Touch Detective Review by Sowilo

by Sowilo Fri Mar 20, 2009 9:32 am

Touch Detective [15.3.09]

Touch Detective - NDS

Nnf! Nnf! Join Mackenzie and her adorable living mushroom Funghi as they solve the mysteries of the town~!

Mackenzie is a cute, cynical detective who is trying to make herself a name in the Great Detectives Society while also trying to get her homework for the summer holidays done: record everything interesting that she touches!

Touch Detective(or Mystery Detective in the UK) is a great game controlled entirely via the touch screen on the Nintendo DS. Touch Detective utilizes the touch screen to create a massive point and click mystery solving experience. The player has an inventory of items collected, and may use them on other items or objects in the environment. The player can also communicate with the characters along conversation trees or present inventory items to them to learn new information. Mackenzie's adorable pet mushroom, Funghi, is also used sometimes as an aid in puzzles.

In Touch Detective you get to play as the negative, adolescent detective Mackenzie to solve four great mysteries with help from her friends Penelope, a loopy, childish girl that lives in the condominium in town, Chloe, an arrogant, foolish girl that tries to rival Mackenzie a lot and often takes actions before figuring out their consequences. As Mackenzie you also receive help from your butler Cromwell, a 300 year old genius inventor and all the other people in town who may drop slight hints.

The art and music styles in Touch Detective are GREAT. The art is bold and creative and with the music supplies a bouncy, fanastical feel to the already friendly game.

As Mackenzie you are challenged to four main cases three of which involve fantasy or science-fiction aspects. In the first case you find yourself venturing into the Dream World to catch the person behind the theft of Penelope's dreams. At any point of the game you can drop a mission and go and complete the Rounds in town, the Rounds involve a whole lot of basic mini-games, quizzes and tasks that are great if you're stuck in a mission. You can always return to a mission if you leave to do Rounds however you will have to start from the beginning again if you hadn't finished it.

The bad things about Touch Detective, though there are very few, can lead some people to absolutely hating it. These things are mainly difficulties with puzzles and a lack of clear hints and helpful NPCs. However, with diligence anyone can overcome these puzzles.

Despite reviews by IGN saying that Touch Detective has "an overall shallow experience" I beg to differ. Touch Detective gets the player involved with the storyline and gives a real feel for the main character(as the top screen if used to display location name and Mackenzie's thoughts) and her relationships with the people around her.

My overall rating for Touch Detective is:

8/10
Spiffeh

External Screenshots:
Conference with Beatrice
QJ.net Screenshot Collage
Conference with the Fortune Teller