During his very fortunate existence Nintendo DS it was the home of a large number of unconventional games and experiences. Thanks to titles like 999 or those belonging to the Ace Attorney series, it is with this console that the genre of visual novel it has been definitively cleared through customs in the West. Fans will remember with pleasure some exponents of the genre made by Cing study: Another Code, Dusk Hotel e Last Window. Just in conjunction with the release of the latter, the development team closed its doors, giving rise to a diaspora that brought its components to other Japanese software houses. Chase: Cold Case Investigations - Distant Memories is the new title created by Kaisuke Tanasaki, former director of Hotel Dusk, and published by Arc System Works and Aksys on the Nintendo eShop of 3DS.
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Nintendo DS: In search of hidden treasures
A 5 year old case
From the very first moments Chase brings to mind titles like Hotel Dusk and Last Window, you want to use the same character design, you want for the atmospheres dominated by jazz music, you want for the type of story and dialogue between the characters. The story centers on two detectives from the Unsolved Case Division, Shonosuke Nanase and Koto Amemura, intent on uncovering the truth about an accident that occurred 5 years earlier in a hospital. Compared to previous Cing titles, the scope of the investigation is very limited. The whole case is solved in a couple of hours and the visual novel component is clearly preponderant over any other gameplay mechanics. While in Hotel Dusk and Last Window we found ourselves exploring locations in first person, solving puzzles here and there, in Chase: Cold Case Investigations it will be the dialogues and the narration to take over. Not only is there no exploratory component, but the interaction with the player is limited to indicating clues on photographs and selecting multiple answers during the dialogues.
More a demo than a game
The whole adventure it tastes more like a demo or a prologue than an accomplished game. Although the hospital case is resolved in about two hours of play, a final cliffhanger refers to hypothetical future developments, leaving the player's appetite rather unsatisfied. Although the style of the game and the type of narration largely refer to Hotel Dusk and Last Window, in such a short time there is no space to become attached to the characters, which are not very detailed and not very interesting, and the same can be said of the setting, which is all too generic. It comes naturally to wonder if the developer's intentions are the idea of making a full-blown episodic adventure. If this were the case, Chase: Cold Case Investigations fails to leave the player intrigued, due to the flatness of the narrative and the lack of charisma of the characters.
Tight budget
In terms of technical implementation there is not much to say. The extraordinary rotoscoping style of Hotel Dusk and Last Window is abandoned in favor of a more generic anime look. While maintaining the same character design as its spiritual predecessors (at times one could mistake Shonosuke for Kyle Hyde), the graphic component is largely made up of static backdrops and artwork, While the occasional animations are extremely limited. The overall impact is that of a very low budget title, which clashes with Cing's past. The music is a little better, which, taking up the style of the previous games, are able to give a hint of Neo-noir atmosphere. The title has no dubbing and the on-screen texts are only available in English, unfortunately.
Verdict 5/10 Some cases are best left unsolved Comment Chase: Cold Case Investigations - Distant Memories is a title destined to disappoint fans of Hotel Dusk and Last Window. While taking up elements such as the character design, the music, the type of story, it is extremely limited and contained. The case in the game, never really interesting, is solved within a couple of hours, without even the time to delve into the characters and let the player become attached to them. Compared to the spiritual predecessors, the components of exploration and solving of puzzles are lacking, giving back a much more dialogue and verbose adventure, certainly less engaging. Also from the graphic point of view there are some sensational steps backwards, given the abandonment of the wonderful animations in rotoscoping and the extensive use of static images, often of low quality. At the end of the day Chase: Cold Case Investigations - Distant Memories is more a demo or a prologue than a real game, but even taking into account its digital nature and low price, it is difficult to recommend it. Pros and cons ✓ It takes up the style of Hotel Dusk and Last Window
✓ Atmospheric music
✓ Nice character design x Very short and not very satisfying adventure
x The exploratory phases are missing
x Little personality and little charisma
x Visually it gives the impression of being a very low budget title
