Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective

I know what you're thinking, “colonelpopcorn, why did it take you a year and a half to play this?” I'm glad you asked anonymous internet person. I didn't have a DS at the time, no job, super into the Xbox 360, there was a flood, tornado, smaug. I DI'NT DO IT OFFICER! Anyway, I was being lazy/poor, that's why.

Ghost Trick is an adventure game in the vein of Phoenix Wright. No, I am not kidding, this game about ghostly tricks is about the same thing as lawyering it up in the courtroom. Not only do you click on stuff with your stylus in both of these games, but you also solve murders in both games! It's almost like they were developed by the same large Japanes company... Yeah, so that comparison is a bit of a stretch, but Ghost Trick definitely brings up fond memories of DS adventure games.

Speaking of adventure games, Ghost Trick is one of those. It is also an adventure game that combines unique puzzles and an interesting (dare I say, compelling?) narrative involving a ghostly spirit named Sissel that is trying to solve his own murder. To do this, he must use his Ghost “Tricks” to save people from being killed. In these sequences, Sissel uses his ghost tricks to manipulate objects like a rolling stepladder, or a rock star's toilet messenger contraption, and maybe even a giant submarine. All of these objects are well defined as interactive objects in the environment. It's this quality that, I think, makes Ghost Trick a really special adventure game. Not only does it keep you from getting stuck in the game, it also makes that oh-so-byzantine adventure game logic make complete and total sense. The puzzles are also nice and compact with lot's of story vignettes between, making sure you don't lose track of what you're doing in each puzzle. All this adds up to make an adventure game that has interesting and engaging gameplay, but never keeps you from the humorous and engaging narrative.

It's this story that kept me coming back to Ghost Trick's seemingly long, but surprisingly brief 18 chapters. The characters are so nebulous in a way that really makes you question if this is not just some crazy fever dream, but never crazy enough to escape to the realm of impossibility. At least, the realm of impossibility that exists in Ghost Trick....Anyway, the characters. The characters are super interesting from a video game point of storytelling because they start out as blank slates that get filled in as the game goes on. One character may be a murderer, but she doesn't know if it's true or not. One character may also be a mass murderer, but the player doesn't know if he is or not. All questions do get answered satisfactorily, and it surprisingly wraps up a lot of plot for the short time that it runs. And in an industry where sequels are built into the game from the very beginning, it's refreshing to see some actual closure in a video game. Boy does this game ever close....