Touch Detective

The game's premise, as per the title, is all about a wannabe detective that can touch things within the game. The story revolves around a young girl by the name of Mackenzie who is desperate to become a detective just like others in her family (since she has just inherited the business from her family) and, along with the help of her pet Funghi and butler Cromwell, has to trudge her way through four unusual cases to prove her worth. Along the way she meets a whole slew of strange and rather amusing characters, including the ditzy Penelope and her close friend, yet major rival in the detective stakes, Chloe.

The beauty of Touch Detective is in its style. Whereas the main characters are not wonderfully modelled in three-dimensions, instead looking a little basic and out-of-place, the actual backgrounds and art style used throughout the game in general are very appealing indeed. The surroundings all have a hand-drawn / sketched appearance, similar to the method of drawing used in games like Yoshi's Island, except a little tidier on the whole. The most interesting way this style is used is via the 'cut-scenes' that take the form of large, close-up images that show much more detail and give the game its own unique identity and brilliant charm (at least for a DS game).

 

But what is a mystery game without mysterious music? Well, certainly not Touch Detective, that is for sure. The game is so light-hearted and humorous and the music tends to follow suit throughout. Whenever you have stupid interruptions from your annoying friend Chloe, the music adopts a quirky nature that fits in with the ridiculous situation that is normally taking place on-screen. In general it might not be a soundtrack you would expect from a run-of-the-mill adventure game, but then again the style (as already mentioned) is not exactly the norm, so everything fits in just nicely.

BeeWorks and Success must have clearly looked at the Nintendo DS and thought how perfect it is for the point-and-click genre, with the stylus taken on the role of a PC mouse moving and clicking. And how right they are! From the very start of the game, thing falls perfectly into place as all you have to do is click where you want Mackenzie to walk and off she trots. Or perhaps you want her to rummage through those draws in the corner of the room? No problem, just tap on the specific draw you want to nose through and off she goes. It is the same case when you are ready to interrogate someone, with a mere tap on them opening up the speech side of the gameplay, and various conversation topics being just one click away as well.

 

So, for all intents and purposes, Touch Detective does what it says on the tin, and is so responsive and intuitive even for complete novices, that it proves to be a resounding success (no pun intended). For those unaware of just how a point-and-click game actually works, other than the basic controls I have just explained, the basis is that you must collect various items within the game and use them to help with the progression of your investigation. This is as well as using interrogation techniques to weasel information out of those around you in order to get to the bottom of 'whodunnit'. It might sound extremely simple, but unless you start thinking logically, yet often 'outside the box logically' as well (if that makes ANY sense whatsoever!), you will definitely be stumped for a considerable time. This means that not only do you have to ask the right questions and use items in the correct manner, but also show evidence to people to open up new conversation threads and mix certain items together to create new ones that will be the key to cracking the case.

As for what is on offer, there are four cases, ranging from a horrific crime to a dastardly, near fatal attack on another life. Now, what needs to be remembered is that Touch Detective is a quirky little adventure, full on strange-looking folk that look like they would be more comfortable appearing in Tim Burton's Nightmare Before Christmas and the primary theme is one of humour rather than deadly serious action. But rather than spoiling the actual surprises, that is all I will say on the matter. Take the game with a pinch of salt, as it should be, and you will find yourself having a very enjoyable time working your way through.

 

Games in this particular field either float or sink depending on their puzzles and the amount of questioning required for the duration of play. Now, Touch Detective has some extremely amusing, clever and downright crazy puzzles to solve, but unfortunately relies too much at times on lengthy bouts of saying one line to a person, checking a certain item, then going back to say another line to the same person, before trekking over to quickly look at some other item. This means you will find that whilst superb fun to play through for the main part, it lacks the final shine that would lift it up to the level of Monkey Island and/or Broken Sword. However, in its own right, with the playing field so empty on the DS right now, it slides in very nicely next to Another Code and the two Phoenix Wright games. As long as you remember that nothing is really as it seems and make sure you try every weird scenario, then you will fall in love with this charming game (it even makes use of the top screen for showing Mackenzie's inner thoughts