Touch Detective

"A visually stunning but lacking graphic adventure"

After sliding into obscurity on the PC, the graphic adventure has seen a general resurgence on the touch-controlled, dual screen Nintendo DS. With easy ways to sift through inventory, opportunities for creative puzzles through two scenes and a willing niche audience, games like Trace Memory and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney have satiated the hunger of gamers nostalgic for the days of King's Quest and Monkey Island while also expanding the genre's appeal to mainstream gamers with their intelligence, humor and fun factor. The third graphic adventure for the Nintendo DS, Atlus' Touch Detective, is no doubt very beautiful but unfortunately reminds gamers of why the graphic adventure genre began to fail in the first place.

In Touch Detective, you play as Detective Mackenzie, a young girl whose father has suddenly passed away, leaving the family detective agency to you. Along with robotic butler Cromwell and fungus pet Funghi, you embark on four very strange cases in order to be accepted into the Detective society. It's a very compelling premise, though there are countless ways that the overall plot could have felt more cohesive and unified. Whereas Trace Memory focused on Ashley's search for her family and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney had the throughline of the DL56 mystery, there's no thread that really links the four mysteries in the game, other than the town and the quirky characters. The game would have been infinitely more exciting had there been an underlying mystery of some sort - who killed Mackenzie's father? Where's Funghi from? Anything would have helped the lack of urgency. The supporting cast of characters is very small and often very annoying. Chloe, Mackenzie's rival, is the funniest character, often going overboard in her enthusiasm, while Penelope, the game's central damsel in distress, is gratingly annoying and. The few townspeople have nary a distinguishable personality between them.

The gameplay is at once polished and dusty, fun and boring and challenging and frustrating. If you've ever played a graphic adventure that consisted of clicking on every single pixel on the screen in hopes of finding something you'll feel right at home playing Touch Detective. At any given moment you could be searching for the entrance to the dream world, breaking in to a planetarium to save a kidnapped and brainwashed friend or even rescuing a troupe of circus fleas. It all sounds wonderfully whimsical, and to an extent it is, but the lack of guidance and random nature of the puzzles often left me with a sour taste in my mouth. The payoff can be disappointing as well, as the chapters often close on a quiet and anti-climactic note. It should be noted, however, that Chapter Three: Stranded is a strangely poignant and warming story that ends on a really beautiful note.

So, is Touch Detective a good game? Well, the graphics are incredible, the music's catchy and the overall idea is good, but the developers didn't follow through on the premise. I would recommend the game for the hardcore adventure gamer, but to all others, wait for next year's (hopefully) stronger genre entries, Hotel Dusk: Room 215 and Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Justice For All.

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 11/06/06