Another Code: Two Memories Review (DS)

Age Rating: 7+ (PEGI)

What is it?

A spoooooky mystery.

Is it fun?

No.

Is it worth the money? £24.99

No.

Why not?

It’s another in a plethora of stories masquerading as games. They seem to plague the DS. Unfortunately, this story isn’t very good.

You wander around from room to room poking things until you trigger a 5-minute-long chunk of plot exposition-through-dialogue. And not even the kind you can leave playing while you walk away to do something interesting. You have to keep poking options. On the rare occasions that you actually get to do something, it’s trivial and not at all challenging. One memorable scene had me drawing circles on the screen to simulate cranking a wheel that opened a gate. Another had me scrubbing the stylus across the screen to rub rust off a plaque. Whoop-dee doo.

Yes, I know Nintendogs has you scrubbing dirt off a dog. The difference is that Nintendogs gives you positive feedback in the form of a cute puppy that reacts and squirms where you poke it. Scrubbing the plaque in this game was a bit like… scrubbing a plaque. Not just any plaque. A boring plaque. There is the occasional innovative puzzle but they are few and far between. The rest of the game is just too depressing for those moments to help. It has a very annoying design flaw that you can’t actually pick things up until you’ve found where you need them. Cue much frustration as you go “I know I saw a knife somewhere… but where?” and wander slowly from room to room to room.

The story isn’t bad but it’s nothing special either. It’s the tale of a bored child with dead parents who explores a bit, finds a ghost and helps him on his mission while learning a little something about herself along the way. (Why is child-of-dead-parents such a staple of games?) The characters aren’t particularly engaging and dialogue is utilitarian, to say the least. I found that I just didn’t care that much about anyone, unlike Phoenix Wright where everyone has their endearing little quirks.

Young children will enjoy this game, provided they haven’t played many other DS games yet. Everyone else should save their money and get… something else. Anything else.

Links:

Nintendo Europe’s ‘Another Code’ Page

Screenshots: