While it’s still unclear whether or not the game will also appear on other platforms, the trailer had a lot to analyze. While running away from a Tigrex, a hunter is seen jumping (gasp!) to various rock structures before they’re smashed to bits, not just landing on top, but clinging to sides from a jump as well. And just when things get really vertical, you can see the Tigrex climb the side of the rock face in pursuit of the hunter.

Things get real interesting when a Rathalos shows up and the entire play field gets knocked over, making a steep slope out of what use to be flat land. There seems to be no wall the hunter can’t climb as he dodges fireballs while hanging on for dear life. As the Rathalos draws near, the hunter pulls out a smaller weapon independent of his great sword to attack the monster while in a climbing position.

Finally, the most exciting addition comes when the hunter jumps onto the back of the Rathalos itself in what appears to be a Dragon’s Dogma inspired grapple system. The same smaller weapon is seen stabbing the back of the Rathalos after it falls out of the sky, hunter and all. His great sword is then drawn as the logo flies onto the screen.

Throughout the entire trailer, the hunter is seen moving through a rather large environment without any abrupt transitions. Could this be the seamless environments we wrote about in our wishlist earlier this year?

It looks like Monster Hunter 4 has quite a bit of new features if this trailer is any indication. More dynamic levels, jumping (which may or may not be context sensitive), more open and seemingly faster climbing options (including climbing monsters themselves), and possibly some sort of sub-weapon.

Did you notice anything we didn’t in the trailer below? Let us know in the comments!

Source: Ustream (video captured via Nintendo Everything) with analysis help from Milo

Capcom gave the official word on the cancellation of Mega Man Legends 3 today on their blog. With the game still not greenlit, the prototype delayed indefinitely, and dev room blog updates slowing down to a trickle, the writing was certainly on the wall. Still, after over a decade of waiting for a sequel, it is a mighty blow to fans of the series.

With the cancellation of Mega Man Universe and Mega Man creator Keiji Inafune’s departure still fresh in mind, the news of Legends 3‘s death has led many to wonder what the future holds for the blue bomber. Maybe now we can get a Mega Man Legends Official Complete Works art book. Too Soon?

Source: Capcom Unity

I’ve been a bit irresponsible when it comes to Dragon’s Dogma. I had my first taste of the game a couple months back while at Captivate 2011. In lieu of there being any Mega Man titles, Dragon’s Dogma was easily my favorite of Capcom’s offerings (and this was still the case at E3). I fully intended to report my impressions on the game back then, but I sort of just… let it fall by the wayside. It would be a travesty to make the same mistake twice, so I’ll now, finally, regale you my impressions along with data I picked up from Captivate.

Dragon’s Dogma is a completely new game from Capcom, which we were told at Captivate has been in development for the past four years. It’s an action adventure title set in a Tolkein-esque world of mythos. I’m not quite clear on the game’s story, but you essentially play as a warrior tasked with hunting down and killing a mysterious dragon with the power to threaten mankind (and naturally, as seen in the trailers, there’s an evil culty guy wanting to use its power). On the other hand, said dragon has a bond with the main protagonist (since it kinda ripped out the main protagonist’s heart), and speaks to him telepathically and gives him tasks to fulfill, hence the name Dragon’s Dogma.

Some have been noted to consider this game Monster Hunter for westerners, or Monster Hunter if it were made by BioWare. To an extent I have a hard time disagreeing. You essentially run around in an open world taking quests and hunting various big monsters like hydras and griffins. You can be joined in adventure by up to three AI controlled heroes called Pawns, and issue them basic commands in battle like “attack” or “fall back.” While not perfect, Pawns can be surprisingly efficient, and in most cases my smothering defeats were due to my Pawns getting wiped out (you can revive them if they’re felled, and vice-versa, but I just wasn’t paying attention).

Another factor that makes it similar to Monster Hunter is that there’s no RPG-style skill system. Every means to improve yourself is based on finding, buying or making new equipment. Even the magic based mage class doesn’t have stats like MP or such; the effectiveness of the spells they use is based on how long they chant its incantation. Thus Dragon’s Dogma becomes a lot more focused on skill and action rather than balancing statistics. Big monsters are also similar in that you have to learn their attack patterns to get an upper hand on them, and certain parts of their bodies are more vulnerable than others. However, there is a system in place unlike Monster Hunter that lets you grab onto virtually and part of the monster and climb around on it, as well as attack it while attached.

There are three classes available. Fighters, who specialize in brute strength. They wield a big sword and shield, but it sounded like they might even have elements of hand to hand or unarmed combat as well. I’m not certain how this would work, but it would be awesome to just punch a griffin in the face. Striders are they light and swift class. They are armed with short swords as well as bows. Mages, as I mentioned above, use magic spells and incantations. While they seem to have offensive ability, they are just as useful in support since they can heal you and imbue your weapons with special attributes in the midst of action.

The game is wrapped in an over-arching story, but as I said it’s open world and you can seemingly follow events at your own pace. You’re free to wander the land, which we were told at Captivate would take roughly an hour to traverse on foot. Events are always taking place; you might come across a town being attacked by a big monster, for example. It’s to your discretion whether you jump in and help or keep on walking. The outcome of your decision may affect later events. There is also a day and night cycle that affects the availability of some events and such. Towns themselves are customizable, although it wasn’t explained how this worked exactly. But the option is available to have a town attract certain classes above others. All NPCs in towns are fully voiced, have their own attributes, and are capable of being potential Pawns. Your own character is also customizable, and even attributes like the weight of his weapons and the length of his legs will have an impact on his performance. However, since the game does have an implicit story in the background, I’m unsure if it will put limitations on character customization (if you can make your character a woman, etc).

The original demo at Captivate had a fight with some orcs, which quickly sprawled into a battle with a griffin. This demo was also available at E3, as well as another that had you surviving an attack from the dragon, making your way through some catacombs and then fighting a chimera-esque beast (which I think they called a Wyrm). Everything is pretty dynamic in what can happen in a battle. Your Pawns can grab onto smaller enemies and hold them down for you to kill, and you can then use their carcasses as bait to attract bigger beasts. The fighter class can launch you into the air to grab onto flying enemies. Mages can imbue your weapons with fire, and then attack a monster will set them aflame. It was pretty impressive to see the griffin get hit with a flaming arrow and come crashing to the ground in a blaze. The big monsters get noticeably deformed and banged up as you assault them.

There are some setbacks. The controls can be a bit cumbersome to get a handle on, as pretty much every button is utilized. Outside of jumping, your main buttons are also used for different attack types, but I found myself usually sticking to just one button. Also like I said, Pawns are pretty helpful but they’re not perfect. Every time a Pawn does some assist move, such as grabs an enemy or prepares a spell to help you, the action slows down and the camera pans over to where the Pawn is. I can understand why they made it do this, but it really pulls you out of what you’re currently doing. Pawns also have a tendency to talk a bit too much and say the same lines over and over. Then they can just sometimes do silly things. In one instance of the griffin battle, the mage kept climbing onto the griffin where he was useless to everyone. Admittedly, I noticed most of these things more from the Captivate build; the E3 build was a bit better. They also gave monsters plenty more health, giving big boss monsters stacked health bars. This was great because the griffin got ridiculously easy to beat at Captivate.

I was also bummed that I couldn’t carve parts off the griffin after killing it, but that’s an aspect I think I’ll have to live with.

The guy I chose to tape here wasn’t quite getting the hang of the demo, so this is not the most exciting footage around.

One of the things I really look forward to in Dragon’s Dogma is its online capabilities. As fun as the game is looking so far, I can see it being many times more fun by replacing the Pawns with your online friends. Capcom has yet to get into details about the online mechanics. While it was announced at Captivate it would make use of online, they wouldn’t reveal anything more than “it will have a twist,” to paraphrase.

Dragon’s Dogma is set to release for Xbox 360 and Playstation 3, expected sometime in 2012. I can tell you that I’m definitely looking forward to this one, and if you have a taste for open world action games that are full of depth, I think you should be too.

Today, Sony has announced the PSP Remaster Title Series. The first game to get the HD treatment (at least in Japan) is none other than Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, the latest (yet to be released in North America) game in the main series.

Monster Hunter Portable 3rd HD Version will allow players to experience the game in all its uprezzed glory. You’ll also be able to make use of the second analogue stick for camera control. That’s right. No more hand cramping claws!

If you’re an importer like me, you might be thinking, “This is great, but does it mean I have to start all over and lose my current progress?” The answer is a resounding no! You’ll be able to transfer your save back and forth between the PSP and PS3 version letting you make use of the more comfortable home setup without sacrificing your portability when you go out. You can also use adhoc party to play with other people regardless of which system they’re on. That’s cross-platform hunting!

There’s no word yet on a North American release, but you can always make your voices heard at Capcom Unity. In the meantime, take a look at the official comparison video below.

News Credit: Capcom Unity

Dynamic Hunting appears to take a page from the Infinity Blade book (which had already taken a page from the Punch-Out!! book), boiling down the experience to simplified 1-on-1 battles. It’s strange to see such a deep game like Monster Hunter streamlined down to such a basic concept. Even the highly detailed behavioral tells have been scrapped in favor of a standard health bar. Still, we should all try to remember that this is a spinoff, not the next iteration. Who knows? Maybe it will be a gateway drug to ease in newcomers.

Capcom plans to release Monster Hunter Dynamic Hunting for iPhone and iPod touch in June. In the meantime, you can see video of the game (from Famitsu) below.

If you read the site frequently or are a long time listener of our podcast, you’ve probably picked up on the fact that most of the staff here really likes the Monster Hunter series. With each new iteration, the games see a lot of refinement. Having spent over 100 hours with the currently Japan-only Monster Hunter Portable 3rd, I can honestly say it’s really hard to go back to Monster Hunter Tri, a game we collectively decided to call the #3 best game of 2010.

That said, when spending hundreds of hours with the same game, you still run the risk of things going a bit stale. While I’m still having a great time with Portable 3rd, I can’t help but think what the future of Monster Hunter might bring. Call it wishful thinking, but here are some of my ideas on how the series could continue to improve.

Seamless Environments

Monster Hunter maps are traditionally divided into smaller areas connected by load times. What if the entire map was seamless? Of course, this would probably require the game to be on an HD console to be able to load such large areas. Imagine it, though. You look up in the distance and can actually see the tiny silhouette of a Rathalos roosting on top of a mountain, miles away. Finally, the binoculars item would really come in handy!

The minimap would still have numbers marking different areas for easy communication between teammates, but the areas would now transition gradually. Would this make paint balls useless? Hardly! Monster Hunter maps are known for their detail, elevation changes, and cavernous sections. While the ability to see monsters in the distance would give you an edge on tracking, it would still be easy to lose track of an unpainted monster, especially if it was far away.

Guilds and Comprehensive Online

Online is a bit hit or miss for the series. The PSP games require the PS3′s adhoc party or other more complicated means to play online with other hunters. Tri was a big step in the right direction, letting players meet online with relative ease. It wasn’t without its drawbacks, though.

For the most part, people are surprisingly friendly online. However, you’ll occasionally run into a griefer. These players take pleasure in screwing up other players, and Tri had no method in place for reporting them. This should be fixed.

Friend lists are nice, but how about a full-on Guild System? This way you could meet up with “friends of friends” easily when you needed extra hunters. You’d also have the added personal touch of belonging to a Guild with a custom name (The Minegarde Maulers, anyone?) and even an emblem. How cool would it be to have you’re very own, hand-drawn guild emblem featured prominently on your armor?

Seasons

Map variety is important to Monster Hunter to help eliminate repetition. Making tons of new maps takes a lot of resources, especially since each one is so incredibly detailed. The day and night versions help stretch the numbers already, but seasons could help even further. A season system based on actual game time could easily become a nuisance, but if it was handled just like time of day, where every mission is simply assigned a season, it could work.

Custom Quest Builder

Building custom quests would take a lot of checks and balances in order to not break the game. For one, you would only be able to use monsters that you’ve already defeated previously. Secondly, all rewards and quest fees would have to be determined dynamically based on what you made the quest consist of. This would avoid people being able to exploit things by setting high rewards for easy quests. The hunter rank required to take on the mission should also be generated dynamically.

You’d likely also have to limit which maps certain large monsters can appear in. Letting you fight an ice monster in a volcano might be a little too weird. If you can complete the quest yourself (or with friends), you could then be approved to post it online for others to enjoy.

Advanced Dynamic Scaling

One really interesting aspect of Monter Hunter is how you can encounter varying sizes of the same creature. In current games, the entire model is scaled up or down ever so slightly to increase the sense of variety. I’d like to see that taken one step further.

What if select parts were scaled independent of the model? Imagine seeing a Barioth whose tusks were longer than normal. The larger size could also increase the drop rate of that specific carve. This extra level of dynamic scaling could be hard to pull off, but it would be a fantastic addition, increasing both the variety and sense of realism to the already very immersive ecosystem.

————————————

These are just some of the ideas I believe could push the series further. What do you think? Do you have some ideas of your own you’d like to see Capcom implement? Let us know in the comments!

The most successful promoter will get a free Nintendo 3DS, the new D-Arts Rockman X figure, a Servbot Bobble Bud, and a Mega Man Legends 3 poster. Second and third place will get these prizes as well (minus the 3DS). Additionally, there are a few special prizes winners will be able to choose from including an alternate signed Mega Man Legends 3 poster and complete copies of Mega Man X and Mega Man 8.

To read the contest rules, go to the official contest page. To see the fabulous prizes you could win, check out this post. But you better hurry! The contest ends May 31st.

“Tales From the Backlog” is a series of articles in which WingDamage Editor-in-Chief, Jonah Gregory, finally gets around to playing through the many games he has collected throughout the years.

Well folks, it looks like I already blew it. This series of articles was started as nothing more than an excuse for me to play through old video games, specifically ones that I either completely missed or never finished back when they were new. But with Mega Man Legends, it turns out I actually did complete it way back when.

Still, it was a great excuse to play through what is a more enjoyable experience than I was expecting.

That may have come out sounding more like a backhanded compliment than intended. The truth of the matter is, our memories are dirty liars. There are so many games from the PS1 era that don’t hold up (I’m not singling it out, N64 is at least as guilty of this, if not more so), that I was very worried Mega Man Legends was going to fall into that category.

Booting up Mega Man Legends for the first time since the late 90′s ended up being a huge nostalgia trip for me. Once I was re-immersed in the game’s flooded world, I couldn’t help but fall for it’s quirky charm. This is due in large part to some very expressive character models, a fairly well realized world, and even the voice acting. I’m not saying the voice acting is great. It’s actually kind of awful, but it’s the kind of awful that endears rather than repulses. The writing has some anime tropes for sure, but none of them were over the top enough to be offensive. There is an innocence about the characters that seemed to really fit in the story they were trying to tell.

I was also impressed with how well the world is structured. Legends mixes elements from open map structure games, like the Metroid series, with the dungeon crawling of Zelda. Let me put it this way, what if the dungeons in a Legend of Zelda title were all interconnected, and new items let you bridge the gaps between each section? That’s what MML was able to pull off.

"Who stole my helmet?"

Character progression is a staple of a good 3rd person adventure like this. In Legends, not only do you find new weapons that help you progress, but you can also customize them via an upgrade system. The only downside is, unlike in your typical Zelda or equivalent, you can only have one of your special weapons equipped at a time. It’s good for game balance, but bad for exploration, the second major draw in MML.

There are only a few instances where a specific weapon is needed to get to a new area, but it does suck when you have to trek all the way back to the surface just to change out your grenades for your drill-arm. Still, once a wall is broken down or a hidden path opened, it is a permanent change.

Mega Man Legends holds up as a fun and quirky experience that action/adventure fans should go back to. Admittedly, the lack of analog support (it came out before the Dual Shock) does give character movement a bit of a stiff feel. But, if you immediately change the strafing options, it is manageable. It’s also a pretty easy game, and circle strafing is the answer 90% of the time.

My final takeaway is that I’m now much more excited for Mega Man Legends 3 than I was before. Capcom has had a lot of time to contemplate how to expand and improve on this kind of gaming experience over the years. I just hope they successfully pull it off.

More “Tales From the Backlog”:

#1 – Assassin’s Creed (Xbox 360, PS3, PC)

#2 – Retro Game Challenge (Nintendo DS)

#3 – Mega Man Legends (PS1)

Before the release of the Nintendo 3DS, I had already essentially purchased Street Fighter IV twice. The first time I picked up the special edition of its original release, while the second time I grabbed the vastly improved second iteration.

I didn’t really feel like I “needed” to buy a third version, but as an early adopter of the new system, I wanted a good showpiece for the more powerful handheld. Since the graphics of Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition are arguably the best looking of all the 3DS launch titles, it seemed like a natural choice. But as I got it home and spent the better portion of a week playing it, my feelings gravitated from buying it for lack of other games to falling in love with it all over again.

Despite being on a portable system, SSFIV3D looks almost identical to its HD counterparts. The only real noticeable difference is the backgrounds, which have less animation than before. In most stages, I didn’t even notice. Only in the Africa stage, where a hippo inexplicably has its mouth open the entire match, did it ever really catch my eye.

The fighters however, look just as good as I remembered. Each attack and visual effect looks fantastic. The sense of depth added with the 3D is a nice touch as well, though the edges of models look a bit smoother with it off.

"Punching some 3D gutter trash."

You’ll get the most of the 3D effect when playing in the new Dynamic Mode. This option lets you play with the camera behind your shoulder. I expected the game to be unplayable in this mode, but it actually works surprisingly well. Even still, other than a great way to show off the 3D, it comes off as more of a novelty that I seldom find myself using. Unsurprisingly, the anime intros and endings for each character have not been redone in 3D, but are fully present in their 2D forms.

Of course, eye candy would be pointless if the controls didn’t work on a handheld. Thankfully, SSFIV3D feels great. As somebody with several different arcade sticks lying around, control is very important to me. So I was relieved to find that, after adjusting to it in 2 or 3 rounds, I am in love with the 3DS circle pad. With the exception of charge moves like Chun Li’s “Kikoken” (which I personally find easier on the D-Pad), the circle pad has kept me more than satisfied. In fact, moves requiring a full 360 degree spin I actually find easier than an arcade stick! I’ve never been able to use Zangief as well as I have on the 3DS.

My biggest worry, though, was the Ultra Combos. Hitting two face buttons and a shoulder button would require some sort of Vulcan Death Grip to pull off. Fortunately, the Pro Mode control scheme uses the four touch screen buttons to remedy this concern. You can do “all three punches” or “all three kicks” by hitting the appropriate touch screen button. So by performing the proper stick input and pressing one of these, I can pull off Ultra Combos without having to resort to the Lite control scheme.

Lite Mode allows you to program each of the four touch screen buttons yourself. You can assign anything from a Focus Attack to an Ultra Combo to each. And better still, you can set up these custom assignments on a per character basis. This way you can reserve it only for the moves you have the most trouble performing.

"Hurling a 3D Zanku Hadoken in Dynamic Mode."

While I personally only play on Pro Mode, I love Lite Mode’s existence. It allows me to play on a more equal footing with people who don’t normally play very many fighting games. Of course, knowledgeable Pro Mode players will still have the advantage as each character has far more than the four moves a Lite player has shortcutted. That combined with the fact that each special attack has three strengths will make experienced Pro Mode players more versatile. Even still, purists can weed out Lite Mode players completely by filtering online matches based on control method, if they want to.

Speaking of online matches, I was shocked to find out that in certain ways, 3D Edition‘s online works better than my console experiences. While the Fight Request option has never had any issue, I often have had Quick Match continually fail on the PS3 version of both Street Fighter IV iterations and even the 360 version of Capcom’s more recent fighter, Marvel vs Capcom 3. But with Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition, I’ve never had a problem getting into an online match. Quick Match always worked almost instantly when I’ve used it, and Fight Request retains its reliability.

The only downside is that, when playing with friends online, I couldn’t find any way to send a match invite. Until the 3DS firmware updates with proper messaging capabilities, you might be stuck alerting a player on Twitter to challenge them to a fight.

Of course, you don’t have to go online to play with other people. 3D Edition supports local wireless versus modes for both lobby creation and Fight Request. You can also enter spectator mode and watch somebody else fight, though that feature is restricted to local wireless only.

"Figures fight to the death over Street Pass connection... in 3D!"

Just like before, you’ll be able to earn an insane amount of titles and icons to display for all your opponents to see. You’ll also earn Player Points (for your overall performance) and Battle Points (for your performance with the current character), and even achievements (though the 3DS firmware doesn’t currently have support to display these outside of the game itself).

To make use of the Street Pass functionality, Figure Battles have been added. While the idea seemed quite silly at first, it’s actually neat in its own way. Figure Points can be spent on the Figure Slots where you can earn new figures to use in teams for Street Pass battles. Each figure has stats and a character level. When putting a team together, your entire team must not exceed a certain level to ensure the matches are somewhat even.

When you meet somebody in street pass, the figures fight it out. Looking at the results, tweaking stat ratios, swapping the order, and switching out which figures are in your team make Street Pass battles a surprisingly interesting feature. It also gives you another incentive to play the normal game as your Arcade and Versus victories will grant you more figure points to spend.

Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition is a very easy recommendation to early adopters of the 3DS. It’s the best looking game currently available on the system, it plays great for hardcore fans while adding new options to make it more accessible for newcomers, and it has a robust online mode that really works. It even includes all the DLC costumes you have to pay extra for on its home console counterparts. Unless you’re already completely burned out by previous iterations, you really can’t go wrong with Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition.

This review is based on a copy of Super Street Fighter IV 3D Edition purchased by the reviewer.

In Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective, Lynne dies. Oops, did I spoil it for you? In truth, I spoiled nothing. Lynne has to die. If she didn’t, there would be no way to progress the storyline. That’s really how Ghost Trick rolls: death is only the first piece of the puzzle.

This latest adventure title from Capcom’s Shu Takumi is the first to come completely separate from the well known Ace Attorney series, and not only features a new world with unique characters and story, but an entirely different gameplay system as well. Nevertheless, logic and problem solving are still key in this quest to avert fate.

In Ghost Trick you play as Sissel, or rather his departed soul. Awakening from unconsciousness, Sissel’s spirit is presented with a scene in a junk yard. A hitman is pointing a shotgun at a young woman, and his own corpse is lying in between them. Unfortunately, Sissel lacks all memory of the man he used to be, and why he was killed. Initially, Sissel only cares about recovering his memory, but another enigmatic spirit persuades him to help the woman using his “ghost tricks.” She’d be the first lead in figuring out his own truth. But there’s a problem: Sissel only has until dawn before his spirit disappears forever.

The above mentioned “ghost tricks” are the key to unraveling Sissel’s story. Various objects in the environment have “cores” that Sissel can latch onto, and the player can guide Sissel to them with the touch screen (and while the game is heavily touch screen focused, you can actually play it entirely using the buttons as well, if you prefer). Sissel’s soul can only extend so far, though. Certain items Sissel inhabits can then be manipulated. If he inhabits an umbrella, for example, he can make it open and close. Additionally, Sissel can move across phone lines to any other location, so long as a phone call is made from there, which becomes his primary means of getting about.

But Sissel’s most prominent ability is to inhabit dead bodies, which will come up pretty frequently in the storyline. This allows Sissel to use his greatest power: traveling back in time four minutes before the person died. When he does this, not only is he able to watch how the person’s final moments played out, but he can also manipulate objects during the time to change their fate, and prevent them from dying.

"The afterlife you always dreamed of."

While Ghost Trick has different mechanics than the Ace Attorney games, it has a somewhat similar structure. The game is divided up into real time segments, which sum up to an investigation mode of sorts. For the most part, though, you’re just trying to figure out how to manipulate the right objects to get to where you want to go. Also, you gain the ability to speak to people whose lives you save and interrogate them. This just fleshes out the story, though. You won’t have to be taking this information to court.

Then there are the segments where you’re trying to avert someone’s fate, which are akin to Ace Attorney’s court room sessions. Here, you must manipulate objects to prevent whatever happenstance causes the person to be killed. Watching the replay of the victim’s last moments, and seeing what items get interacted with, give you a good idea what to do.

The trick is, while you’re in the Ghost World (which is where Sissel moves from object to object) time stops, but outside of this events continue in real time. And it’s not enough just to manipulate objects. Sometimes you will need to wait for people to affect objects or the environment before you can proceed. This occasionally means you only have a small window to affect a proper change. And as time draws nearer to death, the music intensifies, much like when you press a witness closer and closer to cracking in Ace Attorney.

The puzzles get more tricky as the game rolls on, and in some cases there are intentional dead ends if you miss a cue or don’t manipulate an object at the right time. This may make the game seem pretty frustrating, but the truth is you can’t lose. If you get something wrong, you can rewind time again and again until you get it right. Even if you end up letting a person die, it just prompts you to start over without penalty. Additionally, often you can alter a person’s fate before averting it entirely, and these act as new restart points.

On top of that, there are thought bubbles you can press for hints, and the game is pretty good at signaling when you’ve worked yourself into a corner. To be honest, it’s better to start out just playing with objects and seeing what they do before concerning yourself with solving the puzzle right away. It will save you some pulled hair.

"I hope the accident was somehow chicken related then."

Another thing that helps keep Ghost Trick fun and fresh is its amazing presentation. The game uses 3D models that are entirely unshaded, and the perspective is always on a 2D plane, giving the game the appearance of a very smoothly animated cartoon. And it’s really the intricacies and details of the animation that give the characters so much life. Seriously, it takes pretty amazing effort for a game to impress me on the aesthetics. The music is also fantastic. It’s both jazzy and electronic, and works very well at setting the mood for scenes.

Of course, a fine story is also necessary for Ghost Trick to work, and I don’t think it disappoints here either. Granted, if you’re looking for something dark and somber in a mystery story, Ghost Trick might disappoint since it features the same lightheartedness and Japanese-style humor the Ace Attorney games are known for. I think this actually helps keep the story flowing and enjoyable since it largely focuses on death, which is not an easy topic to make fun. Nevertheless, the game does have its sad moments as you start learning how other people are connected to Sissel, and their own hardships. Aside from some nitpicks, and a few parts I thought were lame, I really enjoyed the story of Ghost Trick.

I also like how the story is divided up. It’s contained in 18 decent sized chapters, as opposed to Ace Attorney’s four to five enormous cases. And while those cases are broken into smaller segments, Ghost Trick’s chapters bring about an easier means of jumping back and replaying specific points of the story, if you so desire.

By and large, Ghost Trick is a fun mystery-themed adventure game. I’d certainly recommend it to any Ace Attorney fan, and I’d also say it should suit any fan of story-based adventure games who might find Ghost Trick’s features something off the beaten path. I can’t say I’ve ever played another game that offers the same experience as this.

This review is based on a copy of Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective purchased by the reviewer.