While the Nintendo DS is gracefully closing its curtains to make way for the upcoming Nintendo 3DS; it doesn’t mean that it’s game over for this nifty little console. They say sometimes you save the best for last, and it certainly proved this way for “Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective.â€
Ghost Trick was published early January (around June for the Japanese) and was created by genius Shu Takami the same creator of Ace Attorney Series. It was voted 2nd best DS game of 2010 just trailing after Okamiden and it certainly did not disappoint.
Ghost Trick is well you guessed it…about a ghost who can do tricks. The premise of the game is about the protagonist Sissel waking up as a ghost but lost all the memories of his life. However he is able to manipulate objects and turn back the clock four minutes after someone has just died in order to save them. Now your goal is to help Sissel retrieve what truly happened during his death and prevent other people from suffering the same fate as Sissel.
The game play is mostly puzzle-laden on how to move objects with crucial timing to achieve the desired outcome. The game play tends to be repetitive because you are bound to experience a lot of trial and error to get things right. But I don’t really consider it a set-back because all the more the determination sets in to solve the puzzle and make you feel “it’s that simple†afterwards.
What really sets this game apart in my opinion is the story. Like its famous predecessor “Ace Attorney†the game starts off with simple mysteries that lead to complicated conclusions. Furthermore the character development was well made so it’s really hard to expect anything as the story progresses. Let’s just say no one really looked like what they seem…Literally! I’ll give you that hint. Also I would like to say the humor was put to good use too so the game still had that light-hearted feel. It just shows Takumi and his team are certainly ingenious writers.
All-in-all I would say I underestimated Ghost Trick by a long-shot. I expected the NDS would just release mediocre new games in preparation to hype up 3DS but I was pleasantly corrected. The new games NDS offers especially this one would make you think twice of putting away your trusty old hand-held console just yet. I hope more people would give this game a try I assure you the twist of the game’s plot is “certainly to die for.†I guess you really can teach old dogs new tricks or in this case ghosts and older model consoles.