Touch Detective

Hey, guess what? Touch Detective is super-short. The obtuse difficulty I encountered in the first episode did not come up again, so the game went from beginning to end fairly rapidly.

Touch Detective shows promise; there is a great framework for touch-centric investigation. I haven't explained the gameplay before because it's really explained in the title - you touch things to investigate the case, which is executed simply and intuitively. The presentation also makes it fun despite the juvenile characters. The top screen shows the thoughts and feelings of the detective herself, Mackenzie, and while this is rarely used for crime-solving, it does make the experience more engaging.

However, the engine isn't really used to its full potential. Touch Detective's story consists of four episodes, about 1-2 hours long each, if you don't get "stuck" on a cold lead. There's also a Bonus Episode, but it's just a collection of small tasks to help out the characters you've met through the other cases, and there isn't a narration or any grand goal to tie it all together.

I can also go on about other tradeoffs in Touch Detective: how parts of the soundtrack are cool, but most is forgettable; how sometimes the writing is clever, but other times laborious and tiring. But really these are just tertiary concerns in respect to the bigger flaw of the game. In the end, it's fun, but there just isn't enough to it. Watch for a (hopefully bigger) sequel, but until then, save your money for Phoenix Wright 2 or Hotel Dusk.

Progress: Almost 100%