Touch Detective Review

Touch Detective
Publisher: Atlus USA
Developer: Beeworks
Genre: Adventure
Release Date: 10/25/2006

I’m quite pleased with the amount of Adventure games that have hit the DS. Phoenix Wright and Trace Memory are two of the better ones. The former offered a wacky story and a novel idea for a plot, while the latter really showcased what the DS could do. It was no wonder that I was looking forward to Touch Detective being released by good ol’ Atlus, publishers of Megaten, the GBA remake of Shining Force, and Trauma Center.

Touch Detective or Mystery Detective in Europe (except in France) is a point-and-click mystery. 'Touch Detective Review'. Archived from the original on 2009-08-15. Retrieved 2009-06-07. ^ Jump up to: 'Touch Detective for DS'. Mystery Detective / Touch Detective (Nintendo DS) Review. By Adam Riley 5. The point-and-click genre was an extremely popular genre on the PC.

I’ll admit I was expecting something more akin to Deja Vu when I was told this would be a Detective game. I was quite surprised to learn it was a more eccentric than that. With it’s Nightmare Before Christmas style graphics and it’s very bizarre case files, it was obvious that this would be a very niche title to me. And niche title plus adventure genre gameplay usually equals horrible sales in the US market. Not for me though. I love point and click games and will play through most. Right now adventure games hold both my worst and best game of the year position in my brain (That’s Crime Stories and Barrow Hill respectively). So obvious weirdness of the title aside, I was quite optimistic. After all Adventure games usually have amazing plots, and Atlus games usually have amazing plots, so the two together should almost guarantee me a great game right?

Right?

Let’s Review

1. Story

You play as MacKenzie, a young girl taking over her father’s detective agency. You end up playing through four cases, a tutorial, and some in-between episodes bonus one offs in order to become a fully respected and licensed detective. Your cast includes Cromwell, the creepy British inventor turned butler to you, Funghi, your pet living humanoid mushroom, Chloe who is a very annoying and violent girl you have a friendly rivalry with, and Penelope who is my nominee for “character who most needs to be hit with a bag of bricks in 2006. “Most of the character grated on my nerves with dialogue that was an attempt to be a poor man’s cross between Invader Zim and Gloomcookie. The writers also threw in really bad Americanized British speech and profanity patterns. I can honestly say as an ex resident of the UK, Americans do not know how to use, “Sod” in its proper context. Also, I’d like to bring up that having a Brit use “Cor Blimey!” is like having an American says “Gosh Golly Gee Willikers.”This is merely a minor annoyance, but one I felt like bringing up.

My big issue is that I simply did not like the cases. I loved the format of 4 1-2 hour long adventure games on one cart. I was highly disappointed that the mysteries were geared towards teenaged Goth Girls in style and plot. One involves the robbery of someone’s dreams. The second case is about a kidnapping, and the third is about saving a snow fairy from melting. The second is my favorite, with the fourth (which I don’t want to bring up in case of spoilage) is a distant second. The first and third just mind me roll my eyes and sigh in annoyance a lot. It looks like if I want anything close to noir on the DS, I’m going to have to wait for Hotel Dusk.

It’s not fair to criticize Touch Detective simply for being a light hearted and surreal adventure game. After all, there are many in that vein that are amazing. Grim Fandango for example. I just found the characters, cases, and overall theme of the game to be too, well, insipid for me. I really did feel that this game’s target demographic was little girls. I generally like cut and fluffy games. This however left me cold and disappointed. There wasn’t enough substance, character development, or even any logic to the happenings in this game. It’s not the worst adventure game I’ve played. It’s just solidly mediocre.

Story Rating: 5/10

2. Graphics Rating

Touch Detective has a very unique style to the graphics, yet at times seems oddly familiar. I had the hardest time placing where I had seen this style before. Was it Nightmare Before Christmas? No. Was it Grim Fandango? Well, maybe the generic townspeople. Then it hit me in Chapter 2 when I had a big two screen graphic which is the equiv of dramatic moments in this game. The art reminds me of the story mode in Pokemon Trozei. It’s not exact, but there’s some strong similarities. I do prefer the Touch Detective variant though as the game does look very hip and quasi-gothic.

The backgrounds are very detailed and the character models are stylish (although Chole and Beatrice leave me cold). This is a very pretty game, and the top DS screen is used only to show MacKenzie and her occasional inner thoughts. It’s a bit useless, and it’s never worth looking up there. What little comments are made are often irrelevant and distracting.

Touch Detective is a very pretty game and the visual weirdness conveys a lot more than the plot’s contextual weirdness.

Graphics Rating: 7/10

3. Sound

I wasn’t very impressed with the music of this game. Much like the plot it left me apathetic. It wasn’t bad mind you, just highly forgettable and blase to me. It was generic adventure music, aside from the opening credits music, which I thought was very stylish. It’s odd because so much of Touch Detective is trying to be weird simply for the sake of being weird, and the music plays it very conservative. I’d love to know the reasoning behind that, because while playing this game I had such a disconnect in my mind between the music and actual game going on that I eventually muted the game and had put on some Joy Division simply because the third case made me feel like pulling an Ian Curtis.

Middle of the road music that isn’t bad. It just doesn’t match up with the rest of the game’s attempt to look and feel different from other Adventure games, all while being the same. Hmmm. I guess this game really is for teenaged goth girls. Ho ho ho. Oh, I’ve just alienated my fan base,

Sound Rating: 5/10

4. Control and Gameplay

Like 99% of all adventures games, Touch Detective is a point and click game in which you solve puzzles by using items. Here you have an option of using your stylus or the D pad in conjunction with buttons. Generally I’m not a big fan of using the stylus on the DS for everything, but in this case it was a really nice alternative as you don’t get a mouse with the DS like you would with most Adventure games, as that genre has mostly been regulated to the PC.

I had some issues with the game, as there are places that require such a precise touch on the screen to get out of, chief of which is Cromwell’s bedroom. This leaves you tapping, tapping, tapping, until you finally hit that spot. There’s also the annoyance of the game having collision detection issues. When two things are too close together, you try to tap on one and sometimes get the other. This holds true equally for the D pad and the Stylus. Finally, there’s the issue of trying to touch something in the lower left corner with the stylus and the game thinks you are trying to pull up the save/load screen. Minor annoyance, but it still happens a few times while playing.

In all there’s not really much to playing the game. Click on people to talk with them. Click on items to touch them and maybe add them to your inventory. It’s all fairly basic and simple gameplay wise, just like all Adventure games.

Minor issues mentioned aside, Touch Detective is easy to play and there’s no degree of difficulty as the controls are all highly instinctual.

Control and Gameplay Rating: 7/10

5. Replayability

The game can be beaten with a 100% completion of your journal and touch list in about 6-8 hours. This is standard length for most adventure games. The dividing the game up into four 90 minute segments is a novel idea, but does nothing to increase replayability. Once you finish a case, it will be exactly the same and exceptionally linear with no deviation. Once you beat it, there’s no reason to go back. Nor would you want to.

Touch Detective offers the walk around town bonus mode as well as an attempt to complete a list of 50 textures, but in the end, they add nothing to the game but a shallow and transparent attempt to increase play length.

Sadly, a lack of replayability is a weakness in the Adventure genre. The lack of free roaming plus the easy of beating a game the second time around really kills a lot of desire to replay games in this genre for most American gamers. There are always exceptions, like The 7th Guest or Dracula: Resurrection where the story crops up a large cult following. These tend to almost only be horror minded adventure games though.

I can’t honestly think of a reason to play this game more than once. It’s a rental first and foremost unless you somehow really connect with the characters or like the art style. It’s not a bad game. It’s just not one that gives you any reason to have a second helping of it.

Replayability Rating: 2/10

6. Balance

Another piece of my theory that Touch Detective is geared for younger girl gamers (besides the style, plot, characters, and writing) is that the game is far easier than most Adventure games I’ve played. Adventure games’ demographic in the US is primarily made up of female games, and easier denotes a younger audience. So A + B = C.

All the puzzles in this game are really easy and it holds your hand through the first adventure to the point where you feel the game is condescending. This wouldn’t be so bad if they didn’t have a tutorial you had to go through when you first turn on the game that did the same thing.

The only time I had any trouble in the whole game was when the Walrus in Case 3 had a stomachache from bad oysters and it took me 2-3 minutes to figure out what to do. TD is designed so you can solve any puzzle in the game simply by talking to everyone in the game at least once. You’ll get a solution.

I generally like Adventure games for the well written plots and fiendish hard puzzles. This to me had neither. Even the poor story would have been acceptable had the puzzles and things to solve had any degree of difficulty. The two things I look forward to most in this genre were negatives for me.

Again, this would be an excellent game as a starter for the adventure genre, but for hardened disciples of it, it’s got little to reward you with.

Balance Rating: 4/10

7. Originality

Even though this game just simply didn’t appeal to me, I have to respect the weirdness factor in it. I still think the game was trying too hard as if it were a 15 year old going “I’m bisexual” when really what they want to be saying is “PLEASE SOMEONE GIVE ME ATTENTION! I HAVE NO SUBSTANCE TO ME AND LOW SELF ESTEEM! I AM KISSING A GIRL! PLEASE SOMEONE LIKE ME!” However, the art and sheer bizarreness of your detective casework are quite unique.

The controls are the same ones you’ll find in every adventure game, so there’s no innovation there. The game manages to stand out from most of the other adventure games released this year due to the content. It’s just up to you whether that’s a good thing or not. For me…meh.

Originality Rating: 6/10

Call to arms mods. 8. Addictiveness

One of the great things about this game actually being five short games in one, is that you can finish off one adventure each evening before bed, or one during your lunch break, and so on. The length is just right for anyone needing a quick gaming fix but who doesn’t want to forget story or item locations while they sleep. It doesn’t matter your age or attention span, Touch Detective is set up beautifully. Now if only the content was something I could get behind as eagerly.

Addictiveness Rating: 7/10

9. Appeal Factor

Adventure games are a niche genre in the States. And Touch Detective is certainly a game that will only appeal to a fraction of those who strongly enjoy adventure games. I keep bringing up that the ideal gamer for this title is a 15 year old girl who enjoys Johnny the Homicidal Maniac comics or who really likes Neil Gaiman’s anthropomorphic personification of Death. Cute and surreal abounds here, and that combination isn’t for everyone. Hell, I love the intermingling and even then, this game just wasn’t up my alley.

Atlus is great with picking up titles that are highly selective towards who their audience will be. This is no exception. If you like the screen shots and my descriptions of what is in the game, Gamefly it or wait a few months and buy it used. The audience for Touch Detective is pretty limited, but I can see certain people really loving the title.

Appeal Factor Rating: 4/10

10. Miscellaneous

From my time with Touch Detective, all I can really say is that it is an average game. It’s mediocre through and through, but I can see some people really enjoying it for what is there. I’d rather play Trace Memory over this if we’re talking DS adventure games, but that’s because of the puzzles and originality in TM. There was nothing here that really wowed me, but there was nothing that made me dislike or hate the game either. Instead, I’m rather level with apathy towards it. I’ve played it, I’ve beaten it, now I’ll trade it in and promptly forget about it, only bothering to think about it on those rare occasions where we talk about either:

a) Obscure games

b) Atlus games with low print runs that were obscure but now cost an arm and a leg on the secondary market.

Miscellaneous Rating: 5/10

The Scores
Story: 5/10
Graphics: 7/10
Sound: 5/10
Control & Gameplay: 7/10
Replayability: 2/10
Balance: 4/10
Originality: 6/10
Addictiveness: 7/10
Appeal Factor: 4/10
Miscellaneous: 5/10
Total Score 52/100
Final Score: 5/10

Short Attention Span Summary
If you’re in need of a quick adventure style fix that just happens to be portable, Touch Detective will fill that void. It won’t sate you, but it will fill it. Otherwise, you can get a lot of adventure games on your PC that are cheaper and better. Phoenix Wright still reigns supreme as the adventure title of choice for the DS. Maybe Hotel Dusk will be the detective game we all wanted to see.

Touch Detective (おさわり探偵 小沢里奈, Osawari Tantei: Ozawa Rina, literally 'Touch Detective: Rina Ozawa') or Mystery Detective in Europe (except in France) is a point-and-click mystery adventure game for the Nintendo DS which makes use of the device's touch screen. It was developed by BeeWorks and released in Japan by Success Corporation. It was published in the United States by Atlus, and in Europe by 505 Games. Touch Detective was released for the iOS on August 4, 2011. Its first chapter is free to download.^[1]

Gameplay[edit]

The player controls the titular detective Mackenzie as she solves four mysteries in the small town of Osawari. Both the art style and the plot reflect a subtle fantasy mood – for example, the first case is to track down a thief who is stealing someone's dreams. GameZone reviewer Steven Hopper notes that 'the game features a unique aesthetic that feels like a Tim Burton version of a Jhonen Vasquez comic.'^[2] Aside from the main plots, there are also a number of small bonus mysteries that involve much simpler tasks. There is also a Touch Notebook containing a list of major items in the game the player has touched.

The game is entirely controlled via the touch screen. Tapping a location on the screen will talk to a character or examine an object. 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 pet mushroom, Funghi, is used as an aid in some puzzles.

Characters[edit]

• Rina Ozawa (小沢 里奈, Ozawa Rina) / Mackenzie: The lead character of the game. As a young girl, she runs a detective agency with the help of Cromwell. Her personality is the most 'ordinary', in contrast to the otherwise bizarre world around her. Although she's the most mature out of her friends, she can also often gain a typically childish amusement from doing 'naughty' thing. She keeps a 'Touch List' of things she has touched and what they feel like.
• Manami (まなみ) / Penelope: One of the girls that lives in the condominiums in town and friend of Mackenzie. Her parents are very rich, and thus she enjoys a lavish lifestyle. However, she is rather air-headed, and has been known to disappear for a time, or even not talk to anyone (including herself, except for pantomime) for a whole week. She is the one who will give Mackenzie all her cases during the game and is one of the main focuses of the first three episodes.
• Chitose (ちとせ) / Chloe: Another girl in town, and while friend of Mackenzie, tends to be her rival in trying to solve cases. Chloe generally takes actions before figuring out their consequences on herself or those around her, such when she broke into and ransacked Penelope's apartment for evidence.
• Jii (じい) / Cromwell: Butler for Mackenzie and also a genius inventor. Cromwell is a man who has worked for Mackenzie's family for over 300 years. He is often coming up with inventions, and becomes disgruntled if he isn't given the chance to show them off to others.
• Nameko (なめこ) / Funghi: A living mushroom that is kept as a pet by Mackenzie and travels with her as she moves about town.
• Deijī (デイジー ) / Daisy: A goth girl that works at the local boutique, and lives in the apartment above Penelope, having to put up with her loud 'ditzy' antics as a result. At first hostile towards Penelope and Mackenzie, she becomes friendly later on.

Plot[edit]

Mackenzie learns that in order to join the ranks of the Great Detective Society, she must solve four cases and submit her investigation report to the Society. Fortunately for her, several cases seem to pop up around town.

Episode 1 - Robbery. The reality of a fanciful dream

Penelope comes to Mackenzie because she claims her dreams are being stolen. Mackenzie first acquires a special invention from Cromwell so that she can see into Penelope's dreams and understands what happens: a strange creature is seen fleeing from Penelope's just before she wakes up. Mackenzie investigates further and finds a way to enter the Dream World, but finds no one there that can help because the rest of the town is not yet asleep. Finding a way to convince everyone to fall asleep at the same time that Penelope does, she is then able to stop the fleeing figure and reveal it to be the pastry chef in town. The chef admits to the crime, using the crystallized dreams as an ingredient in her Sweet Dream Cake dessert. Fortunately, Penelope and the chef agree that the chef will only take Penelope's dreams once a week.

Episode 2 - Disappearance. The truth hidden in the cosmos

Penelope goes missing, and upon investigation, it looks like her room was broken into. However, it is revealed that Chloe, trying to find Penelope before Mackenzie, broke in and tried to find evidence. However, regardless of Chloe's bumbling, Mackenzie is led to the planetarium and its strange owner, as well as a little girl named Lynsey who seems to like playing with dolls. After catching the owner buying girls clothes in sizes too large for Lynsey, Mackenzie soon discovers that the planetarium owner lured Penelope and now is keeping her in a secret room under mind control in order for her to be Lynsey's friend. Mackenzie is able to rescue Penelope, have the owner captured, and befriends Lynsey so she won't be lonely again.

Episode 3 - Stranded. The miracle of an innocent heart

Penelope claims that an ice fairy is stranded at the ice skating rink, the only cold place in town, but Mackenzie cannot see it though she can sense it. The owner of the rink is tired of living in the cold and is looking to shut the rink down, causing the temperature in the rink to rise and threaten the life of the fairy. Chloe comes up with two near-disastrous ideas for saving the fairy, but Mackenzie realizes all they need to do is make it snow so the fairy can be get out from the ice rink and to a more comfortable location. With the help of the local fortune teller Mackenzie helps Chloe in enchanting an 'angel summoning spell' (actually a magical girl theme song), which, through the power of Chloe's will, temporarily transforms Penelope into an angel that can make it snow. The fairy returns home after a parting conversation with Chloe, with it being very heavily implied that they share a requited crush.

Episode 4 - Assault. The tragedy of a past grudge

Penelope claims that a murder happened at the circus in town, though it is only a flea circus, and it's actually an assault. Apparently, the circus used to be a larger attraction, but when it shut down, many of the performers took up residence in town. Mackenzie investigates to find that something did attack the fleas, though initially suspecting a flea as the culprit. However, the supposed culprit flea ends up near-dead himself, in a supposed locked room attack. This leads to an initial speculation of self-inflicted injury, however Mackenize deduces that a human sized culprit could have picked up the box the flea was in and shaken it to cause the injuries. When a large anvil nearly kills all the fleas, the trail leads to Dover, one of the ex-performers. His old circus act, animating tattoos on his back, was ruined due to a flea bite, and has been out of work since, and thus took revenge on the flea circus to try to get back into stardom. Dover tries to kill a flea, however, Mackenzie is able to stop him. Unfortunately, the circus ringleader accidentally kills it anyway.

Following the successful resolution of all four cases, Cromwell informs Mackenzie that she has been accepted into the Great Detective Society. However it transpires that he mistakenly submitted Mackenzie's 'Touch List' instead of her investigation report. She is given the official title of 'Touch Detective' as a result, to Mackenzie's shame.

Reception[edit]

As of March 4, 2007, Touch Detective has an average rating of 65% from GameRankings,^[3] with most critics praising the presentation of the game, but panning the actual gameplay. IGN notes that 'the visual style is awesome, the presentation is great, and the audio is extremely entertaining', but otherwise the game 'is littered with confusing puzzles, uninformative AI, and an overall shallow experience.'^[10]

Legacy[edit]

A sequel, Touch Detective 2 ½, was released in North America on October 9, 2007.

In Japan, the character of Funghi became widely popular and a Funghi Gardening Kit (おさわり探偵 なめこ栽培キット, Osawari Tantei: Nameko Saibai Kitto, or simply Mushroom Garden) game was released for the iPhone and iPad on June 30, 2011,^[11] and for Android on December 21, 2011.^[12][13] It released a 'Seasons' version on December 2, 2011,^[14][15] which became the number 1 app in the App Store in Japan the following week.^[16] By the end of 2011, Seasons had been downloaded 1 million times from iTunes and the Android version, released around the same time, had reached 200 thousand downloads within a week of its release.^[17] By March 2012, Beeworks began selling character goods for the various different Funghi.^[17][18]

A spin-off called Osawari Tantei Nameko Daihanshoku was released for Nintendo 3DS in 2013,^[19] while Touch Detective Rising 3: Does Funghi Dream Of Bananas? was released in Japan in May 2014.^[20]

References[edit]

1. ^'Touch Detective for iOS Released August 4, 2011'. Anime News Network. August 4, 2011. Retrieved 2011-10-13.
2. ^ ^abHopper, Steven (2006-10-24). 'Touch Detective Review'. GameZone. Archived from the original on 2009-08-15. Retrieved 2009-06-07.
3. ^ ^ab'Touch Detective for DS'. GameRankings. Retrieved 2009-06-07.
4. ^Parish, Jeremy (2006-10-24). 'Touch Detective Review'. 1UP.com. Archived from the original on 2010-01-05. Retrieved 2009-06-07.
5. ^Tsao, Jennifer; Dudlak, Jon (November 2006). 'Touch Detective Review'. EGM. p. 141.^{[permanent dead link]}
6. ^Reed, Jess (2006-10-18). 'Touch Detective Review'. G4. Retrieved 2009-06-07.
7. ^Navarro, Alex (2006-11-22). 'Touch Detective Review'. GameSpot. Retrieved 2009-06-07.
8. ^Turner, Benjamin (2006-10-23). 'Touch Detective Review'. GameSpy. Archived from the original on 2009-08-16. Retrieved 2009-06-07.
9. ^Kemps, Heidi (2006-10-17). 'Touch Detective Review'. GamesRadar. Retrieved 2009-06-07.
10. ^ ^abBozon, Mark (2006-10-24). 'Touch Detective Review'. IGN. Retrieved 2009-06-07.
11. ^'Beeworks Games'. Beeworks Games. Retrieved 2013-07-01.
12. ^'Beeworks Games'. Beeworks Games. Retrieved 2013-07-01.
13. ^'【アプリ紹介】レアなめこを育てよう♪「おさわり探偵 なめこ栽培キット」 – スマホガール'. Spgirl.jp. Archived from the original on 2012-07-07. Retrieved 2013-07-01.
14. ^'なめこ栽培キットの最新作『おさわり探偵なめこ栽培キット シーズンズ』が配信開始！ 2011/12/02(金) 13:32:04 [サーチナ]'. News.searchina.ne.jp. Retrieved 2013-07-01.
15. ^'ビーワークス、四季折々の「なめこ」を栽培できる新作アプリiOS「おさわり探偵 なめこ栽培キットSeasons：雪」を無料配信 - GAME Watch'. Game.watch.impress.co.jp. Retrieved 2013-07-01.
16. ^2011年12月17日 09時00分. ''なめこ'栽培アプリがApp Store週間チャート1位に ｜ニュース｜オリコンCSランキング'. Life.oricon.co.jp. Retrieved 2013-07-01.
17. ^ ^ab'「なめこ」が絶好調！iOS『なめこ栽培キット Seasons』100万DL、Android『なめこ栽培キット』20万DL突破 インサイド'. Inside-games.jp. 2000-08-24. Retrieved 2013-07-01.
18. ^'なめこ、上野に襲来。 ― 撮影会も行われた「春のなめこ市」をレポート インサイド'. Inside-games.jp. 2000-08-24. Retrieved 2013-07-01.
19. ^'A Puzzle Game For Touch Detective Fans And Funghi'. Siliconera. 2013-02-03. Retrieved 2013-09-29.
20. ^'Touch Detective Rising 3 Is In Development For Nintendo 3DS'. Siliconera. 2013-05-28. Retrieved 2013-09-29.

External links[edit]

• Official website(in Japanese)