My Game of the Year: Ghost Trick

Ok, so maybe I'm being a little hasty on this one, as we still have 3 more months left to go but it really is THAT good. Yes, I just couldn't wait anymore so I picked up a used copy of the Japanese Version. If you couldn't tell my impressions about the game, I'm Loving it.

I know the argument is that I can't understand because of the language barrier but there are reasons why that's not a big problem. Sure, understanding the store is a big deal, especially in a game coming from the guys who did Phoenix Wright, and I admit I'm probably missing some important details. Some of the dialogue exchanges I can tell are going to be hilarious. And I'd love to be cued in on them. But overall, it's about the game play. Making your way through the game and solving puzzles should be the most interesting part, and I feel it is. I'm enjoying it when I'm playing it and I've got this craving to play it when I'm not. I've even had dreams about having to solve puzzles related to the real world. It's really sticking with me much more then when I'm playing the game.

So what is it that make it so good? It's kind of a murder mystery. I'm a ghost and can't remember who I am or how I died. I just start doing things to keep others from dying and as the game has progressed I've been finding out clues about me and the situation going on around me. I'm fed clues progressively and always around the next corner is another big twist. There are all sorts of question marks and I'm only hoping the answers can keep being as good as they've been so far. As typical with the Phoenix Wright series, the music is great and so are the characters interesting. I can tell it has the potential to have hilarious banter among characters as long the localization team doesn't mess it up. There's nothing stopping the game from being fantastic. Something new are the character animations. They were a must for a game like this and have really been instrumental to bringing the personality and life to the characters.

So how far am I actually into the game? I'm currently 8 out of 18 Missions in. You might ask yourself, how did he make it that far into the game with minimal understanding of Japanese and Kanji? Well the game plays kinda like a picture book. Remember the animations I talked about? This is where they come into play as Sissel, the guy in the red suit, will come across a crime scene. The game will recreate the last 4 minutes before someone's death, people walking and interacting. Then the scene will play out with you having the ability to alter situations in the timeline using your Ghost Abilities. You'll use possess a guitar to distract a bad guy or roll a ball to knock something out of alignment. The solution is there on screen you just have to use logic and creative thinking to come up with an answer. Gone are the days confusing text and missed solutions of the Turnabout Series.

Ghost Trick really is an evolution to everything I loved about that series and as the spiritual successor it deserves all the praise. The fact that I've played as far as I've have with basically no instructions and little story is a pretty tell tale sign that the game play is solid. It's way too early for me to give any final impressions but I don't see how this game could go downhill from here. I still cannot wait for this game to come out in the states as I'll be picking it up again to play through it with all the gaps filled in. I'm currently debating if I'm going to try to finish the game or wait for the full version. I'm also interested in how this game did in Japan as far as sales and scores.

David

Scratch that, I'm on Mission 9 now.