It’s a great feeling finishing a game that is just as good as everyone who had played it said it was.
After finishing this remaster I really hope that this can get the sales it deserves across all platforms and that Shu Takumi can become even better known as not just the Phoenix Wright guy.
Ghost Trick is an almost perfect blend of puzzle and narrative.
It layers both these elements with just the right level of complexity as the game progresses to keep you excited and intrigued.
Very much peak handheld design in structure, controls and art.
The chapters are never too long that you feel you’re stuck somewhere for too long, always just short enough that you may start to tell yourself “maybe just one more”.
The updated controls of putting what was stylus based on a joystick work as expected and each of the other small button presses are clearly marked on screen without distracting.
The art and music are highlights and although there was nothing wrong with the pixel work on the DS, if anything far from it, the higher resolution and smoother look of the remake looks absolutely beautiful on both big and small screen, the accompanying new arrangements of music similarly add to the feel of just a pinch of modern shine on a game that never needed touching.
It’s all just extra shine and no scarring like some remasters can do.
One of the few things I did dislike about this remaster are the unlockables.
The content, that’s great, art, screens, music, all lovely stuff to lap up after finishing the story but locking some of these behind dreaded sliding tile puzzles feels like a crime.
These things are the worst and most basic puzzle game filler to exist and are not a part of Ghost Trick’s main game so why put them here? The only positive it has is as a comparison to the puzzles of the game itself “they’re never this bad”.
As mentioned previously, next to the beautiful music and art Ghost Trick’s greatest feat is how well it can layer its story alongside its puzzles.
The story never becomes too complicated but there are smart twists and turns along with great character development, a lot of which feel quite real in a world of colourful comic characters.
The puzzles never become hard, at their best they make you feel smart as you can start seeing the lines before they’re pointed out. The pointing out is there though, but these hints are not clicking a question mark to give you an answer but the much sleeker design of having the characters mention aspects or ponder ideas that will push you in the direction needed.
During my playthrough I never felt stuck outside of one situation where honestly, the answer was stupid and not as clear as it should have been (I’ll mention vaguely what in the comments if anyone needs to know). However that was one speck on a great series of puzzles that really only have the downfall of potentially feeling too trial and error - checkpoints, text skipping and generally short levels though make any repetition feel quite easily forgiven.
Ghost Trick is as good as people have said for the past dozen or so years and I am more than happy to have spent money to experience this on a modern machine - although I should have always finished this on my iPhone those many years ago.
After finishing this remaster I really hope that this can get the sales it deserves across all platforms and that Shu Takumi can become even better known as not just the Phoenix Wright guy.
Ghost Trick is an almost perfect blend of puzzle and narrative.
It layers both these elements with just the right level of complexity as the game progresses to keep you excited and intrigued.
Very much peak handheld design in structure, controls and art.
The chapters are never too long that you feel you’re stuck somewhere for too long, always just short enough that you may start to tell yourself “maybe just one more”.
The updated controls of putting what was stylus based on a joystick work as expected and each of the other small button presses are clearly marked on screen without distracting.
The art and music are highlights and although there was nothing wrong with the pixel work on the DS, if anything far from it, the higher resolution and smoother look of the remake looks absolutely beautiful on both big and small screen, the accompanying new arrangements of music similarly add to the feel of just a pinch of modern shine on a game that never needed touching.
It’s all just extra shine and no scarring like some remasters can do.
One of the few things I did dislike about this remaster are the unlockables.
The content, that’s great, art, screens, music, all lovely stuff to lap up after finishing the story but locking some of these behind dreaded sliding tile puzzles feels like a crime.
These things are the worst and most basic puzzle game filler to exist and are not a part of Ghost Trick’s main game so why put them here? The only positive it has is as a comparison to the puzzles of the game itself “they’re never this bad”.
As mentioned previously, next to the beautiful music and art Ghost Trick’s greatest feat is how well it can layer its story alongside its puzzles.
The story never becomes too complicated but there are smart twists and turns along with great character development, a lot of which feel quite real in a world of colourful comic characters.
The puzzles never become hard, at their best they make you feel smart as you can start seeing the lines before they’re pointed out. The pointing out is there though, but these hints are not clicking a question mark to give you an answer but the much sleeker design of having the characters mention aspects or ponder ideas that will push you in the direction needed.
During my playthrough I never felt stuck outside of one situation where honestly, the answer was stupid and not as clear as it should have been (I’ll mention vaguely what in the comments if anyone needs to know). However that was one speck on a great series of puzzles that really only have the downfall of potentially feeling too trial and error - checkpoints, text skipping and generally short levels though make any repetition feel quite easily forgiven.
Ghost Trick is as good as people have said for the past dozen or so years and I am more than happy to have spent money to experience this on a modern machine - although I should have always finished this on my iPhone those many years ago.