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Guides


Nintendo DS : Touch Detective Reviews

Gas Gauge: 55
Gas Gauge 55
Below are user reviews of Touch Detective and on the right are links to professionally written reviews. The summary of review scores shows the distribution of scores given by the professional reviewers for Touch Detective. Column height indicates the number of reviews with a score within the range shown at the bottom of the column. Higher scores (columns further towards the right) are better.

Summary of Review Scores
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ReviewsScore
Game Spot 60
GamesRadar 50
IGN 55
GameSpy 40
GameZone 75
1UP 55






User Reviews (1 - 11 of 26)

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I thought as a non-gaming female I might like this game....

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 13 / 18
Date: November 20, 2006
Author: Amazon User

To me, this game was seriously disappointing. So disappointing, I didn't finish the second case before setting it down forever.

I was highly entertained - at first. It's cute, funny, and going around clicking on things for a new DS user was highly entertaining. However, it quickly got older.

1. You can't skip through the horrendously long dialog - ever. Even after you've heard it about a million times because you're clicking on people hopelessly in frustration unable to figure out what to do.

2. I found myself looking for an internet walk through, yes, on this simplistic game. I couldn't figure out what to click and wandering around hopelessly for thirty minutes reading over dialog you've read a thousand times just gets too frustrating even for my typical patience level.

3. Possible Spolier - There seemed to be a glich in the second story in which I talked to the wrong person at the wrong time and then I could never get a ticket into the planetarium. After that, I just couldn't take it any more and gave up.

4. The places and people never change. For each case, from my understanding, it's all the exact same tiny few places. I'm not a big gamer, but I like a world bigger than three feet.

I let a friend borrow it and thus far she is enjoying it more than me.

Just to help this review - I'm a college-age female and this is my first gaming console, although I've played the PS2 quite a bit. Maybe it's really a hit or miss but I don't really recommend it for anyone but someone with a high patience level. A REALLY high patience level.

DO NOT WASTE YOUR MONEY!

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 2 / 10
Date: March 08, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Even though the reviews were mixed for this game, I went ahead and bought it. WHAT A WASTE OF MONEY! It was cute for maybe all of three seconds, then it just got to be completely annoying! There's a pattern that's supposed to be followed and if you cannot figure out the pattern, the game goes nowhere... and that's where I'm stuck with this game -- NOWHERE! Better games allow you to check things out at random but this isn't one of those games. Very frustrating... I completely gave up on the game (approximately 3 days after I bought it), and it is neatly tucked into a drawer somewhere gathering dust. Hmmm, maybe I'll eBay this...

Don't know what all of the rave was about

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 3
Date: April 19, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I played the game. It wasn't great, in fact it was fairly simplistic and not challenging. I found the plot kind of dull and irritating. I am not sure why it is rated for adults either. A child of 8 or older could easily handle this game. Just not impressed.

Touchy

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: November 25, 2006
Author: Amazon User

The DS seems to be the perfect platform for point-and-click adventures, and it's not a surprise to find another quirky mystery game making its way into the library. As far as Touch Detective goes, however, do not expect it to be as compelling as the Phoenix Wright series. Instead, what you would get is a somewhat nonsensical plot involving missing dreams, relocating aliens and an assault case involving fleas.

Gameplay in Touch Detective is as simple as it gets. You use the stylus to perform every action, which you will probably guess anyway from the game's title. These actions will include talking to people (and animals), picking up items, showing items, moving from one place to another, and the likes. When you pick up an item, you can also use the stylus to further examine it. All these are done in the name of finding clues, or rather, cues, to unlock the next event. The game is also pretty linear when it comes to unlock events, as with most adventure games. Unfortunately, the clues to unlock further events are usually non-descript, so expect to experience plenty of standstill if you aren't good in exploring every nook and cranny in the various corners of the town.

Playing as a successor to a detective agency, your character, MacKenzie, will come across some weird cases. Solving a case will unlock the next one, up to a total of four episodes. Upon completion of the last episode, a bonus mission will also be unlocked. This adds some length to a rather short game - if you are very thorough in your investigation, you could probably complete the four episodes in about three to four hours. Apart from just playing through the story, the game also has some collection-based side quests to boot. For example, there's a Investigation Report that details several actions that you will encounter during the game. Many of these options are optional, but as long as you manage to complete all the missions, including the bonus one, you should be able to fill up all five pages of this report.

Another collection-based side quest is the Touch List. There are a total of 50 "touchable" items scattered in the five locations in this game. Touching them with your stylus will add them to the list. The tricky thing here is that some items can only be touched after some actions are performed, so it's not exactly a straight forward, touch-and-go affair. Players who like 100% completion on the games will therefore find more things to do on top of the usual mystery-solving.

The graphics style in Touch Detective looks very much like a Japanese manga. Quirky character designs are blended well with slightly dark shades of colors to provide an unusually gothic feel to the game. This may not good down well with some gamers, but otherwise, it's a bold move that make the game looks different from other adventure games. This itself is a plus point in my opinion. Sound wise, it's pretty much standard fare here. You may, however, find it worthwhile to access the in-game Jukebox to listen to the scores again if you enjoy anime-style audios.

Overall, Touch Detective isn't exactly a great title. It places too much reliance on wild guesses rather than educated deduction. The intentionally silly missions also give the game less credit than it should receive. The biggest problem, however, is that as a detective story, the cases aren't intriguing enough, if at all, for a player with less patience to carry on with it. That said, the more patient players may still find this a neat little title to bring on the road despite its flaws. As for the rest, they should probably give this a miss.

skip

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 6
Date: November 12, 2006
Author: Amazon User

This game has a really high challenge, but it's not a very interesting difficulty, unfortunately. I feel that too much thought was put into the storyline, which isn't even that good. At least, I could never get into it. Maybe someone with a better appreciation for stories would be more interested in the game. Me, I think I'll pass. It's really not a game I was looking forward to, anyway.

A lot of style and not much substance...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: January 05, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I have to say, I really enjoyed this game. The interface is intuitive, the visuals are unique, and the overall atmosphere is well-developed. Yes, the world is pretty surreal, but that's part of its charm. The cases are original and definitely bizarre (for example, your first mission is to discover who is stealing your friend's dreams). I couldn't put the game down and finished it in a day.

So why the 3 star rating? Well, it is very linear. Very, VERY linear, so much so that you are forced to do everything in the correct order and there is no multitasking or keeping track of clues, really. The puzzles range from laughably simple to mind-bogglingly obscure. Why do you have to paste the photograph in the photo album before you can show it to anyone? Your guess is as good as mine.

After you beat the game, there is no real replay value. The missions are the same and the "bonus mission" isn't much to speak of. You wander around town and randomly get little missions such as "play hide and seek" and "find my missing necklace." This really amounts to you just clicking everything on the screen until you are told that you have found the object.

I had a great time playing this, but now it's just sort of sitting on my shelf. I definitely recommend it, but be aware that you are paying for a fun Alice-in-Wonderland type of diversion, not a lasting adventure that will truly challenge your wits.

Worth a look, maybe

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 7
Date: January 13, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Remember point and clicker games? They were popular on the PC for ages with games like the Myst series and the 7th Guest, but have all but disappeared over the past few years. Touch Detective for the DS is about as close to a point and clicker as one could get, as it provides an entertaining mystery adventure, but is all way too linear for it's own good. Playing as young girl Mackenzie, a would-be detective, you hunt for items throughout the various areas (along with using the touch screen and stylus to tap) to find clues and solve mysteries. Throughout the game, you'll come across a whole cavalcade of colorful characters, each with some funny and memorable lines of dialogue. The game's art style also has a lot going for it to boot, and the look of the game just has a winning amount of charm. However, what kills Touch Detective is that the game feels incredibly linear. The gameplay has no real depth to it, and there's not much chance for replayability to be found here either once it's completed. There's also some puzzles throughout that are just plain boring to boot, which hurt the game's overall score. Despite all that, Touch Detective remains a charming, and different, game that DS owners should take a look at, but it's only a rental at the very best.

It's OK, but not great

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: June 14, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I was thinking that this game would be a lot of fun based on reviews here and the description of the game. However, I was disappointed. I loved Trace Memory, though that game was VERY short.

Touch Detective though, not as fun. It seems very tedious and a lot of backtracking. There aren't really a lot of "clues" so much as only so many things you can do before you do the right one.

I purchased it used from a kid down the street. I was surprised when I bought it because he hadn't even made it through the first case. Surprised only until I started playing it.

I'd have to recommend skipping this one unless you are really into detective games. It seems way to frustrating (and boring) for kids to stick with.

The art style is unique and interesting though.

very interesting but too short

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 27, 2007
Author: Amazon User

i really enjoyed this game. once i started playing i didn't want to put it down. there are only 4 real cases and they are pretty simple to figure out. i wish there were more cases in addition the extras. i finished the game pretty quick still wanting more. it's a good game but it would have been better if there had just been more.

Very fun; but disappointingly short.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: March 20, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I played this game all the way through in a relatively short amount of time.

Its fun; and the graphics are adorable; and the characters are highly amusing. Kids would like it, but I think only adults could fully appreciate it.

On the downside; it is disappointingly short, with no replay value to speak of.

Get it if you don't mind the fact that you'll probably never play it again after you finish it.


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