Detective Pikachu was one of the last Nintendo 3DS titles and it was one I missed at the time. Fortunately, the Pokémon franchise has taken care of its mascot in the role of the smoky-voiced detective, giving us a good live-action film that adapted the initial story between protagonist Tim Goodman and his chubby, hunter-clad Pokémon research partner quite well. So while Detective Pikachu Returns does a good job of summarizing the former in an opening sequence, you don’t need to know more than this summary provides before jumping into this unique Pokemon detective game.
The action begins two years after the events of Substance R that turned Ryme City’s Pokémon wild, and with the mayor giving us a medal for our work in preserving this utopia of human-Pokémon coexistence. However, a series of strange and seemingly unrelated events lead us back to a larger plot where we must use our powers of observation and deduction. At the same time, the hunt for Tim’s father (Pikachu’s former detective partner) is still ongoing, so the two plots gradually intertwine.
But before we can save the world there are a few more minor mysteries to solve. Detective Pikachu Returns is a very linear investigative title, where Pikachu plays the role of detective, sidekick and team leader. The action is presented in a fairly linear way, almost as a series of dialogues and reflections as if it were a visual novel, although it also requires us to pay attention to the details of the conversations and not overlook any clues, no matter how small, without write them down in our investigation book. Clues are gleaned from the surroundings and locations of Ryme City, as well as from the testimonies of people and Pokémon. Pikachu takes care of the pocket monsters, while Tim takes care of the humans.
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This is not a particularly challenging title for adults, but for children and young people it will be a good stimulus to focus their senses on solving the many problems and crimes in Ryme City. Each case has several threads to follow to find the right solution, and it can keep you entertained for quite some time. At the same time, there are also smaller missions to help people or Pokemon with simple mini-puzzles, usually centered around a fixed scene where we move the magnifying glass to highlight clues and look for objects, or you end up with a simple Quick Time Event.
It is also not necessary to be familiar with the dozens of Pokémon species that appear in the game, because a brief description often gives clues as to whether or not they are part of the case at hand. We have Pokémon from almost every previous generation, so having some knowledge about them can speed up the completion of some lines of investigation and draw the final conclusions to close the case. But we can’t talk about Pokemon without mentioning the charisma of our furry protagonist, who charms with a rough voice that could be in a movie noirand some comments that make even us with gray hair smile (that moment about coffee and high cholesterol is pure film).
Pikachu also always keeps us focused on what we are doing. We can’t investigate or explore outside of the area the game wants us to see, and there isn’t much room for error, as the camera is fixed and at best follows us in a sidescroll, just like the first game did on Nintendo’s handheld five years ago since. If we could move around the stage in depth, it could add an extra challenge to the hunt for clues, which would improve the formula. And the character design hasn’t changed since 2018 either, except for a higher resolution. With Pokémon, it’s not a big problem, but the modeling of the humans could use a little more expressiveness (which would also give more depth to interrogations or statements). Detective Pikachu Returns is too much of a “continuity” sequel, for better or worse, and it seems too comfortable offering more of the same and not taking advantage of Nintendo’s current hardware.
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Still, the investigation is good and the story isn’t bad either, and as a title aimed at young Pokémon trainers and investigators, Detective Pikachu Returns is a good introduction to this type of game.
2023-10-04 16:00:00
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