Detective Pikachu was one of the last games for the Nintendo 3DS and one that I missed at the time. Thankfully, the Pokémon series took care of its mascot in the character 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 chubby , the first story between Pokémon research partners in hunter hats. So while Detective Pikachu Returns does a good job of summarizing the former in its opening sequence, you don’t need to know what the recap has to offer before jumping into this unique Pokémon investigation game.
The plot begins two years after the events of Substance R, which drove Pokémon crazy in Ryme City, and the mayor awards us a medal 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 we must put our observation and reasoning skills to good use. Meanwhile, the search for Tim’s (Pikachu’s former detective partner) father continues, so the two plots gradually become intertwined.
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But before the world can be saved, there are a few little mysteries to solve. 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 manner, almost like a sequence 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 to overlook any clues, no matter how small, rather than to It’s written in our investigative notebooks. Clues come from the environment and location of Ryme City and the testimonies of humans and Pokémon. Pikachu takes care of Pokemon, while Tim takes care of humans.
It’s not a particularly challenging title for adults, but the younger ones at home will find it a good thrill to keep their senses focused on solving Ryme City’s many problems and crimes. Each case has several clues to follow if you want to get the correct solution, and will keep you entertained for a while.At the same time, there are smaller quests to help people or Pokémon out using simple mini-puzzles, usually centered around a set scene where we move the magnifying glass to highlight clues and look for objects, otherwise you end up with a 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 in almost every generation, so if you have some knowledge, it can be faster to complete some investigations and form final deductions to close the case.But we can’t discuss Pokémon without mentioning the charm of our furry protagonist, who charms with his husky voice and will likely appear inblackDuring the movie, there are also some comments that made even those of us with gray hair smile (the moment about coffee and high cholesterol was pure cinema).
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Pikachu also always keeps us focused on the current task. 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 could move deeper into the stage, it might add an extra challenge to finding clues, which would improve 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 is too much of a “continuity” sequel that, for better or worse, seems too comfortable delivering more of the same without taking advantage of Nintendo’s current hardware.
Still, the investigation is good, the story is good, and as a title aimed at young Pokémon trainers and investigators, Detective Pikachu Returns provides a great introduction to the genre.
