Bad Memories

Another Code R is the sequel to the first Trace Memory game on the Nintendo DS. Being a console game, you naturally expect full voice-overs and real-time environment. Not quite but you really got to give CING a ton of props because they always come up with inventive ways of moving in 3D environment (see Hotel Dusk).

Your character Ashley in lodged in the center in the 3D space and you can only turned her in fixed 90 degrees angle around the room. You can only move left and right like a 2D scroller and sometimes the occasion up and down. (it's 3D, remember?). It's so bizarre and weird that I wasn't expecting to see this scheme again when it popped up in Swery's D4. But that's a story for another time.

Another Code R is one of the hardest game to finish, it really have all the fundamental flaws of an adventure game. Solving puzzles tends to make or break an adventure game and here, I find the puzzle solving to be very broken. You explore the environment and pick up clues and items to helped solve puzzles. But you can only pick up items according to how the game is designed. So unless you find the clue or puzzle to trigger it, you can never pick up the item even though you will eventually use it later on. That means a lot of wandering around aimlessly and going back and forth over the same things again.

I was more than relieved to finally see the end credits of this game. I actually went through a lot of trouble to find this game as it was never localized for the US region. At one point I didn't think I will get to play this at all but I never expected to feel this lukewarm after finishing.

Cing Out

Game types come and go, last year the survival horror genre experienced a bit of renaissance since their high during the 32-bit era. I wonder when will adventure games get their turn?

Adventure games are about as niche as they come these days. Every major studios that specialized in adventure games are now either dead and buried or making other type of games. Nintendo's second party studio CING had a memorable run of games on the DS and Wii (Trace Memory and Hotel Dusk) but they too went bust before the start of this generation. 

As I struggle to solve the mystery of Hotel Dusk, it occurs to me that adventure games will have a hard time making a comeback without undergoing some major overhaul. The chief problem with adventure games are the puzzle or the structure of the storytelling. You missed a vital clue or failed to solve a riddle and the whole structure breaks down and comes to a halt. It's really easy to get stuck in an adventure game and no one likes referring to guides when playing a game.

I started to wonder why can't adventure games be more open-world? You get stuck in one part then maybe you can go and do other stuff while the story branches off to a different outcome. Sadly I have never really seen that in any modern adventure game. The storytelling are usually far too rigid and focused to allow such radical changes. 

I love adventure games and playing Hotel Dusk reminds of those old Lucasarts and Sierra heydays. But I remember I tend to use guides even back in those days to finish those games.