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Trace Memory (Nintendo DS, 2005)
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$127.50
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Trace Memory was one of the first games I was interested in when I got my DS Lite. When I was a teenager, I blazed through numerous "graphic adventures", such as King's Quest and the great Lucasarts games like Sam & Max, Day of the Tentacle, and Monkey Island. Trace Memory seems to be a cross between such graphic adventures and games fromo the Myst series. You walk around, talk to a few characters, but mostly you inspect things. On to the review! Graphics: 4/5 The game itself is visually pleasant. The lower touch screen is where you control Ashley, the main character, in a 3D rendered environment, and the top screen is a pre-rendered view of the immediate surroundings of Ashley, which change when you walk around. These pre-rendered views are very well done, and very reminiscent of the beautiful scenery of Myst. There are also some brief animations which are nicely done, and the characters themselves are beautifully drawn in an anime style, but their animation is limited to moving mouths and blinking. Story: 5/5 The story is captivating. It is about Ashley, a girl who is about to turn 14, who receives a letter from her father, whom she thought had died 11 years ago, telling her to visit him on Blood Edward Island. It is here that, after exploring and encountering some plot twists, that she finds out the truth about her family, and also learns a little about the former aristocratic inhabitants of the island. Gameplay: 3/5 Control is very slick, and everything is generally very responsive. The entire game can be played with the stylus, but you can walk around and look at stuff using button control as well. The story drives the game, but what I was most interested in was the collection of puzzles in the game. Throughout the game, you have to solve puzzles to get more clues or open secret chambers and so forth - fairly standard game material. Many of these puzzles require the use of the stylus or the microphone, and show off these special features unique to the DS. However, some of the puzzles seem to be overly simple, while others are much more challenging. However, I still have some complaints on the gameplay. First, the conversation system is somewhat pointless - there doesn't seem to be any reason to ask the same question more than once, even though you have the option. In addition, you have to ask all questions before you can go on with the game - I feel that the game would have flowed better if conversations were automatic instead of having the player choose what to say. Although I loved most of the puzzles, there is a fundamental flaw with them as well. In most adventure games, if you see something interesting, you can and should pick it up. More often than not, you will need to figure out what it's used for much later in the game. In Trace Memory, this is somewhat reversed. Even if you see an item of interest, you will not be able to pick it up until it is evident in a puzzle that you will need it. This is bad for two reasons - it makes you go back to get things that obviously were going to be used in the game, and it also makes some of the puzzles blatantly obvious. My last complaint in the gameplay is its linear nature. There are several spots in the game where, once you have progressed there, you cannot access the previous locations any longer. I feel this takes away from the free-form nature of most adventure games.Read full review
Trace Memory is a good mystery adventure game for the DS. You are a teenage girl trying to piece together parts of her past as she is also stuck on a deserted island. The game will have the main character finding out many secrets of her own family's past, in her effort to reunite with her father, who awaits her on the island. This is a pretty easy to play adventure game, with puzzles that are simple though interesting in their interactivity. Sometimes you need to trek back several rooms to finish a puzzle, but overall things are pretty nice and smooth. Personally, I'm not a major fan of slower adventure games, so I appreciate the game's brisk overall pace and 5-hour length. I don't think I wanted to play much more by the time it was finished. Fans of Lucas Arts adventures may feel let down by the easiness, but this is a good choice for a more relaxed type of game.Read full review
This was a fun game and a nice way to spend quiet hours. It's less like a game and more like one of those old "choose you own adventure" story books, only you eventually have to come the necessary conclusions to proceed through the game. The story line was interesting and all the mysteries and puzzles along the way really took some thought to complete. A few of the puzzles have to be solved by actually manipulating your DS, and I thought they were really creative ways to make players interact with the game. Although the main character in this game is 14 years old, at times I felt that this game might be too complicated for children or younger teenagers...and I think that older players might assume that this game is not suited for them because of the main characters age. I don't think I'd pay full price for this game (for one reason, once you complete it, you won't want to play it again because none of the mysteries will be mysterious), but if you can pick it up cheap it is definitely worth spending some time with. Enjoy it! I know I did.Read full review
I bought this game because I read about it and I thought the premise sounded pretty neat. It starts out kinda slow and then after about 30 minutes of game play it starts getting pretty interesting. I liked having to solve the puzzles, though I thought some of them were either too easy or too hard. My five year old daughter watched me play one time and loved it, so from then on I could only play if she was around because she just HAD to watch...lol. Anyway, this game makes you think and provides hours of play. I think it ended up taking me any where between 3-6 hours of game play (not consecutively of course). Overall I thought it was a pretty cool game!
Trace Memory encapsulates strategy, good graphics, puzzles and a neat story line all wrapped in a nice little package. Being a history buff, I really enjoyed the rich layout of the 1940's mansion and property, and since I like the supernatural, I enjoyed having "D" as part of storyline as well. I guess what I enjoyed most were the puzzles. A little spoiler, in one of the puzzles I got so frustrated I let out a deep breath... I used it on the new Ninetendo DS Lite. The graphics are amazing and I would be willing to play it through twice. I understand certain things change if you do so, and the game is worth it in my opinion.
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