DS Review: Imagine Detective

Know how I normally do nothing whatsoever but bitch about how bad the Imagine line is? Forget all that for a moment - or at least, for the duration of this review.

While I won't lie to you and tell you that this is a fantastic game or anything, I can tell you that it's considerably better than the usual tripe Imagine releases, and if you're looking for the better titles they've put out, this would be one of them.

In addition to not basing itself around a stereotypical feminine career path (unless you count Nancy Drew), may I just say that I LOVE the jazzy music they use for this game? (If there's one thing I'm a sucker for, it's jazz.) Any game with a cute cat as a sidekick earns even more bonus points. You go and name that cat Ozzy, and well... the levels of awesome are off the charts! (Especially when this cat has THE best attitude ever.)

Ignoring the fact that your character looks absolutely nothing like the chick on the box (she's a blonde and the girl on the box is a brunette, as you can see), the animation style in this game is superior to most of the rest of the series. I was quite surprised, to say the least! Sure, it's very comic book style, but I love it!

As for the game itself, think of it as Nancy Drew mixed with a hint of Phoenix Wright, as if it were watered down for little girls. An interesting combination, if I do say so myself. You're a detective who must collect clues and figure out mysteries, obviously enough. There's plenty of mini-games and searching for clues packed into the game to keep things interesting though. Even on the "easy" difficulty, there's an element of challenge to this that the other Imagine games don't possess. Maybe the company is finally starting to figure things out? One can only hope. There's even fight scenes which, for lack of better wording, give a whole new meaning to the term "fists flying". (You'll see what I mean if you play it.)

One of the only things I didn't like about the game is the navigation of the map. it's not TOO terrible, but it doesn't always move in the direction you want it to, and it takes a bit longer than you might like it to to reach your destinations. A small flaw in an otherwise pretty decent game. My other gripe is that you're unable to pause during mini-games but again, this is just a minor set-back. (I often play while multi-tasking, but for the age-range this game's intended for, that probably shouldn't be a problem.)

There's just one thing that puzzles me: The game ends on a "To Be Continued..." note where you're supposed to rendevouz with your character's father. I don't know if this means there's another mission you need to unlock in the game or if there's another game coming. What I did notice is that there's a special area to type in a code... Where do you get this code, and what does it do? Hmm... another mystery to solve!

I'm going to go ahead and give this game a glowing review of 7 out of 10 dectective's magnifying glasses.