Article:
Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective (DS)

With all of the gaming world looking towards the impending release of the Nintendo 3DS and preparing their wallets for the gaping hole that it will leave, it’s time for the original DS to say goodbye. Cue tributes, thanks and appreciation for the titles that it provided to the gaming public, ranging from continuation of established franchises to the creation of seriously fantastic gems of games that would inevitably fail to sell massive numbers of copies, but instead cementing their positions as cult classics. It seems, then, that in saying its goodbyes to the gaming world, the DS has served up another excellent cult classic in Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, a game which effectively sums up what I felt that the Nintendo DS was about.

Ghost Trick, first and foremost, is a clever and unconventional game. Developed by Capcom, the game is presented in a ‘visual novel’ style; heavy on text, but compelling in story, similar to its Ace Attorney series. The unconventionality of this style comes through its plot, as you control Sissel, an amnesiac, recently-departed soul, and his unique spirit powers to find out his identity and the circumstances behind his death. This story is blended with a puzzle style similar to point-and-click adventures, with the gameplay revolving around Sissel’s ‘Ghost Tricks’, his ability to possess and control objects in the area, and his ability to rewind time to four minutes prior to a person’s death, to save the dead person in his quest to find information.

It’s a gameplay mechanic I’ve not seen before, and ultimately causes the player to consider the functions of every object present, to pick which to possess and consequently, use to achieve your goal of preventing some poor sap’s death. For example, if Sissel wants to reach Point B from Point A, and the only item in the path is a fridge, you can possess said fridge and open its door, thus extending the fridge’s reach to reach where you want to reach. The game requires you to study each death carefully, and spot what to do; this can be one movement, or many, and the game allows you to rewind back as many times as you want, if you make a mistake. The example of the fridge was actually a rather tame example, with the game’s Japanese origins lending their usual dose of crazy to this game; later examples of using Ghost Tricks involve getting a man stuck in playground apparatus and preventing a giant chicken falling on a woman’s head. This light-hearted craziness is brought to the dialogue too, with the script throwing up some genuinely funny moments.