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Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles (DS) Status: Finished playing I started playing this game on Tuesday 4 August, 2015 // I stopped playing this game on: Friday 4 September, 2015
Current opinion of this game
No comment, yet.
August 12, 2015 05:40:49 PM
Oh, so there are only three cases total. They all take 90 minutes to complete, which is pretty cool. Or maybe that's just the play time data on the save file playing games with me? The last case was slightly different in how it was set up. On a few occasions rather than choosing for Jake Hunter you act as his assistant Yuri. I did notice a few things that were really weird. I'm guessing this was a localization issue - I don't think they were a problem in the original. Most of the game uses made up names for places where you visit and so on. For example there's a case that involves the consul of a country called Baraka. That's totally fine. However, there are also all these references to the fact that the game is supposedly taking place in America. For me the experience was quite dissonant due to the fake/real but also because the "real" aspects (using America) made NO sense at all when you looked at the art. Most of the artwork for places (offices, buildings, etc.) was so clearly modern-day Japanese and, for at least one picture there was clearly visible Japanese text in the picture! It makes me wonder why they bothered at all...making it all "not real" would have been better or a combination of fictitious + Japan. Either way, still enjoyed the game.
August 4, 2015 05:36:48 PM
I picked this up because it was cheap, I had never heard of it, and it seemed interesting. The game consists of 3 "cases" that are in a very loose chronological order but completely independent. I got the game used and they were all available from the start, but perhaps they had to be unlocked along the way? Anyways, I played through the first case, finished it in about 90 minutes, and I guess I would best describe it as a visual novel with some minor gameplay choices to make along the way. It's a hard-boiled detective story and you basically unravel the mystery by going to places and talking to people. It works quite well and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the experience despite how little "gameplay" there was. I only just realized it's an Arksys game, which makes sense (they did 999 Doors and the other game whose name I'm currently blanking on). Lots of reading, nice artwork and more reading. It doesn't have the humor or zaniness of the Phoenix Wright games and there's a lot less gameplay or game-like aspects than, say, Hotel Dusk. I'd say there's hardly any puzzles at all to be honest... I'm looking forward to the rest of it, and I'm curious if more cases will unlock once I'm done with the 3rd. Also, there's a menu option for "passwords". I wonder what that's about!

Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles (DS)