Detective Pikachu Returns Review - Cracking The Case

Reviewed on: Switch
Platform: Switch
Publisher: Nintendo, The Pokémon Company
Developer: Creatures Inc.

The previous Detective Pikachu game, released over five years ago on 3DS, traded in traditional Pokémon elements for mysteries more familiar to the Phoenix Wright/Professor Layton crowd. Gone were the trainers, Poké Balls, and battles in exchange for evidence-gathering, deduction, and a Pikachu that can speak far more than its own name. A year later, the movie adaptation became the second highest-grossing video game film at the time. While the game left a central loose thread dangling, the movie, which is disconnected from the game series, tied everything up in a neat bow. Detective Pikachu Returns is left to deal with this discrepancy, impacting the story this game sequel can tell.

Partners Tim Goodman and the titular Detective Pikachu begin by receiving awards for their investigative work from the previous game. Of course, it doesn’t take long for things to go wrong, and they solve a series of connected mysteries while continuing the search for Tim’s father, Harry. I welcomed their familiar rapport with Tim as the straight man to Pikachu’s gruff, coffee-swigging comic relief. Seeing this relationship grow and evolve as the cases become increasingly personal deeper into the game is great.

 

The gameplay remains largely the same as you dash through the streets of Ryme City, temple ruins, and other varied locales, chatting with every human and Pokémon you see. This builds out the world, gives personality to the Pokémon via Pikachu’s translation, and compiles evidence for your notebook. Once you have enough on file, it’s time to deduce the facts you’ve probably figured out already but now have the proof to back up. Cases once again wrap up via a multiple-choice quiz as you lay them out and identify the culprit. I appreciated the quality-of-life options that help move things along, like faster movement speed, zippy text navigation, and a fast-forward button for cutscenes.

Pikachu’s ability to team up with other Pokémon is easily the best addition. Sniffing out a trail with Growlithe, punching through obstacles with Darmanitan, and peering through walls with Luxray all provide a welcome active gameplay break from the constant text scrolling and environment searching. These sequences aren’t revolutionary, but they finally allow you to use some Pokémon powers in this series (Detective Pikachu famously can’t use his powers).

Side missions shake things up outside the main case you’re working on. Someone will need help finding a missing Pokémon friend, or a persistent professor will describe one you can keep an eye out for. These open up your singular focus on the main case but provide little payoff. When a new chapter starts, you can scroll a newspaper covering all the NPCs you helped. I did these more out of obligation than pursuing a sense of accomplishment.

The simple, cartoony visuals are a step up from the long-in-the-tooth 3DS entry and work well for the game's tone. Unfortunately, environmental navigation is stuck in the past. Pesky loading screens are a constant companion as you run back and forth through small chunks of town or navigate floors of buildings.

I enjoyed the overall arc and individual case stories, even though you won’t ever really be stumped. However, it's disappointing that the 2019 movie stepped all over some of this game's crucial moments. While many plot elements are markedly different, the ones that line up make me feel like I’ve already seen a spoiler. The only way to come into this story clean is to play the 3DS game and not watch the film. Those who have only seen the movie and expect this game to pick up where it left off will have a jarring experience as specific characters and narrative beats are in different places. Granted, this is solely a review of the game, but you should know what you’re getting into depending on your background with the series.

While there is room for improvement, the return of this odd pairing with their new bag of tricks is entertaining. Your mind won’t be changed if the style of the previous game wasn't for you, but patient gumshoes should be satisfied with a capable follow-up.

Score: 7.25

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Assassin's Creed Mirage Review - Coming Home

Reviewed on: PlayStation 5
Platform: PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 4, PC, iOS
Publisher: Ubisoft
Developer: Ubisoft Bordeaux

For years, the Assassin’s Creed franchise has expanded the scope of its entries, offering ever longer adventures across increasingly vast open worlds. For players who first tried the series through those entries, Assassin’s Creed Mirage may be a shock. Set mainly within the single city of ninth-century Baghdad and playable to completion in under 20 hours, Mirage harkens back to the earliest entries starring Altaïr and Ezio. For more longtime fans, many elements will feel like a return to familiar territory, with the commensurate highs and lows that characterized those early installments.

First introduced in 2020’s Assassin’s Creed Valhalla entry where he appeared as an older member of the Brotherhood, Basim is presented here in his early life. We learn of his transition from street thief to Master Assassin, and the plots he uncovers across the city through a series of investigations and assassinations. The return of the mysterious castle of Alamut, the hidden urban bureaus, and the cautious, structured approach to tracking and taking down primary targets – it’s all a nod to the early life of the series. The storytelling and freeform progression of the plot are enjoyable, even if the dialogue feels stiff and formal at times.

Gameplay is a distinct return to a predator-prey style; stealth and tool usage are essential, and open conflict against even a few enemies can quickly lead to death. Even in one-on-one encounters, the melee exchanges are not a high point, as they feel rigid and clumsy. On the other hand, Mirage’s missions and contracts often present exciting and curated setups for stealth. Enemy and objective placement is deliberate and thoughtful, forcing players to watch enemies closely and move carefully. The threat of death if discovered is high, which leads to greater tension and engagement with an approach.

The dense urban sprawl of Baghdad’s Golden Age is a joy to explore. Lyrical musical melodies follow you along rooftops as russet sunsets paint the sky. Busy street merchants hawk their wares, unwary citizens are ripe for pickpocketing, and hidden chests demand careful observation to reach. High notoriety is a genuine danger as guards converge and hunters track you down. The opportunity for engaging parkour traversal is always present, and moving along rooftops, sliding down zip lines, and diving into hiding spots is great fun.

Individual missions often have some fun twists and turns, and I like the way the game encourages decisions in the stalking of a target. Choosing between two or three distinct tactical routes provides a sense of creativity. Nailing a complete infiltration with no one the wiser only to slip away in the uproar surrounding your villainous victim’s death is deeply satisfying.

While I enjoy the missions, too many rely on dull investigation areas, where I was forced to scour a zone until I found just the right book or clue to progress. Too often, these devolved into aimless wandering that felt like a waste of time.

Even so, across the board, the excess that has characterized recent entries seems to have been reined in. The money and favor tokens you earn are valuable and must be spent with care. Acquiring a new tool is a big deal, and can be transformative to approaching a fight. Fewer side missions or activities are on offer, but those here feel curated and purposeful. It’s a more compact game, but I felt driven and engaged with everything I did along the path to its completion.

Mirage teases a larger mystery that connects to Basim’s role in the earlier Valhalla release. But in this case, the resolution of that mystery is unsatisfying and feels like an odd wrap-up to an otherwise self-contained narrative. Concerns about the conclusion aside, I still had a wonderful time in Baghdad’s ancient alleys and palaces. Not everything is perfect, but the “less is more” design philosophy goes a long way to making this one of the most consistently engaging titles within the series for some time.

 

Score: 8

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Forza Motorsport Review - Keeping Pace

Reviewed on: Xbox Series X/S
Platform: Xbox Series X/S, PC
Publisher: Xbox Game Studios
Developer: Turn 10 Studios
Rating: Everyone

It can be rare for a newer franchise to challenge a well-established genre leader for the throne, but that’s precisely what the Forza Motorsport series has done since its first entry in 2005. Since then, the sim-racing genre has featured dueling front-runners, with Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport taking turns in the lead. The latest entry, simply titled Forza Motorsport, takes a back-to-basics approach to keep pace with its chief rival.

Speeding around the track has never felt better. A palpable sense of speed accompanies excellent physics and visuals to create a superb racing experience. A multitude of factors converge, including track surface, weather, the wear of your tires, and the various tuning elements of your vehicle, to determine how your vehicle handles and feels.

In the hundreds of laps I drove, I can’t remember any instance when I skidded off the track or allowed an opponent to overtake me where I didn’t immediately understand what I did wrong. However, a penalty system meant to discourage cutting corners or ramming opponents is less spelled out; one intentionally caused crash yielded no penalty, while the same system docked me more than a second for some routine paint-trading around a corner. I appreciate what it sets out to do, but the inconsistent penalties caused me to throw my hands up in disbelief.

Single-player races are spiced up by the series’ trademark Drivatar feature, which helps A.I. drivers behave more like real players. I love that it replicates player tendencies and their mistakes; I still occasionally see A.I. drivers spinning out onto the track-side rubble. This dynamic behavior helps add variety to an otherwise straightforward career mode.

Forza Motorsport’s career mode was where I spent the most time. The campaign presents you with different themed cups and tours in which to compete. These include some requiring you to drive a specific performance class or fall into a certain classification bucket like high-powered performance vehicles or sedans. I appreciate the simple nature of playing through various cups in successive order, though I would have liked more freedom in the mode’s progression and car collection.

As you race, you earn credits, which can be used to buy more cars, but you also level cars up in an odd RPG-lite twist. As you complete certain feats on the track, your car gains levels. I quickly became hooked on posting the best times on individual track segments to gain more experience. However, I don’t like that upgrade components are locked behind your car level. These arbitrary level gates made me less interested in going in and tweaking my cars’ parts manually; instead of trying to figure out which parts were unlocked with my newest level-up, I often opted just to have the game optimize the upgrade for me.

For those who want to compete against real people instead of their Drivatars, Forza Motorsports’ capable multiplayer suite offers several avenues to take on racers from across the globe. Featured races offer a diverse array of events starring different cars in the expansive Forza garage with a set start time, but I loved jumping into instant-action Rivals events, where you’re tasked with beating another player’s time. These delivered some of my most triumphant moments as I finally nailed the perfect lap to top my foe.

 

Even in a field full of stellar-looking racing games, Forza Motorsport is a visual feast. Each of the 20 tracks features intricate details and weather that make it feel like a lived-in world, but the cars are the true stars of the show. Whether you’re driving around in common street cars from Honda and Ford, supercars from Ferrari and McLaren, or the various racing-tuned speed machines on offer, each vehicle’s impressive look and sound match the uncompromised feel of the on-the-track action.

You can visually customize each of the more than 500 launch cars with custom paint jobs and vinyls, but I’m disappointed by the limited body-customization options. I’m also underwhelmed by the damage, which is a shame since so much of the game is built around attention to detail. Even when I drove directly into a wall at nearly 200 miles per hour or got T-boned by a rival and rolled, my car escaped with minor dings and dents. No matter how realistically the dirt accumulates around precise parts of a car over the course of a race, my immersion broke each time I was in an accident. The lack of overt damage is particularly noticeable when you have the performance-impacting damage setting from higher difficulties on and your car is struggling to stay on the road, but it looks like it was in little more than a fender bender.

Forza Motorsport may not have the most in-depth career mode, but it executes nearly every aspect of the package exceptionally well. Though some of the progression and dynamic visual elements fall short of the realism the rest of the title achieves, Forza Motorsport currently vies for the pole position in the sim-racer field.

Score: 8.75

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