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The new Jake Hunter game may not be terrible
We were ridiculously excited about the North American debut of Workjam's Tantei Jinguuji Saburo detective adventure series -- until Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles actually came out, and turned out to be a mess of poor localization and incomplete content. Whoops.North American publisher Aksys Games is taking the rare step of correcting its mistake in the followup, Jake Hunter Detective Story: Memories of the Past. In addition to three new cases (judging by the art, they are the cases from the DS game Tantei Jinguuji Saburo Detective Story: Kienai Kokoro) and six new adorably drawn "comedic" adventures, Memories of the Past also includes all three cases from the first game, with a new localization! "Like a Phoenix, Jake Hunter has been reborn as a game infused with personality and a brand new localization that will keep you coming back for seconds," Frank deWindt II, project lead for the game, said in the press release. We see what he did there and wonder if it signals an intentionally quirkier re-Wright for the cases.In other Aksys news, the company announced a very cute multi-instrument music game called Rockin' Pretty.%Gallery-46073%
Bury the Shovelware: Jake Hunter Detective Chronicles
Pedigree Well, we've found one of the weirdest game company names in existence: Aksys Games. It's right up there with "Infogrames" and "Camerica." I was surprised to learn that they're not as obscure as their name would lead one to imagine: they're the folks behind the Guilty Gear series. Jake Hunter was developed by Arc System Works, which is a large Japanese developer and publisher who publishes overseas via Aksys Games. That'll be something I've gotta keep an eye on in the future: the same-developer-same-publisher factor. I'd probably have to talk to a few people who work for a development team or a publisher to learn more about that one. Any such folks reading this who'd like to help me out? Come on, I know you're out there. The Critics Said ... IGN was quick to note that this is a Phoenix Wright-inspired adventure, but also added that "Jake is a stereotype, and the stories are straight forward, humorless affairs." Game Informer followed suit, stating that the game "takes itself way too seriously." So ... the game is being criticized for not being closer to what inspired it? This leaves me a bit befuddled. If Jake Hunter copied Phoenix Wright to a T, it would be criticized for not being original. But when it decides to take a serious approach (as opposed to PW's humorous presentation), it's criticized for not being enough like the original. Poor Jake Hunter can't do anything right. Criticism of critics aside, the two reviews were basically on-par with their peers: the game holds a 47% aggregate score at Metacritic.
DS Fanboy Review: Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles
In a platform game, it's important that you be able to actually move from one platform to the next. Action game? It's similarly important that you be able to fight and move, in order to progress through the game. Few people would argue those points -- so why is the text in a text adventure often less than great?Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles could have been a great game. The potential is there, and there are a lot of great little touches. Unfortunately, the localized script is sloppy, and that, combined with the missing cases, makes this much more a miss than a hit.%Gallery-9685%
WRUP: She shouldn't have eaten the pizza rolls edition
Seriously, she only brought it on herself. Sharing is caring.In all seriousness, we were looking forward to the release of Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles this weekend for some crime-solving fun, but after checking out the reviews and discovering our localized version would only get half the game the Japanese currently enjoy, we're doubting if the man is as tall as he's said to be.With that said, we don't know how this weekend will unfold for us, from a game-playing perspective. So, what will we play? Wait, who cares! We're just some jerks who blog. Let's find out from more important people what they'll be enjoying this weekend.What will you be playing?
Metareview: Jake Hunter
Well folks, it would seem that all of our excitement over Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles might have been wasted. What little in the way of reviews for the game online say it's kind of, well ... below mediocre. They aren't too kind to the game, but we can't say we blame them. The North American release only has three cases, where the Japanese release has six! Game Informer (65/100) says "This is a brief and functional title, but it lacks the flair and intrigue to pull off the film noir aesthetic. It's also hard to get over the fact that Jake Hunter looks like he should be ordering Jägerbombs and hitting on your sister instead of solving cases." Nintendo Power (50/100) thinks "The game would have benefited from some compelling touch-screen use (for puzzles or combat, perhaps), but as is, it barely puts the 'interactive' in 'interactive novel.'" [June 2008, p.89] 1UP (D-) is of the mind that this game isn't even qualified to be in the bargain bin: "Each case is stupidly linear (to the point where you cannot leave an area until you perform the game-moving action), the script is riddled with typos (at one point, a character refers to a mobile phone as a "sell phone"), and the static character art exemplifies the cheapness of the entire package."
Jake Hunter gets busy boxart
Thanks to a sweet thread over at GAF, we've got a look at the boxart for upcoming Aksys title Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles. Regular readers of the site will know that we're pretty darn anxious to get our hands on this game and give it a try. If there's one thing we'll say about the boxart, it sure is busy. There are tons of characters crammed onto the boxart, but none is so prominently displayed as the lead man, Jake Hunter himself. And, because of this, we consider the boxart a great success. What about you all?See also: 2008 Blips - Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles%Gallery-9685%
You don't need a detective to find these Jake Hunter sequel screens
If there's one thing we know, it's that we're incredibly interested in Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles. The game looks like it will be a wonderful fit on the DS. We can't be the only ones excited?The latest update on the sequel to the first game comes courtesy of Game Watch. On top of several new screens to drool over, it looks like they talk a bit about the progression of the game's story, as well as some of the main characters. Machine translation, however, has meant that attempting to analyze their story any more than that guarantees failure.Why are we talking about a sequel to a game we've never played? Well, we're just that darn excited.%Gallery-9685%See also: 2008's Biggest Blips - Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles[Via Go Nintendo]
Detecting. It's what we do.
Or rather, it's what we could be doing more of in the future. That's because Success Corp., maker of Touch Detective and Touch Detective 2 1/2, has updated its site with two new detective games for the DS. With both projects currently listed under the name of "Keiji," we're at a loss as to what these could be.Siliconera's Spencer Yip speculates that additional entries in the Touch Detective series are doubtful, but that's fine with us. We'd just appreciate more games in the hardboiled vein of Hotel Dusk: Room 215, or Aksys' forthcoming localization of Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles.
