1UP writes: "Those who enjoyed Hotel Dusk may want to check out another mysterious DS adventure: Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles. Jake Hunter is actually part of a long-running series of Japanese detective adventures -- there he's known as Saburo Jinguji, working within Tokyo's bustling Shinjuku district. So, as you may guess from the title, the game has been totally localized and further fictionalized. Shinjuku is now America's Aspicio City, and every character -- not just Jake -- has been given more Western names (his assistant Yoko becomes Yulia, and so on).
Whatever your opinion of the changes, the westernization doesn't look to make much difference in the murder stories of the game's three episodes, though so far we've only played the first: "The Petty Murder of a Fragile Heart." In that, a young woman is murdered in a park late at night, without witnesses and not many leads. Jake first goes to the bar where the woman worked, and then to her doctor. In between, he talks to her boyfriend and even a local organized gang -- and that's all within the first hour".
411mania talks about this week's game releases. Highlights include Cross Edge, Yosumin!, Crimson Gem Saga, Zenonia, Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days, Jake Hunter Detective Story: Memories of the Past, Gyakuten Kenji, and Days of Memories 3.
I strongly encourage everyone to at least take a look at..nay pick up Cross-Edge. I would say that the game does give fan service by bringing in some characters many people may know as well as some many may not know; yet it also has an addictive battle system and great music to boot. So again I strongly advise those looking for an RPG to pick this up.
Alan Kim reports:
''Although we're big fans of point-and-tap whodunit games like the Phoenix Wright series, we can't quite get behind private detective Jake Hunter. Detective Chronicles has a ton of potential, but ham-handed presentation and "so simple a baby could do it" hand-holding make this gumshoe seem more like a goofball.
There are three cases for you to play through, all of which involve you going to a crime scene, talking to everyone until you learn the needed clues, and then going back to your office and puffing down cancer sticks and reviewing the day's events (via a neat quiz-style game in which you recall the details) until the facts become clear. This is literally true - Jake thinks when he smokes, so he's at his most brilliant when his alveoli are crying for mercy.''
Alisha Karabinus reports:
''In a platform game, it's important that you be able to actually move from one platform to the next. Action game? It's similarly important that you be able to fight and move, in order to progress through the game. Few people would argue those points -- so why is the text in a text adventure often less than great?
Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles could have been a great game. The potential is there, and there are a lot of great little touches. Unfortunately, the localized script is sloppy, and that, combined with the missing cases, makes this much more a miss than a hit.''
