The Blogtastic Blogfest That Is Getmeoutofthis.net!

A long time ago, on some podcast or something, John Davidson, whom I like quite a bit when he talks in a podcast, mentioned a game called Miami Law, which he described as some weird mix of Phoenix Wright and a light gun shooter for DS. Feeling all empowered by the fact that I now had a Gamefly account and could rent horrible games, try them, and then immediately send them back, I put it on my Queue. Then it showed up the other day.

The most hilarious thing, and the first thing I noticed, was that, if you click on Extra in the main menu, you can play Sudoku puzzles and Texas Hold ’em. Is this relevant to the game at some point? I have absolutely no idea. But the idea of “We’re making a casual game, casual people like Sudoku and Texas Hold ‘Em, right? Then just throw some in there” makes me giggle.

Now, let me be the first to say that, honestly, this game is not a bad idea. Mixing up a mystery with some touch screen minigames honestly seems like a great combination for a nice casual game. There’s nothing wrong with the concept. The execution, though, is pretty bad.
The game can’t decide if it wants to be controlled via stylus or the buttons. If you use the buttons, it’s awkward, because the set-up of the menu is designed for the stylus. But when you press something with the stylus, nothing happens. You have to double-click on all the menu options to get them to do anything, which is completely stupid. That got annoying really quick.
On top of that, the actual gameplay is extremely trial and error. When you’re given decisions, I hope you pick the right one, because otherwise, you just lost! Granted, there’s a little thought bubble on the bottom that tells you what the character thinks is the right choice. Most of the time it is! But that just creates other issues, in that you never feel like you’re actually doing anything in the case, since your decisions do not matter.
The first time I was given a decision that matters, I got completely confused as to what the game wanted me to do. I had four suspects I had to get information out of. I could “Use Force” to pull my gun on them, but then I’d get scolded. Even “Using Force” on every person didn’t make anything happen, nor did talking to everyone and looking at everyone. I couldn’t move away until I figured out who had the information I needed. If I “Use Force” a second time against any of the people, I lose. I had no clue what the game wanted me to do. It went back into the Gamefly Envelope.

The presentation is both good and bad. It has this weird half-anime art style that works for some characters (like the male lead, named Law, because someone could not resist being so fucking clever) and then totally falls apart and looks freakish on others. (like the female lead, Sara, whose face just seems like someone inflated her eyes way too big) I think it would have worked a lot better if they had just gone with the more realistic style they were leaning for, especially since the target audience for this seems to be the same kind of people who bought Brain Age and also like CSI or whatever.
The writing, though, was actually decent, from what I read. I mean, it’s not great, and it certainly seemed constrained in some scenes to make it “acceptable.” (I mean, Law is running around with this drug ring who is killing all kinds of dudes. They are going to use harsher language.) It’s passable, but it’s certainly not worth fighting through all the constant Game Overs for no reason.

Anyway, I still think the idea was solid, and it was kind of fun to fiddle with for an hour or two, but it’s heading back to Gamefly. As much as I was thinking about it, though, and how much I’d actually LIKE an interactive story like that. I think I’m probably looking all the more forward to renting Women’s Murder Club: Games of Passion at some point. That’s got like… a guy who has written a book before behind it, right? And Nintendo First Party support? Surely it’s going to be everything this game isn’t. Hopefully.