#3: Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective
Nintendo DS
Capcom
Released January 11, 2011
It's true that Capcom deserves hate for the way they tried their best to kill their fanbase over 2011, but before any of that happened they released one of the greatest games of the year, an adventure game from Ace Attorney writer Shu Takumi.
Ghost Trick stars Sissel, who starts the game by finding out that he's dead. Something is happening in the city today, and it's up to Sissel to find out the big mystery surrounding the city, as well as find out who he is and why he's dead in the first place. To do this, he has the power to control several inanimate objects to do several tasks. Sissel also has the power to rewind time after a person has died to three minutes prior to death, and finding a way to use Sissel's ghost tricks to save the person's life is the main focus of most of the puzzles in the game. Each chapter has a certain puzzle from the various objects placed around the level, and Sissel is usually tasked with preventing someone's death due to certain events. Halfway through the game, another character appears with a new twist on the puzzles: he can switch items with identical shape, no matter how big or small they are, adding more depth to the puzzles within the game.
While the puzzle aspect of Ghost Trick has great depth, the main part of the game is its characters and story. Most of the characters are expertly written with some very unique personalities, including Detectives Lynne and Jowd, as well as the dancing Inspector Cabanela. Even the dog Missile has his own unique personality that is explored in this game as he is also a victim of death like the others early on.
The story of Ghost Trick is simply amazing. While the mystery in the beginning starts off slow, at a certain point later on the story starts to unravel and it becomes like a good book. You can't put it down and you need to know what happens next (my 3DS says that I played it for three straight hours until I got to the end). The reveals at the end and the ending itself are also exceptional, and some of the curveballs the game throws out just show how well the story was developed for this game.
In the graphics department, the game is very well produced for a Nintendo DS game, and has some quality animation with various characters (specifically Inspector Cabanela and the dancing policeman). The music is great from start to finish, and is also done by Ace Attorney composer Masakazu Sugimori. Like always, some of the highlight tracks are listed below.
Ghost Trick is a pretty short game, taking about 10 hours to fully explore the puzzles and read through the story. Basically, get drawn in by the puzzles and stay for the amazing characters and story. It's an experience you probably will not regret.
Soundtrack Links
Main Theme -
Lynne's Theme -
The Last Desperate Struggle -
Epilogue ~ The End of the "Night" -
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Congrats to 2011 Rivalry Rumble Guru winner, SuperNiceDog
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