For more on Chase: Cold Case Investigations ~ Distant Memories ~, check out our full Chase: Cold Case Investigations ~ Distant Memories ~ review. Or, for more of the best Nintendo 3DS games for an 8 year old, why not try our Family Game Finder
What is Chase: Cold Case Investigations ~ Distant Memories ~
Chase: Cold Case Investigations is a visual novel - essentially, a digital "choose your own adventure" book that follows Shounosuke Nanase, a grumpy detective working for the oft overlooked "cold case" unit of the Tokyo police. With little to really keep him busy, business suddenly picks up when the phone rings, and a mysterious man delivers an anonymous tip off. According to the anonymous caller, an explosion that killed a man in a hospital five years ago wasn't an accident - it was murder. It's up to you to discover the truth.
How do you play Chase: Cold Case Investigations ~ Distant Memories ~
As a visual novel, your time with Chase: Cold Case Investigations will mostly be spent sitting back, moving through the dialogue, and watching the story unfold. From time to time, you'll be asked to do some detective work, either examining a photograph looking for clues, or interrogating a suspect to learn the truth.
While examining a photograph is fairly free form - you'll either be touching anything and everything you can to examine it, or looking for a specific piece of evidence or clue that proves your point, the interviews are much more structured. Here, you'll need to show you've been paying attention to the story - and use a little bit of detective intuition - to choose the right multiple choice option, and back your interviewee into a corner, so you can press for the information you need.
How easy is Chase: Cold Case Investigations ~ Distant Memories ~ to pick up and play?
As most of your time with Chase: Cold Case Investigations will be spent simply reading, it's very easy to pick up and play. There's no special requirement for quick reactions or reflexes here, and all you'll really need is a pretty sharp mind, as you interrogate the suspects, and try and get the information you need. These multiple choice interrogation sections always have at least one wrong, and one right answer - it's up to you to figure out the truth. If you choose too many wrong answers during an interview, it is possible to get a game over, although the game will simply pick up again at the touch of a button, without losing any progress.
As a game with nothing in the way of voice overs, a strong reading ability is a definite requirement here. Sample sentences include:
- So stupid you was stupidly tricked into buying a stupidly huge gas tank, and then you just stored it on that shelf?
- Idiot. Being friends had nothing to do with it. Think about how the accident happened.
Despite dealing with a murder, Chase: Cold Case Investigations is actually pretty light on mature content. In terms of bad language, a single utterance of the word "piss", and the odd "hell" here and there is as bad as it gets, whilst there's nothing in the way of sex here.
There's also nothing in the way of graphic violence. While you are investigating a murder, and as such, the text does contain the odd description of what happened to the victim, there's nothing too grizzly or stomach churning in the text, and no violence or gore displayed visually.
Age Ratings
Format Reviewed: Nintendo 3DS
