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%

Though the initial reports I read of this game gave me some trepidation - many remarked on how short it is - I picked this up yesterday to give it the old college try. Though I haven't completed it yet, it's already looking brief. I got stuck in the first case (of four) for a while, due to an obfuscated clue, but I finished the second inside of two hours.

At first glance, you might think that Touch Detective looks more like some little girls playing detective than an actual mystery game, and to some degree you're right; they really don't know what they're getting themselves into. But the caliber of investigation and reasoning is just as solid as a classic Lucasarts point-and-click.

Then again, as I mentioned, there was a point in the first case where I got stuck with absolutely no idea of what to do next (yes, Virginia, I had to look it up on the InterWeb to proceed). This is definitely the worst thing that can happen to such a game; when the next step is unclear, and all the hints around you are either unhelpful or seem to point somewhere else entirely. Fortunately, this situation hasn't recurred so far.

Like I said, I haven't finished this game yet, but if I had to sum up my impressions thus far, I think "lackluster" might be a word I'd use. Stay tuned for more (at this rate, I'll probably be finished by next entry).

Progress: Finished Episode 2

Contact is often compared with EarthBound, but it should be noted that the similarities are strictly thematic (e.g. the Andonuts professor Sean mentioned); as for how the game plays, it's very different and somewhat non-standard. I'd actually note Secret of Evermore as an inspiration for that department, but let me elaborate.

The combat system in Contact is in real-time, ala your everyday dungeon crawler. You move the game's boy hero, Terry, through beaches, caves, hidden military installations, et al., and enemies (which range from unfriendly snakes to missile-launching robot sentries) roam about just waiting for a good battle. By pressing the 'B' button, Terry toggles between Battle mode - he pulls out his weapon, and moves slower than normal - and Passive mode, which is used for typical movement and/or running away when necessary.

In Battle mode, normal attacks happen automatically and periodically. But you can also trigger special abilities, or consume food, or try to move about to dodge attacks, on command. While at first glance it doesn't possess the complexity of a more traditional menu-based RPG, there are a lot of more subtle options available through movement and items.

One of the more interesting aspects of Contact is the experience system. Though Terry does level up, it's not in the way you'd expect, becoming more heroic with every slain foe - experience points are earned for specific abilities or attributes based on how often they're used. There is a great degree of separation, but not so much that it's too hard to follow; for instance, the more you attack, the more your physical strength will level up, but there is also a level for each type of weapon (sharp, blunt, or fist). There are levels for each of the four elements in attack ability and in defense ability, which will go up as you use or are hit by an elemental attack, respectively. There's even a level for how fast you walk (which levels up slowly as you cover more ground). The net effect is that Terry doesn't just get better, he gets better at the things he specifically does, which is both more believable than a single character level, and more interesting to configure.

Cooking plays a big part in Contact. Fairly early on, you sail onto the island of a naked chef, who grants you the ability to cook dishes at bonfires or in your ship's kitchen. You start out an absolutely terrible cook, but as you attempt and create more dishes, results begin to become consistent. And, far from being a tertiary aspect of the game, Cooking is by far the best way to get invaluable health-restoring items.

As I compare Contact to Secret of Evermore, I must mention that in the deeper labyrinthine dungeons, it is similarly disorienting and difficult to navigate. But, Contact has a clever solution to this too. When your HP drops to zero, Terry goes "out of commission" and must be resuscitated back at the ship; but, other than your physical location, everything else is preserved (that is, the experience levels and items you picked up before you died). It gives death just enough inconvenience to make it unappealing, but at the same time marginalizes lost progress, which is a great encouragement to keep going despite it.

There's a lot more to Contact, too, like ability-enhancing costumes and a superb fourth-wall plot, but I'll get on those later. Suffice it to say, this is quite an impressive little game card.

Progress: 3 Power Cells

Second Sight finishes strong, with a cool plot twist and a very satisfying conclusion, after a very respectable length of game. The story remains this game's greatest victory by a fair margin - while I did come to terms with the shooting and psi controls, I'm still not especially fond of them. Nonetheless, it was a fairly fun play.

Progress: Complete

I'm slightly disappointed that the difficulty never got absurd - sure, there were stages that I had to retry several times to get the gold, but I could have passed them with little difficulty. But in any event the game was a great and satisfying challenge on the whole.

The music wasn't incredibly memorable, but not bad, and the graphics are some of the best the second dimension has to offer. I haven't mentioned the story so far because there really isn't one. The replay value leaves something to be desired - there isn't much to gain from getting higher ranks or scores in the game's levels, and the Construction Zone has nothing in the way of instant gratification (though it can be fun if you've got the time to build it and a friend to play it).

I can't say how well you'll do with this if you're not already into puzzle games. The learning curve isn't the steepest, but the rewards are in the form of pride, not big fancy cinematics. That said, I feel really good about my time with this game, and for puzzle fans, this should be near the top of your list.

Progress: All gold stars, everything unlocked

I'm still cruising on gold stars, but it may come to an end soon. World 6, Toadstool Castle, is rife with dangerous situations that require constantly switching attention back and forth to ensure the survival of the mini-Marios. While one is riding a life raft over a pool of water on the right side of the screen, the one on the left has to hit the colored switch to keep it protected from a piranha plant's fire breath, which in turn removes the barrier that had previously kept little guy #3 from falling onto a bed of spikes.

Right, each world has a theme for its nine stages + DK boss battle. The first two or three were distinguished almost purely by aesthetics, but as they progress, world-specific elements make for some interesting encounters. World 4 is called Magnet Mania, wherein the mini-Marios can walk on walls and ceilings (very cool). World 5 is the Lava Dome, and there is basically fire everywhere.

Though not at the same pace as the beginning of the game, new puzzle pieces are still finding their way into the mix, keeping the new stages fresh. And, as I implied in my discussion of world 6, the challenge is really ramping up.

Progress: Stage 6-4

I'm still not especially confident in Second Sight's controls; now that I'm past the learn-what-you're-doing chapters of the game, the protagonist, John Vattic, must use his gunslinging prowess and psychic powers interchangeably. Of the game's three perspective modes - cinematic third-person, over the shoulder third-person, and first-person - the third-person views make it difficult to select targets, and the first-person view makes it impossible to aim, period.

It seems rather unintuitive that psychic powers and guns can't be used simultaneously (the same trigger button is used to activate either). In general, the control scheme seems like it was sloppily pasted onto the game engine.

What Second Sight does have going for it is a really engaging storyline. The plot is intriguing, having something to do with a special operation overseas gone wrong; and it's told very well, in a combation of cutscenes, in-game voice overs, and psychic flashbacks.

There are also two space-shooter minigames hidden in Second Sight, that you can play by finding a computer disk and an arcade machine in the game. Cool extras are a plus.

Progress: Chapter 10 - Streetlife

Well it took long enough, but I finally put this travesty to rest.

The final boss, Dark Yabu, is probably one of the most difficult bosses I've ever faced in any game, spread across three phases that each take advantage of all the game's control flaws to put you on the cusp of death. But, despite the incredibly terrible ending (wrapping up the terrible story quite nicely), I do feel some satisfaction in finally proving that I am better than this game.

As I said before, there are a few nice things about the game, like the aforementioned graphical effects. It's clear that at least one person on the team had some bright ideas. For instance, when you select a world to enter from the central "Rift Hub," it becomes fully loaded, such that if you re-enter the same world there is no loading screen (this is made possible partially due to the fact that the hub itself is miniscule and bare). And of course, the game has some touching moments.

In the end, you could make a worse game, if you really tried, but Vexx is a great example of why Acclaim is no longer with us.

Progress: 60 Wraithhearts, beat Yabu

A passing resemblance to EarthBound, the inexplicable psychosis of Grasshopper, and sharing a name with the protagonist make me salivate for the opportunity to play this game.

Every time I turn on the game, I think "this can't possibly be worse than the last time I played," and I'm frequently wrong. I'm not talking about how the game's plot is completely vacant (it is) or how all the gameplay is a direct ripoff of Super Mario 64 (it is); I'm talking about goals that are made nearly impossible due to control and/or camera difficulties. When an enemy is attacking me but I can't see it because the camera is behind a tree, or when I'm trying to run down a hallway with smashing pistons but the camera forces itself into a "cinematic" position, I mean these kinds of problems should never exist in the first place. I'd settle for being able to move the camera, but often that's too much to ask for.

That said, there is a small list of things I like about the game's conceptual design. For instance, one of the worlds - "The Below" - puts you in an underwater dome, and has you solve some puzzles presumably left there by aliens (which, to my knowledge, is an area not yet explored by most platformers). There are also a few very cool graphical effects, like one-way portal mirror things. Yeah, this is pretty much the best I can say about Vexx.

Why do I keep playing? Because if I quit, Vexx will have defeated me, and I cannot abide by that.

Progress: 40/60 Wraithhearts