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| Kimberley Wallace |
A graphic adventure where you can change people's fates; count me in!
06.16.10 - 2:46 PM
How can you save somebody if you're already dead? Capcom's new graphic adventure for the DS entitled Ghost Trick, due to hit shelves this winter, allows you the miraculous chance to do just that. No longer does your death mean you're vanquished from the world or just watching from the sidelines helpless. In Ghost Trick, you may be invisible and unable to make actual contact with human beings, but that doesn't mean you can't make your presence known. You do this with your ability to possess inanimate objects, since once you died, you became one of the lucky ones delegated with special powers that can do the impossible: change people's fates.
I was lucky enough to get some play time in on Ghost Trick at E3. What most impressed me about this game were its novel concepts. Let's face it: it's fun to live the life of a ghost. Not only can you play tricks on the bad guys, but it also gives you the chance to be a hero for those in danger. The game has an interesting core concept about averting people's tragic fates. But don't worry, the game isn't all dark and deep, it also has a sense of humor in the dialogue throughout to play down some of the darker themes in the game. On top of that, the game's graphics are very stylized to compliment the humorous parts of the game. They are very sleek and angular, and look good on the DS's small screens. Ghost Trick offers a very smooth tutorial and it's a very easy pick up and play game. You'll have to do puzzle solving throughout by transferring your soul into certain objects to use them to your advantage. You can alternate between the ghost world and real world at will. In the ghost world, you are able to move between objects while time stands still. Once you go back into the real world, you're back in real time and you have the option to set off the objects you inhabited in the ghost world. Another cool power of your character is that he can rewind time to four minutes before a person's death and avert their deadly fate.
Besides the puzzle solving and unique gameplay elements, Ghost Trick at its very core has an intense story. Since your character died, you lost not only your life, but also your memory. Everything is a mystery surrounding the person you were and your character is out to get those questions answered. At the end of the demo I played, the main character asks himself: Who am I? Who killed me? Why was I killed? The only person he has to answer this question is a mysterious lady whose life you save in the beginning of the game. Apparently, she is connected to your past and is your only hope for an answer. All I can say is that I'm super pumped for Ghost Trick's winter release, the unique story and concepts alone are enough to make any graphic adventure fan intrigued. The novel puzzle solving gameplay is just icing on the cake.
