Friday, June 23, 2006
Trace Memory
Up until a few months ago, I was very weary of buying a Nintendo DS. Its touch screen and other innovative features was to me a dark voodoo which mortal man must never come to know. I had even once heard a rumor that the touch screen was powered by the souls of raped children, and that the bulk of the contraption was filled with a dark coagulation of blood and clot. Then I saw that the PSP core system was about $70 more and had nearly no games on it. Thus, it came to pass that I purchased Nintendo's dark child. That and my fiancée got one with Animal Crossing: wild world and wanted someone to play with... her big doe eyes subdued me like napalm upon a Vietnamese baby.
The first game I purchased for the villainous contraption was a $20 game called Trace Memory. I didn’t expect much. The box said it was an adventure game and the blurbs on the back touted it as the greatest accomplishment of man-kind since orgasms. At the end of the day, however, it all came down to the price and I sped home to crack the thing open. I didn’t expect what I found.
THE GOOD
the game has a good story to it. You play as Ashley, a 14 year old girl who lost both her parents under mysterious circumstances when she was three and was left in the care of her aunt. A few days before her 14th birthday, she received a package from an unknown sender. When she opened the package, she found within an "odd machine" that looks just like your DS called the DTS (or dual Trace System) and a note from her father. Apparently, her father had not died and was waiting for her on the transparently named "
The game play is very enjoyable. the game is filled with several puzzles ranging from the exceedingly easy (such as putting 5 broken pieces of wood together to form a sign,) to the innovative (such as closing and re-opening the DS to press a stamp on a piece of paper -the bottom of the stamp being on the top of the screen.) The puzzles never become a burden (like in a certain game I’m not speaking to anymore. Screw you to hell Myst III) and instead become a very pleasing element of the game... except for one. If you buy the game, you will know it when you see it.
The graphics are done well. The top screen has anime stills during dialogue complete with blinking eyes and moving mouths then has stills of the scenery during game play, and the bottom screen has nicely rendered polygons of the main character running around weeping as her life falls apart.
THE BAD
Ashley is the stupidest heroine ever. Many, many times you will figure out a part of the mystery way before Ashley does. She never quite seems to get it though. You have to show her every little detail often running back and forth to different rooms doing multiple tasks and then, MAYBE she will understand the obvious. For example, Ashley won’t pick up an item you need to solve a puzzle until after you’ve clicked on the two things she needs to figure it out herself. Aren’t we the ones that are supposed to figure this stuff out?
Ashley talks... ALOT. The game is peppered with 9 hour dialogue sessions that seem to serve no other purpose than to annoy. You once sit down and ask a ship captain if he wanted to be a captain as a child... this conversation lasts for 15 real life minutes. The introduction is so laced with dialogue that I had to stop without saving at least three times and come back later.
It’s too short. When I play a game, I try to look at and explore EVERYTHING and my total play time was only 4 hours. That’s ridiculous. Even though I loved this game that’s kind of a deal breaker for me, and should be for you as well.
So is the game worth the money?
No, even though the game is great, it’s just too short to justify the cost. Rent this one.
FINAL SCORE
7/10
all things considered this gets a 7 out of 10
# posted by Mr. Pardue @ 6:10 PM 
