(insert witty David Caruso line here)
| Platform | OVERALL |
|---|---|
| Nintendo DS | 6.00 |
| Overall | 6.00 |
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Ahh Miami. Home to forensic investigators that double as serial killers, gangsters whom refer to their competition as cock-a-roches, and detectives whom are so awesome they can start off a witty line, put on their sunglasses, close off their line and due to it being so awesome, the next thing we hear is Roger Daltrey screaming out “YEAH” at the top of his lungs from The Who’s “Won’t Get Fooled Again”. Unfortunately, none of this happens in Hudson’s Miami Law, but it doesn’t affect it’s status as a decent graphic adventure game for the DS. Miami Law pits you as both Miami PD officer Law Martin and Miami FBI agent Sara Starling as both characters team up to bring down the three drug rings that control Miami – the Miami Syndicate, the Cuban Connection and the mysterious Algol group. Along the way, you also go through a series of touch screen mini-games to help progress through the events of the game as the case escalates to a massive scale. The story has an intriguing premise and could’ve been quite something, but as the game goes on it doesn’t really do much interesting, and ends up as being not entirely memorable. Though there are some moments of stellar writing thanks to a good translation. At its most basic level, Miami Law is very similar to most other graphic adventure titles for the DS – you move around locations, talk to people, solve puzzles and deal with situations. In this regard, it’s very similar to the Ace Attorney games; in particular the way you move about the game world, yet without much of the over exaggeration of the scenarios and charm of the characters in that series. One of the more interesting aspects of Miami Law is the use of the two characters. At random points during a case, you’ll have the opportunity to swap between either Law or Sara to see their perspectives on the case. Because they’re separate from each other most of the time, both have unique story paths and have different styles of gameplay. For instance, Law’s mini-games are much more action focused, featuring car chases and Time Crisis-esque shooting stages. Sara’s mini-games are much more puzzle focused – involving hacking PC’s, defusing bombs or matching up different strands with evidence with similar evidence. You could pretty much just define Law as Jack Bauer with Sara acting as his Chloe, as another way of explaining it. Another pleasing aspect is the straight forwardness of the game. Everything works quite logically and you can get through the entirety of the game without resorting to looking for answers online. You’ve got a memo that you can look up at any time that lets you know what you need to do next and in general. At times you might not know exactly what to do, but otherwise, you should be pretty good. While the game is all well and good, there are several issues hampering it. First off, is the length. From start to finish, the game can be beaten in just over three hours. That’s all five cases in the game, beaten in around 30-40 minutes apiece. While that might not seem like too big of a problem, what comes next is. After beating the game, you can replay the game to see all the paths you may have missed and take them to unlock more mini-games and audio tracks. It’s not any more exciting or interesting the second time around, and there really isn’t much new to the game once you’ve gone through it once. The mini-games are also another issue with the game. While it’s cool to see that Hudson tried to make them interesting, and they work for the most part, the implementation of some of them is quite suspect. Take Law’s shooting stages for example. There’s almost no need for a cover mechanic whatsoever, seeing as it takes an ungodly amount of damage to kill Law and fail the mini-game, while it only takes a few bullets to drop enemies. Sara’s sniping stages are even worse. Like most games featuring segments with sniper rifles, your aim isn’t always perfect, so you’ll need to steady your aim. Understandable enough, but how does Miami Law do this? You steady your aim by blowing into the microphone, while moving your cursor around so you can line up a good enough shot before you have to take a breath again. Think about that for a minute. While granted, it would’ve been difficult for the DS microphone to pick up someone inhaling; it’s ludicrous to have to exhale to steady your aim. Lastly, a key issue is the interface – specifically when locating characters. Going back to Ace Attorney for a moment here, if you needed to find a character in that game, they would show up on the screen. In Miami Law, you see a background, but no character. It’s only when you use the talk or examine options, do you actually get to see, or at least acknowledge that the character you’re looking for is in that scene. It’s extremely annoying, especially since all the characters are still images anyway – that it wouldn’t be too taxing on the game to show it. Visually, the game doesn’t look too bad. The anime styled designs for the characters looks good, and you won’t tire of it in the time it’ll take you to beat the game. The 3D stuff is decent enough though – not exactly system pushing stuff, but decent nonetheless. Otherwise, the game looks good enough. It’s not the most distinct looking adventure title (that title still goes to Hotel Dusk) on the DS, but still looks nice. Aurally, the game is also quite decent. The music in the game is done by a group known as Miami Beat Wave, whom were chosen to provide an ‘authentically Miami’ sounding soundtrack to the game. And to be honest, it’s not bad stuff. Not entirely memorable stuff, but it fits the tone of the game well. They provided a tonne of music, which is also quite nice – including five variations of the themes of Law and Sara, and all comes through good enough. Again, good stuff, just not memorable. Overall, Miami Law is a serviceable graphic adventure title. It’s not the best one on the system, but it’s not without its merits. The idea behind it is intriguing, and the separate storylines actually help to further provide something unique, and it’s refreshing to play something that’s quite straightforward. However, the storyline isn’t all that fascinating, some of the mini-games don’t work as well as they should, the game can be beaten and forgotten about in a ridiculously small about of time, and there just isn’t much incentive to go back for another stab at the game. Visually, the game works well enough, as does the soundtrack. If you really must go for an adventure game, go pick up any of Cing’s games(Trace Memory or Hotel Dusk: Room 215) or any of Capcom’s Ace Attorney games |
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Posted by darthhomer Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:59:15
Sat, 14 Nov 2009 22:15:35
I would like to play this, but I dont want to spend any money on it.
Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:10:49
It's too close to reality for David from Miami. I wanted this game big time until I hit the Phoenix Wright wall with the fourth one -- that was enough of this kind of game for me.
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