Trace Memory

"Trace Memory is like a breath of fresh air, it’s short but sweet"

Introduction Trace Memory for the Nintendo DS is a good game with a few flaws. It's a point and click adventure game and it uses the Nintendo DS's features very nicely. It has a great story and some excellent gameplay the only problem with this game is that the game ends before it really begins leaving you wanting more.

Gameplay 10/10 The game play is what really makes this game so fun. It's a point and click kind of game where you have to solve puzzles and find clues. The touch screen is used to control your character around and search for clues. You use the control pad to move your character around the screen. There are lots of neat things that you can do in this game. For example you can take pictures of just about anything that you want. Another aspect is you have to find key items and put them in there proper place to either solve a puzzle or to continue on to the next area. The microphone is also used in a few occasions

Sound/Music 9/10 The sound is very nicely done. It has some great sounding music. The sound is refreshing and makes the game enjoyable. It not the average sound you get from other games. It really goes along with the gameplay and adds a lot to the total experience you get from playing this game.

Story 10/10 The story is entertaining and draws you into the game. You will learn about the characters and be drawn into the story. The story is the strongest point of the game and makes you want to keep playing to find out where it will take you to next. I can't say anything about the story except it could have been longer, but it's short and sweet.

Play Time/Replayability 5/10 This is what really hurts the game. The game is really short. It's about 5 to 8 hours. The game is very straight forward and is challenging but it's not too hard. Most people probably won't want to play the game no more than once or twice. If replaying games is what you really like then you'll probably be disappointed in this category.

Final Recommendation 8/10 I would recommend this game to anyone with a Nintendo DS that is looking for a short entertaining game. Since you can find this game fairly cheap there shouldn't really be a reason not to buy it unless you don't like point and click games or if you like playing games over a lot of times. This game ranks up high on my must own DS games and is good for collecting so I say buy it if you can get it cheap or rent or barrow it from someone and at least play it. It's worth taking a look at.

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 04/26/06