Overview
J.B. Harold: Blue Chicago Blues, also known as J.B. Harold in Blue Chicago Blues, is a detective-themed full-motion video menu-driven adventure game developed by Riverhill Soft and published by Pioneer LDC for the Pioneer LaserActive (using the TGCD-based LD-ROM² PAC module) in Japan on December 20, 1994, with a version for the SCD-based Mega LD PAC module released on April 15, 1995 (which also received a North American release sometime that year).
The fourth installment of the J.B. Harold series, Blue Chicago Blues puts players back in the role of detective J.B. Harold as he investigates a pair of deaths (one homicide, one apparent suicide) in Chicago circa November 1993. Aided by hard-boiled detective Ted Rossen, Harold finds links not only with both cases, but with an unsolved homicide 20 years prior.
Unlike previous installments, Blue Chicago Blues brings the series to the '90s multi-media boom with heavy use of full-motion video cutscenes, all of which were filmed in Chicago by American actors (despite the game getting a mostly-Japanese release). In addition, players now have to properly manage their time similar to Dracula Unleashed, as performing certain actions now take up a portion of time and certain key scenes are only available at certain times.
It later received Japan-exclusive releases by Riverhill Soft for the Sony PlayStation, Sega Saturn, 3DO, and DOS PCs in 1995, with a NEC PC-FX release by NEC in 1996. It later received a iOS conversion by Althi on November 9, 2011.
Log in to comment