The InSqectre Is On The Case! - Detective Games

Recently in a discussion that I was having with one of my close friends we were discussing one of the sadder truths about modern gaming: there is no Death Note. Both my friend, Dillon (A.K.A. Captain Flippy) and I were discussing Death Note and its brilliance. We are both fairly intellectual people, and really appreciated what the anime did with its morally grey themes, and more importantly, the intellectual battles between Light Yagami, the protagonist, and L, the antagonist. If, for some reason you haven’t seen Death Note yet, I would strongly recommend it as being one of the greatest anime of all time. The show does a great job of portraying the scenes between Light and L as a battle of the minds, taking you through the characters’ thoughts about the situation. 

Speaking about this the conversation then shifted to the lack of this type of gameplay in modern gaming. Aside from the realm of strategy games (somewhat) there are no real video games where you can face off against an opponent in a battle of wits. The closest thing that we could both think of was TTT (Trouble in Terrorist Town) where you could have some complexity to the game through the mental battles. The detective element of the game brought me back to an experience that I’ve had with many “Detective-type” games. A number of experiences I’ve had with the detective genre have been rather lacking due to a couple of small issues I have with the games’ mechanics.

Firstly most simply, the nature of the Phoenix Wright and Danganronpa series of games. These games both place you in a situation where you need to solve a crime. The main issue that I have had with these games is the evidence presentation segments of the games. Anyone who has played these games has most probably been through the feeling of confusion when the evidence you needed to use doesn’t work at the part you thought it should, only to try every other possible combination of evidence and statement in that portion of the trial. The most annoying part of this process is knowing how that evidence contradicts their statement, but not knowing which part to use it on, feeling that “if only I could be there in person I could destroy this testimony easily.”

Secondly and the more difficult to fix is the problem that is the issue with the games’ linearity. L.A. Noire’s game mechanic of the music and controller rumble when passing over important evidence was useful albeit rather impractical to my idea of the perfect detective game. Both myself and my friend felt that the major problem with the detective games were the stories: they were based around you getting everything right. From finding the right evidence to collecting the right testimonies from witnesses, the story only develops because the player gets things right. The ultimate detective game, at least in my opinion, would have to allow the player to be completely and utterly wrong. The player’s partner (if they have one) may drop hints at the case, but the player should never be guided by flashing neon 
lights down the red carpet towards the end of the case by the game. The issue with this is that the games story would need to branch at so many occasions that the game would take years upon years to make.

The ultimate detective game may never be made, but I most certainly hope that it does get made eventually, as they could be truly astounding if done right.

- Sqectre