Ghost Trick Phantom Detective, Solving Mysteries in The Hereafter.

Availability Nintendo DS, ios

Release date June 19th 2010

Publisher/Developers Capcom

Genre Adventure/puzzle.

Have you ever wondered what happens after you die? Well in Ghost Trick Phantom Detective, you get to travel back in time, save people's lives and make friends with a cute Pomeranian.

If I've not sold you on the game already, then the story might. You play as Sissel, you were recently killed in a junkyard on the edge of town. The story revolves around piecing together who you are, and why you were killed before sunrise. The game allows you to chase down leads surrounding your death, and find out what connects the dots.

The story itself is very good, if you are familiar with the Ace Attorney storylines, then ghost trick will provide the same kind of plot twists, second guessing, and drama. Whether the story leads to a satisfying conclusion is up to you. For me I enjoyed the story, however I'm not sure how I feel concerning a big reveal at the end of the game, it left me confused and speechless, which isn't the best lasting impression for the game.

The gameplay involves using 'ghost tricks, which for the most part allows you to possess inanimate objects, and manipulate them to solve puzzles, which prevents people from getting themselves killed. All of this is done by travelling back in time 4 minutes, in order to change an individual's fate. This mechanic is done very well as it presents a steady difficulty curve, as well as its creative use of different environments, objectives, and the placement of people in locations. Furthermore, due to the games running time, this style of gameplay doesn't become repetitive, as it's often split between the games dialogue.

The gameplay experience is helped by way of the games controls, making great use of the Nintendo DS capabilities, by using the touch screen, to navigate between people to talk to and objects to possess, making for an easy to handle experience.

The puzzle design is definitely one of this game strong points, yet again making use of the Nintendo DS capabilities by way of the second screen, by displaying what objects you have possessed and how you can manipulate them. This helps to prevent any confusion without any hand holding. Whilst in a puzzle, if you get stuck you can talk to Sissel to give you hints, he will also allow you to start from the beginning or from a checkpoint, which greatly reduces time wasting.

The writing in this game is fantastic, as it was written by Shu Takumi, who was responsible for the Ace Attorney series, so of course this game had some suitable characters to match the sometime humorous, sometimes tense, but always worthwhile dialogue.

Graphically this game is very pleasant, it's use of bright colors and energetic music and sense of humor, tandem with one another adds to the game tremendously in atmosphere and exaggeration of the humor.

Conclusion.

Ghost Trick Phantom Detective encompasses great story, writing and gameplay which doesn't outstay it's welcome. This game also boasts great pacing, interesting characters and a respectable difficulty level. In my perspective I don't have any real criticisms for this game, which is why I would recommend this game to everyone.

Quote of the game 'HAHA I died again'

Written by Matthew Birkinshaw.