the more inappropriate of times. In addition to the three main characters, each of the six areas in the game are populated with unique individuals such as a robotic butler, a fez-wearing walrus, and a cute little ventriloquist girl who speaks through her hand puppet. The only characters that don't have unique personalities or appearances are the generally unimportant skeleton people who are scattered around town, but even they have their moments. In all cases however, you will be trading funny dialogue and doing silly things with all of them.

The interface is clean, well organized, and does a good job of complimenting the simple game mechanics. Whatever or whoever you want to interact with, just touch with the stylus. On the bottom there is a small button to open up the main menu and also a small scrollable inventory that lists the items on Mackenzie's person. Double-clicking on an item will bring up a closer look which can reveal clues. To use items, click on the item and then click on what or who you want to use the item on. Not surprisingly, the bulk of the attention is paid to the touch screen, but that doesn't mean you should neglect the top screen. Above is where a close-up picture of Mackenzie is shown. As she interacts with the people and surroundings, her facial expression will reveal hints. Thought bubbles will also reveal her inner musings and more often than not provoke the same response: "Aww, she's such an adorably naive little girl!"

As Mackenzie expresses her thoughts above, you get to control her as she explores the town. There are a few minor path-finding issues, but it's a rarity as it isn't difficult to change the direction that Mackenzie is walking in and go around obstacles. In addition, the game engine makes it easy for you to search the environment as you can rapidly touch everything everywhere. If you touch something interactive, it will automatically trigger an event so you won't end up accidentally stepping over a possible clue.

Because of the slight fantasy theme to the game, making sense of the clues you find to solve the puzzles throughout the game can require some really out-of-the-box thinking. Some of the puzzles are reasonable and logical. Others are unintuitive and completely nonsensical. There are quite a few instances within the game that require an odd pattern of event triggers. For example, you touch an object to interact with it and a conversation with the nearby characters occur. The conversation ends with somebody saying something along the lines of "What do we do now?" The answer is that you use that same object again but of course none of the characters suggest this. What often ends up happening is that you'll go off exploring the rest of the game world looking to see if anything else has been revealed. Thankfully, the game world is somewhat small so it doesn't take long to check the other areas before returning to the "What do we do now?" area where you'll double check the object and trigger the next event.

Those who like games that last a long time won't be happy with Touch Detective. After completing the four main episodes of the game, there is a bonus episode where you walk around town solving really small and simple puzzles. There are, for example, two instances of Mackenzie playing hide-and-seek where you just keep on touching everything to find the hiders. This simplicity crosses over into Mackenzie's touch list, a diary recording fifty of the objects that Mackenzie has touched. It will take up a considerable amount of time to complete the diary but the kind of objects and body parts on the list will lead you to realize that Mackenzie has a terrible sense of personal space.

Steady Beat - Get in touch with the kid in you.

The Nintendo DS has inspired a lot of innovative and new genres, but that doesn't mean games of an older genre should be ignored. Touch Detective is a very traditional graphical adventure but it is still a unique and original game in the Nintendo DS library. Hardcore graphical adventurers who have gotten used to the abuses of other point-and-click adventure games will be able to get over the hurdle of nonsensical puzzles. But the obstacle that warrants more concern is the sheer cuteness and silliness of the game. Those who prefer games such as Indigo Prophecy or Still Life will likely find the content frivolous. Those who enjoyed Day of the Tentacle or Monkey Island and who don't mind something appealing to an even younger audience should definitely give Touch Detective a lot of consideration.

Posted in: Reviews

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