Detective Pikachu was one of the last games for the Nintendo 3DS and one that I missed at the time. Thankfully, the Pokémon franchise took care of its mascot in the role of the smoky detective and gave us a good live-action movie that did a good job of adapting lead character Tim Goodman and his The first story between chubby, hunter-hatted Pokémon research partners. So while Detective Pikachu Returns does a good job of summarizing the former in its opening sequence, you don’t need to know much more before jumping into this unique Pokémon investigation game.
The plot begins two years after the events of Substance R, which drove the Pokémon of Ryme City crazy, and the mayor awards us a medal as an investigative team for our work in protecting a utopia where humans and Pokémon coexist. However, a series of strange and seemingly unrelated events lead us back to a larger plot where our observation and reasoning skills are put to good use. Meanwhile, the search for Tim’s (Pikachu’s former detective partner) father is still open here, so the two plots are gradually intertwined.
But before the world can be saved, there are some mysteries that need to be solved. Detective Pikachu Returns is a very linear investigation title, with Pikachu playing the role of detective, sidekick, and team leader. The action is presented in a rather linear way, almost like a series of conversations and reflections, as if it were a visual novel, although it also requires us to pay attention to the details of the dialogue and not leave any clues, no matter how small, without It’s written in our investigative notebooks. Clues come from the environment and location of Ryme City, as well as human and Pokémon testimonies. Pikachu takes care of Pokemon, while Tim takes care of humans.
Here is an ad:
Not that this is a particularly challenging title for adults, but youngsters at home will find it a good stimulus to focus their senses on solving the problems and crimes of the city’s people. Each case has several clues to follow and can keep us entertained for a long time if we are to get the correct solution.At the same time, there will also be small tasks to help people or Pokémon solve simple mini-puzzles, usually around set scenes where we move the magnifying glass to highlight clues and find objects, or use simplequick time event。
Familiarity with the dozens of Pokémon species present in the game isn’t a prerequisite either, as brief descriptions often provide clues as to whether they should be considered part of the case at hand. We have Pokémon from almost every generation past, and their familiarity also makes it faster to complete some lines of investigation and formulate final deductions to close the case.And then there’s the charm of the furry protagonist, whose voice is likely to appear inblackIn the movie, there are some comments that make even those of us with gray hair smile (the moment about coffee and high cholesterol is pure cinema).
However, the detective investigation process is fairly linear, and Pikachu always kept us focused on our current mission. We couldn’t investigate or explore outside of the area the game wanted us to see at the time, and there wasn’t much room for error as the camera was fixed and followed us in a side-scroller, at best, like on the Nintendo handheld five years earlier Same as the first game. If we were able to move deeper into the stage, it might add an extra challenge to finding clues, which would iterate on the formula. The character designs have also remained unchanged since 2018, aside from the addition of higher resolution. For Pokémon, no big problem, but modeling people could be more expressive (which would also make interrogations or statements more in-depth). Detective Pikachu Returns feels too much like a “continuity” sequel, for better or worse, and I feel too comfortable delivering more of the same without taking advantage of Nintendo’s current hardware.
Here is an ad:
Still, the investigation is good, the story is good, and as a title aimed at young Pokémon trainer investigators, Detective Pikachu Returns provides a great introduction to the genre.
