Tap through the suspense in Again, an interactive crime novel from the makers of “Hotel Dusk”, only on the Nintendo DS. Follow the clues as FBI agent Jonathan Weaver, using Past Vision powers and navigate through a fictitious adaptation of an early 90′s crime-ridden New jersey. Ninetenn years after the first Providence Murder Cases, your goal is to track down the assailants, using evidence found along the way. As the only survivor of his family’s murder, Weaver has been pursuing numerous unanswered questions in his unwavering search for the killer realizing just how the past can come back to haunt you.The Providence Murder Cases have never been solved. Now, 19 years after the murder of his family, FBI agent Jonathan Weaver is finally close to tracking down the assailants and bringing them to justice. He’ll need all of his training to explore the clues and evidence from crime scenes as he uncovers the answers to his terrible past.
Play as FBI agent Jonathan Weaver. View larger. |
An intriguing storyline. View larger. |
Question characters to solve the mystery. View larger. |
Explore crime scene clues. View larger. |
 Synopsis Features:
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- Play as FBI agent Jonathan Weaver as you track down the assailants in the Providence Murder Cases
- Experience an intriguing storyline full of unexpected twists and turns
- Explore crime scene clues using Past Vision and uncover secret evidence using Current Vision
- Solve challenging puzzles to uncover the mystery
- Dual 3D screens, a unique interface and more play out in full-motion video sequences
List Price: $ 19.99
Price: $ 9.48
OK, but it’s no Hotel Dusk,
Since this appears to be shaping up as the first review of this game on Amazon, I should state my biases up front. Let me be clear that I am coming at this game from the perspective of someone who really enjoyed “Hotel Dusk: Room 215″ and was essentially hoping for more of the same from this game (which is by the same developer, so that didn’t seem like a wholly unrealistic expectation). Regardless, if you haven’t played “Hotel Dusk,” large chunks of this review are probably not going to make much sense, so I apologize for that in advance.
If you’d like to save yourself some reading, here’s the capsule review: If you haven’t played “Hotel Dusk” and you want a really good adventure game for your DS, I’d advise getting that instead of “Again.” If you have played “Hotel Dusk” and you’re hoping that “Again” will be pretty much like that game was, only even better because they’ve had a couple of years to improve their craft, prepare for some disappointment. While “Again” is an OK game, it isn’t anywhere near as good as “Hotel Dusk.” In a strange way, this new game sort of feels like it should have been the old game, by which I mean, “Hotel Dusk” plays like I would expect it to play if the developer had already made “Again” and wanted to make another game to address the first game’s shortcomings. Instead, it’s the brand-new game that has more shortcomings compared to its predecessor, and that’s disappointing. To me, “Again” is a big step backwards from “Hotel Dusk” in terms of both story and gameplay.
The most similar thing about “Again” and “Hotel Dusk” is the visual presentation. It’s a distinctive style, and personally I like it a lot. The characters are presented as 2D “sketches” which look like actors who have been rendered as pencil drawings, but in “Again” they are in full color and have a much more photographic quality whereas in “Hotel Dusk” they were black-and-white and more stylized. (It also makes story sense that the characters have been upgraded from black and white to full color; “Hotel Dusk” is set in a run-down, nearly abandoned hotel during the late 1970s whereas “Again” is set in a mid-sized city in 2010.) I thought that the style worked really well in the older game and I still think it works really well in this game. There is a neat transition effect when you enter a new scene where a silhouette walks across the two screens of the DS and the background fills in behind. I never got tired of looking at the characters or the static backgrounds. In the fully-interactive 3D scenes the graphics do not try to be “photo-realistic” (which so often just ends up looking blurry and washed-out anyway). It’s easy to tell what the various objects are, and you will rarely encounter any sort of “find the pixel” type difficulties. They’ve upgraded the engine since “Hotel Dusk” (higher level of detail on object models, more and better textures) but the main point is that “Again” looks just fine. There is a lot of video but it is almost all in the context of flashbacks or visions which are rendered in a clever way to show you what the game needs you to see without giving everything away at once. You will not mind staring at this game for the 8 hours it will take to finish. (This was actually the first game I played on my brand-spanking-new DSiXL, and it looked great on the larger screen.)
I will be brief when talking about the plot because frankly there isn’t a whole lot to talk about, which is a shame. I wouldn’t want to give away what little suspense there is, so I’ll just say that there was a series of murders in the past, another series of murders is occurring in the present, and all signs point to the murders having been committed by the same killer. You play the FBI agent who is responsible for solving both sets of murders by figuring out how the past and present events are connected. As one might expect, your character also has a very personal interest in solving the crimes, so there is a simultaneous exploration of the character’s own backstory as he works to unravel the mystery. It’s not terribly original, but with some cool gameplay mechanics and the unique art style, this could have been a very solid game; unfortunately the story fails to hold up its end of the bargain. The plot is astonishingly predictable (assuming you have ever read at least one mystery novel or watched an episode of “Law & Order”). I can virtually guarantee that you will have figured out what is really going on long before your character does and as a result all the “revelations” end up having very little shock value or emotional impact. Honestly, most of the twists and turns are so obvious that I didn’t even get a sense of satisfaction every time I was proven right about what would happen next. The inevitable cheesy cliffhanger leading into a sequel is also telegraphed almost from the very beginning of the game. There is no nice way to say this: the story is…
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|Agonizingly repetitive,
Again bills itself as an interactive crime novel but the emphasis is on the novel part more than the interactive part. Platformed on the Nintendo DS which has had a number of outstanding crime adventure games, Again starts with an interesting premise. As the player you take the role of Jonathan Weaver, a young FBI agent whose parents were murdered by a serial killer nineteen years earlier. The killer nicknamed ` Providence ” was never apprehended. But now it seems as if Providence is back. A murder in a local hotel seems to indicate the same MO as providence. Furthermore, Weaver finds a note addressed to him at the scene of the crime, toying with him.
As in most crime solving games you will be required to investigate the crime scene and interview witnesses and suspects. There’s little of the technical analysis that you’ve seen in games like CSI. You’re not dusting for prints or using UV lights to check for blood or doing any sort of lab work. Makes sense since you’re not technically a CSI investigator so you’ll find yourself interviewing those lab personnel who analyze evidence. But Weaver has one unique tool to use in his investigations…he is psychic. He has the ability to look into the past of a crime scene and see objects and events in the past. When this happens your DSI, which you hold open like a book, displays the past on the left side and the present on the right. Weaver basically examines those things which are different from the past to the present.
This is certainly the most fun and unique aspect to Again and gives it a bit of a leg up over similarly-themed games. It’s too bad that you don’t get to use the ability more and that the gameplay doesn’t focus on the psychic/supernatural element. Along with your partner Kate Hathawat, you will spend most of your time in prolonged conversations. Again is aptly named because you will use your stylus Again…and Again…and Again to go through the lines and lines of text that you have to sit through. And every time you read a line of text on the right, the picture on the left side of the DS screen changes to the person who spoke the line. The second time I played the game I literally spent an hour just reading text and not doing any actual investigation. If I’d wanted to read a book I would have bought a book!
Much of the dialog in Again is just inane filler. For example, Weaver will say to Hathaway, “Let’s go speak to so and so…” Hathaway will respond with something like “Sounds like a good idea” and Weaver will reply, “Ok let’s go” and on and on. The game designers seemed to feel a need for the characters to explain every move they make in the minutest detail. Pretty soon you’re just racing through the text hoping something of interest comes along. If this were a book you’d likely have put it down after a couple of chapters. Point: Spoken dialog doesn’t always translate well when written. We get all the pauses, “umms”, “hmms” etc…that are a chore to read through.
The graphics use photographs of live actors that are given a minimal amount of animation to change facial expressions or body movements. These can often be laughable, especially the police detective in charge of the case who constantly strikes one “look at how macho I am” pose after another. There are a lot of characters in the game but one is just as uninteresting as the next. The actors who play Jonathan and Kate look too young to be believable as FBI agents.
While on paper Again had a good concept and its introduction of psychic elements was unique, the bland and slow-moving gameplay keeps it from building any lasting suspense.
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|Great game!,
I don’t understand all the negative reviews.
This game is an interactive crime novel. It’s about an FBI agent Jonathan Weaver who can see into the past. I love mysteries and reading so this game is perfect for me. J was cute but I found Kate to be a litte annoying.
If you’re stuck, you can always go back to the field office and Kate will give you a hint. Basically you’re going to different places and talking to people.
The plot was interesting enough to keep me entertained. I thought I figured out a few things about it but turned out I was wrong. Some of the puzzles are bit hard if you don’t know where to look or who to talk to but all in all, they’re fairly easy to master.
I like the full motion video they do in the game. They use real life actors instead of animation. In my opinion, the DS needs more mystery and horror games.
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