"Two people with two memories. Two stories but too short."

Two people with two memories. Two stories but too short.

An island far from anywhere, an old mansion abandoned by its owners, a scientist who chooses the site for his experiment, a girl looking for her father. These are the making of a horror game, but Trace Memory (a.k.a. Another Code) is anything but. All the 'horror' ingredients are there, but this game cleverly steers away from it and presents us with quite an interesting supernatural story.

***** Plot *****

Ashley was summoned by her father on her 14th birthday to come to an uninhabited island that was owned by a wealthy family. Ashley's aunt brought her to the island, and promptly disappeared. Armed with nothing more than a DAS device (a DS lookalike that Ashley's father sent her), Ashley explored the island in search of her father.

Along the way, she met D, a boy who died many years ago, and now haunted the island like Casper the friendly ghost. Somehow, Ashley was able to see this ghost and instead of running away like all little girls do, she befriended D who had lost his memory. And so their search begun, Ashley looking for her father and D looking for his memory.

Although the game is set in modern time, most of what happens is inside an old mansion, abandoned by its owner, and taken up by a (mad?) scientist. It's sort of a fusion between the past and present.

It works out quite well, if you can get past the supernatural ghost sightings of D.

The story advances as Ashley and D discover things about themselves. Sometimes you will feel that you are playing two stories at the same time. One minute, you discover an object that triggers D's memory and in the next, you will find something that Ashley's father leaves behind. It works out quite well, actually. The two stories are engaging. But your main objective is Ashley's story, rather than D's. So you can finish the game without finishing both stories.

***** Gameplay *****

Throughout the game, I can't help but feel that Another Code is an experimental game on what the DS is capable of. It utilises pretty much all of the functions (save for the Wi Fi connection) that are on the DS. Besides the obvious choice of the stylus and mic, it even uses the sleep mode (where players close the DS) to solve some of the puzzles. Some works better than others.

The story advances as you move to new areas / rooms, discover a puzzle and solving that puzzle. Once the puzzle is solved, you move on to the next area where the next puzzle awaits.

Most of the time, you will be solving one puzzle at a time. While it keeps the story simple, it does restrict the player from venturing too far, and inevitably makes the game linear.

Most of the objects that you can pick up are usually used for the puzzle at hand, and it is here that I find the game lacking. You need to trigger the relevant event or puzzle before you can pick up an object. For example, you cannot pick up a mechanical gear until you find something with a missing gear. So even though you have found the object and know that you will need it at some point in the future, you cannot pick it up until an event calls for it, after which you will have to come back for it.

If you have forgotten that you have seen it, or where you have seen it, it is a painful job of backtracking and search every room again for the right object. It is annoying at times, but luckily, you do not need to backtrack too far to find most objects.

Besides this event-object tie, the game flows smoothly. The touch screen is your main playing area via a bird eye's view of the room that you are in. The top screen provides a pre-rendered graphics of your surroundings. Most areas have multiple pre-rendered pictures that you can exam. Examining is just as simple as touching the magnifying glasses that will 'drag' the pre-rendered picture down onto the touch screen, and touching whatever objects that you wish to exam. Using the touch screen is easier, as some of the objects can be quite small and you need precision in selecting them.

Puzzles are not hard. There are quite a few puzzles that you do not need to solve in order to finish the game. There are, of course, events that you must trigger in order to advance the story. It could be as simple as examining an item. D will prevent you from leaving the room until you have investigated your surrounding.

Your main objective is to find Ashley's dad, so you can miss events / puzzles that are related to D's memory. Missing them will not affect Ashley's quest, but you will not get the 'perfect' ending.

***** Graphics *****

Pre-rendered graphics are detailed and crisp. Most of the pictures are monochrome, but it fits the mood of the game. After all, it is set in an old mansion that has not been maintained in years. It would have been inappropriate to see a room lit up with a bright orange wallpaper.

On the other hand, especially with the sighting of D the ghost, it has all the right ingredients to be creepy. And it does, not in the zombie scary kind of way, but it gives off just the right amount of creepiness, more like what you would expect from a psycho thriller.

The main playing area, though, is not as elegant. The 3D models are rough. It is not bad, considering that the game was created not long after the DS is available. Put it this way, if there is anything about the graphics that you would remember, it would be the detailed pre-rendered pictures rather than the 3D gameplay graphics.

***** Sound *****

The BGM are fairly well rendered, albeit a bit short, so you would know when the music starts to repeat itself. The up side is that it is not intrusive and easy on the ears. There is not much in the way of sound effects. You might hear the radio here, and the door there. Footsteps are fairly well done. Stepping on different surface will produce different sound. It is adequate, but it's not something that will grab your attention.

***** Replay value *****

Being a linear game that it is, there are no alternative path to visit. So you will not miss any of Ashley's story. D will make sure of that when he prevents you from leaving. That said, you can finish the game without solving all the puzzles, or recover D's lost memories. And it is in the puzzle department that you would want to play it again. The puzzles are not always obvious, so you can miss (or ignore) some.

You will not get the 'perfect' ending if you do not recover D's memory.

Some of the narratives are different the second time you play, but it does not change the way the story is played. If you have missed D's memories, there are incentives to play it again, just so to recover them.

***** Overall *****

Trace Memory is an interesting concept that uses most functions on the DS. It feels like an experimental game that explores the potential of the DS. And it executes it quite beautifully. The puzzles are not overly difficult. The story is engaging, albeit dialogue driven. The only shortfall is that the game time is a bit short. But for what it's worth, it offers an entertaining experience.

Good:

* Utilises DS's functions
* Interesting plot

Bad:

* Too short
* Rough 3D graphics
* Plot could be a bit slow for some

Score (out of 10)

Plot: 8
Gameplay: 7
Graphics: 7
Sound: 7
Replay: 5

Overall: 7

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 10/15/07

Game Release: Another Code: Two Memories (EU, 06/24/05)