Touch Detective

"They Might Let Her Into the Detective Agency, but She's On Probation"

Detectives tend to be involved in all sorts of nasty predicaments. Murder. Intrigue. Funny looking trench coats. All part of the typical day for most detectives, and that's all before lunch. However, for Mackenzie, an aspiring detective in the DS title Touch Detective, life and mysteries are much more mild than the fare you find in most movies and books. While Touch Detective might sound like the title of some raunchy, late night Cinemax movie, those expecting a mature adventure in this game are bound to be sorely disappointed. While crimes abound in Mackenzie's neighborhood (apparently a very rough part of town), the malfeasance is always a bit on the light side and nothing truly dangerous ever occurs. Touch Detective definitely looks like it was designed with a younger audience in mind, and the entire game has a very cartoony feel to it. And while the title isn't particularly complex and is probably a little too straightforward and simple, those looking for a point and click adventure might find something that will keep them entertained for a day or two.

Touch Detective stars Mackenzie, a little girl with lofty aspirations. While most her age are more concerned with the Jonas Brothers, she's seeking admittance into the super elite detective agency in order to continue the family business (recently left to her by her deceased father). Unfortunately, in her efforts to do so she has run into something of a snag. In order to join the other detectives, they require four mysteries to be solved by a detective before allowing anyone to enter, and without this prerequisite they will only laugh at you from the window while doing whatever secret elite detective agencies do (presumably solving crimes and wrestling bears). Luckily for Mackenzie, there are four cases to solve in Touch Detective (what an amazing coincidence) and if she can solve them all, she just might gain the reputation she has been looking for. The game is episodic in nature, and each episode contains a different case. While none of the cases are particularly bad, what is unfortunate is that there aren't any that are really noteworthy or exciting. It isn't that the cases are set-up poorly, because the premise behind all of them is actually rather whimsical and enchanting. Whether the case involves you investigating an assault on the star performer of a flea circus or trying to figure out who exactly is stealing the dreams of your friend (at least they left her hope and ambition), the set up to each of these cases is very unique, and there is something charming about the way the cases are presented. However, as each of the cases progress they quickly become boring and the writing and story provided is not strong enough to carry the premise of these cases to an interesting conclusion. The plot becomes predictable quickly, and in all of them you should be able to figure out exactly where the case is headed in the first ten minutes.

In most of the cases, too much time is spent focusing on tasks that are only tangentially related to the case, and the gameplay was not integrated into the stories very well. The cases themselves too often takes a back seat to trivial fetch quests, where Mackenzie must complete some menial or uninteresting task to proceed with the story. The pacing in the cases really isn't that effective, and there never seems to be a good sense of direction or any real urgency to figure out what is going on. Despite the long down periods, most of the cases still are fairly enjoyable and the plot is better than in some comparable point and click games. In particular, the fourth and final case, which revolves around an assault on some miniature circus stars is set up so well that I enjoyed myself even during the slow bits. The premises behind the cases are all unique and the idea of a detective solving these sort of whimsical, fantasy cases is actually a very promising concept. If the pacing was a better and the story told somewhat more effectively, Touch Detective would have been extremely memorable.

There are a variety of people in town to interact with as Mackenzie looks for clues to the cases she's working on, but too many of them have nothing interesting to say and spend most of the game repeating the same couple of lines. While the cast is somewhat small, and many of the minor characters are forgettable filler, some members of the main cast are well written and somewhat endearing. Mackenzie friend and rival Chloe (although the rivalry exists primarily in Chloe's mind) makes solving the cases more enjoyable as she typically has something funny to say or some sort of outlandish theory to promote. The ringmaster in the final case is also humorous and had me chuckling at nearly everything he said. There are several other interesting and quirky characters that populate the game, including your tinkering butler Cromwell who helps to guide you throughout many of the cases with inventions of varying utility, a walrus who has grown sick of the cold, and a shark with an affinity for sweets and a disturbing talent. Unfortunately, the town is populated with its fair share of throwaway characters, and Mackenzie herself really isn't that interesting compared to other members of the main cast. The top screen is filled with a portrait of her, to allow her to express her thought or frown when Chloe says something insane, but it really isn't utilized well enough to become any more familiar with her as a character. She typically just says “interesting” or “huh” or stares blankly, and most of her character is developed through the dialogue. While this is typically how characters are developed so it doesn't detract much from the overall experience, it seems like a waste of a screen and a poorly implemented idea. She really isn't a bad character, and has some interesting reactions to some people or items in the game, but you don't really learn much about her other than she wants to be a detective and knows King Midas' dirty secret.

The gameplay is fairly straightforward for a point-and-click game. The DS works very well for this genre, and the stylus is integrated nicely into the gameplay. In order for Mackenzie to solve all of the cases, she'll need to look for evidence and talk to people. And, of course, all of these actions are controlled using the stylus. By tapping around the screen, you make Mackenzie walk and by tapping on certain objects, she can either interact with it or pick it up. Items that can be picked up can be investigated further, and you can either take something apart to get a useful piece out of it or put things together by combining certain objects. This lead to some interesting puzzles throughout the game, including the ongoing puzzle of why nobody stopped you from touching their stuff. In order to figure out how to mend a butterfly net or find the last stamp needed for a free treat at the pastry shop, you'll have to not only carefully look through each of the areas, but through your inventory as well. Some of these puzzles are fairly brainless, but others are going to require some thought. Challenges like this rise at a decent pace throughout the game, and solving some of the more difficult ones is fairly rewarding.

Unfortunately, most of the puzzles in the game are very straightforward and don't require too much thought. Most of the progress is made by just talking to everyone at every opportunity you get. If the conversation were interesting, this wouldn't be much of a problem, but too many of the characters you interact with are boring and drone endlessly about nothing (one admits as much at the end of the game, which really made me wish Mackenzie had something to hit him with). The game also doesn't give you much direction, so you'll probably end up talking to these same boring characters over and over again hoping some new line of dialogue appears that will allow you to proceed in your quest. This can grow somewhat tedious, and it becomes easy to get stuck because of some minor thing you might have overlooked. However, it never becomes so frustrating that you won't be able to figure it out if you think about it or go back through and talk to the characters. The game does require a decent amount of backtracking, but it really isn't so obtrusive as to interfere with the game.

Backtracking is easy primarily because all of the areas are so small, which is the only nice thing about the layout of the locations in the game. There are a total of six different places for Mackenzie to explore, and none of them are particularly interesting. Rather than new locations specific for each case, the number of locations you can visit increases as you progress in the game. Thus, most of the levels are reused and there is typically only one new place to explore for each case. The areas themselves tend to be tiny, and the largest areas tend to not take up more than two screens. With all the time spent making whimsical characters and scenarios, it is somewhat confusing that the locations were not made into anything special or memorable. As they are so small, it never takes long to figure out what to do or where to go, as even if you need to go through everywhere available and touch everything, it won't take more than twenty minutes or so. However, I would rather have to take more time to explore everything if it meant more complex locations that were actually somewhat interesting.

Like the locations you explore, the game itself is fairly short. There are four different cases to solve, and each one only lasts a couple of hours, meaning Touch Detective can probably be finished over a weekend. There are a couple of extra things to do, including exploring the bonus case and finding everything on the touch list. By touching everything you see (and creeping everyone around you out due to the obsessive way you keep trying to touch the ground), Mackenzie can fill out a touch list, which basically keeps track of some of the more unique items you come in contact with and Mackenzie feelings about them. This isn't particularly interesting to look through and the comments about them really aren't worth reading. The cactus is prickly, you say? Did you really need to touch it first to figure that out, because I think I could've filled out the touch list without getting needles stuck in my hand. The bonus case is more worthwhile and has you traveling the town in order to help everyone with some minor problems. These range from helping Cromwell and his team of hide-and-seekers prepare for their regional tournament (good to see he has a hobby, I guess) to preparing a suitable beverage for an athlete in town to just talking to some people again. While this doesn't add that much to the game, it is nice to go through all of these little sidequests because they supplement the main cases nicely and some of them are fairly humorous.

The visuals in the game are interesting, and in a weird way complement the mood of Touch Detective nicely. The characters in particular have interesting designs, and bright yellow sharks are found next to dapper and conservative human characters. All of the main cast has a unique design that is easily distinguishable from the rest, but most of the supporting case looks like the same zombie humanoid. The backgrounds are nicely colored, but are not as detailed as some environments found in similar point and click adventures on the DS. There really isn't too much to look at, but what is there is similar to a Sunday morning cartoon. The visuals themselves are pretty nice, but it would have been better if many of the areas didn't look so empty. The music and sounds that accompany the adventure are utterly forgettable, but there is nothing so bad as to interfere with the cases or annoy you as you search for evidence.

Looking back, there really isn't much to complain about in Touch Detective, and there is nothing particularly bad or off putting about it. Unfortunately, it never really does anything really well either, and it falls just short of being a really good game. There's a lot of promise here. The cases and characters, while on the simple side, are fairly charming and memorable. The script, while not funny enough to make you laugh out loud, is humorous enough to draw multiple smiles. And the gameplay, while poorly paced and fairly straightforward, works well with DS and includes some decent puzzles. Had any of these things been improved slightly, then Touch Detective would be a game to recommend to anyone who had a DS, because what is there is already pretty good. As it stands, it is still a pretty fun game that fans of the genre should enjoy. It has a lot of charm and a solid premise, and a little improvement in the execution in any possible sequels would give the DS yet another great series to follow.

Sherlock Holmes (THE GOOD):
+Interesting premises behind most of the cases
+Pretty good script with laughs sprinkled throughout the game
+Several likable characters keep the cases interesting
+Interesting visuals that complement the mood of the game nicely
+Gameplay is straightforward and DS touch screen is nicely implemented
+A decent amount of puzzles to solve

Moriarty (THE BAD):
-Very short; each case should only take an hour or two
-Too much of the game requires little to no thinking and advances are made just by talking to people
-Poor pacing throughout the cases makes the game drag too often
-Cases tend to fizzle out midway through and do not end as well as they start
-Forgettable music and sound
-Areas are very small and reused repeatedly

The Hardy Boys (THE UGLY): Mackenzie needs to fill out her touch list as part of her summer homework, as assigned to her by her teacher. Strangely enough, a lot of the things on the touch list are either people or something that someone is wearing. Homework over the summer is lamesauce. Homework over the summer that is kind of creepy and will get you labeled as the girl who won't stop touching people is super lamesauce. Mackenzie needs to stop investigating who stole the last cookie and start figuring out what the deal is with her teacher and his or her creepy assignments.

THE VERDICT: 5.75/10.00

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 05/26/09, Updated 08/28/09

Game Release: Touch Detective (US, 10/24/06)