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Posts with tag Mystery

Because everyone loves a good mystery

If you can't get enough of games like Touch Detective, Hotel Dusk: Room 215, and some other franchise concerned with getting to the bottom of mysteries, and your Tivo is packed with the 32 flavors of Law and Order and CSI, then Unsolved Crimes may just be the thing you've been waiting for. The recently-announced DS game, set in New York in the 1970s, gives DS owners a chance to put on their detective shoes as a rookie in the city's homicide division.

Unsolved Crimes sounds like a more serious take than some of the handheld's detective games, but the setup is certainly familiar. The title will offer nine separate cases, and several minigames, as well as touchscreen support for navigating the 3D crime scenes. We're still searching for a release date; for now, our only clue is later this year.

The mystery of the transparent people

Companies seem to be using mystery adventure games as testing grounds for weird visual styles. Tecmo's Shin Tantei series has used two completely different looks in two games, from Nishimura Kyotarou Suspense's anime style to the more realistic look of the sequel, Yamamura Misa Suspense. Yukemuri Suspense went all-out with the realism, sort of, with digitized "actors." Otoshi Kenji: Keiji-san, Watashi ga Yarimashita goes for a classic anime look.

Akagawa Jirou Mystery: Yasoukyoku from Marvelous uses prerendered (or photographic -- we can't tell!) backgrounds, with transparent human silhouette characters. This look also shows up in Nishimura Kyotarou, and we think it is designed to allow you to investigate the background through the people in the scene.

And speaking of Akagawa Jirou Mystery, Marvelous is currently holding a promotion in which fans submit mystery stories to the official website for a chance to receive a book signed by author Akagawa Jirou.

Yukemuri Suspense's real-world adventure

Zenrin's Yukemuri Suspense (Steam Suspense) uses real-world locations and maps of Japan in its mystery story, sending players (virtually) to landmarks and hotspots. More screens of the investigative adventure game have come out showing the digitized, realistic style of the game, and, well, we don't know what to say. We had this vague hope that the total-realism approach would imbue the game with a serious, dramatic tone. But it doesn't! It's just kind of goofy. We suppose you still have to hire realistic actors.

The latest Famitsu post about the game mentions that not only are the locations in this murder-mystery real, but so are the lodgings and the food served. It's a mystery game as a travel guide! We can look past silly faces and appreciate the innovation.

Stay away from the Mystery Dungeon if you value your humanity

Pokemon Mystery Dungeon featured the story of a human who gets transformed into a Pokemon and ends up exploring a big dungeon with a team of Pokemon. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon 2 features the story of a human who gets transformed into a Pokemon and enters the fast-paced world of fashion design. Or does the human explore a big dungeon? We always get the two mixed up. Now that we think about it, it's definitely the dungeon one.

We're willing to accept that an entire society is built around the concept of capturing animals and making them fight. We're okay with the idea of technologically rendering said animals pocket-sized for convenience. But this? Preposterous.

More Pokemon, more mystery, and more dungeons


Chunsoft is already hard at work on the sequel to Pokémon Mystery Dungeon, a process that they should have down by now after God knows how many licensed Roguelikes. The new one looks pretty much just like the last one, but with new critters. This should not be a surprise to anyone who has ever played, seen, or heard of Pokémon. Check out the screens at GAME Watch and see if you're interested in another journey into the cave of monsters.

We have two theories about the sales of this game: either they'll be boosted by renewed Pokémania due to the recent release of Diamond and Pearl, or they'll be reduced due to the fact that fans are satisfied with the real games and don't need to go into spinoff land. What do you think?

Sleuth site and a detective demo

It's doubtful that any publishers will ever pick up Detective Saburo Jinguji for North American localization, but with adventure titles making a comeback on the DS, maybe it's not that farfetched of a dream?

Developer Arc System Works has posted a teaser site to drum up interest for the seasoned private eye's DS debut, detailing some of the its features and providing a Flash demo for visitors to try out. Though the trial consists mostly of Japanese dialogue and menus, it's a nice preview of the game's jazzy soundtrack and photographic presentation. Plus, if you investigate the crime scene enough, you might come across some familiar consoles!

Hardboiled detective title coming to the DS, but not the US

Celebrating the 20th anniversary of Tantei Jinguuji Saburou's (Detective Saburo Jinguji) debut on the Famicom Disk System, WorkJam plans to bring the adventure game series to the DS. Despite appearing on a multitude of consoles ranging from mobile phones to the PS2, the chain-smoking sleuth's bebop-jazz-filled murder mysteries haven't yet been localized for the US audience.

Given the success of Phoenix Wright and Hotel Dusk in the states, both of them also being adventure titles, perhaps we'll finally see an English translation for this one? Come on Atlus, we can cross Touch Detective 2 off the possible-projects list and bring this gumshoe game over instead, right?

Players investigate their cases through menu-based interrogations and actions, piecing together clues found at crime scenes while taking Saburo through Shinjuku's tough streets. Bring your magnifying glass and deerstalker hat past the post break for screenshots of the stylish DS title and a gameplay trailer from the series' GBA release, Detective Saburo Jinguji: The Woman With the White Shadow.

Continue reading Hardboiled detective title coming to the DS, but not the US

Halo DS ... never existed?

lolcluezPut on your sleuthing caps, ladies and gents, we have a bonafide mystery on our hands. Surely you remember, with chagrin and unfulfilled longing, the news of the canceled Halo DS project, reported by IGN editor-in-chief Matt Casamassina. He even went so far as to say that he played the title, and love him or hate him, Matt tends to speak verily.

Enter: last night's San Francisco Halo 3 beta event. The Bungie team, responsible for the development of all things Halo, were interviewed by numerous gaming outlets and media sources, including one Rumor Reporter. When asked about the ill-fated Halo DS, Bungie's Brian Gerrard, Director of Franchise and Community Affairs, commented, "Wow, I have never heard or seen such a project, nor do we have plans for any DS Halo title."

We doubt either of these two respected news sources were lying or mistaken, which leaves the question: who made the mysterious Halo DS, the one Matt C. played? There's only one obvious answer, of course.

Shiggy made it.

[Thanks, Bruce!]

Touch Detective 2 on the way?

We can't decide if this is surprising or not, but from the new page at the Success site, it looks like Mackenzie will be back (with her funny-shaped pal) for another round of quirky mysteries. Considering the mixed reviews, we can't say we expected another Touch Detective game immediately, but hey! What fun would it be if the industry didn't offer up a few surprises here and there, amirite?

For now, we'll hope that they focus on the things they got right with the first installment -- like the humor, art style, and characters -- and work a little on the opaque mysteries that were, at times, somewhat like pounding one's face with a sledgehammer.

[Via 4cr]

Less cool Hotel Dusk box

Reader KLind is looking forward to Hotel Dusk just as much as we are, and after we sighed over the Japanese boxart for the graphical adventure, KLind tipped us off to the box floating around various online retail outlets. We've used the image before ourselves, but hoped it was just a placeholder. Tragically, it looks like this is the real deal for the English language version. It may not be as slick and sinister as the Japanese version, but at least it shows off the look of the game. Still, we're sad.

But we'll play it anyway.

[Thanks, KLind!]

New adventure game coming for DS


Sinking Island
, an adventure game coming to a PC near you come February, is to be available on a DS near you soon, as well. A mystery/adventure title from White Birds, Sinking Island is the first in what is to be a series of games starring a middle-aged PI named Jack Norm. The premise of Sinking Island actually has Jack traversing an island sinking from the massive weight of a hotel built upon it.

Pre-production on the game has begun, however White Birds did not comment on a release date for the DS version of the game.

[Via Go Nintendo]

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