Danger on Ice

氷の上に立つように危なげなこともしたい

「氷の上に立つように」（小松未歩）

I want to do something risky like standing on ice

"Like standing on ice" (Komatsu Miho)

Last Nintendo DS mystery game review this year, I promise!

In 2007, Tecmo released the Nintendo DS game with the ridiculously long title DS Nishimura Kyoutarou Suspense Shin Tantei Series: Kyoto - Atami - Zekkai no Kotou Satsui no Wana ("DS Nishimura Kyoutarou Suspense - A New Detective Series: Kyoto - Atami - The Lone Isle In The Deep Sea - A Murderous Trap"), a mystery adventure supervised by super-prolific novelist Nishimura Kyoutarou. That game was followed up by DS Yamamura Misa Suspense - Maiko Kogiku / Kisha Catharine / Sougiya Ishihara Akiko - Koto ni Mau Hana Sanrin - Kyouto Satsujin Jiken File ("DS Yamamura Misa Suspense - the Maiko Kogiku / Reporter Catharine / Funeral director Ishihara Akiko - The Three Petals Dancing In the Ancient Capital - Kyoto Murder Files"), a game I reviewed only a few weeks ago, and which was based on the works of similarly super-prolific novelist Yamamura Misa. While the two games were based on the works of different authors, the games were quite similar, both following a three-episode set-up and being obviously more aimed at a wider audience beyond traditional gamers, as the games were very simple in terms of difficulty. DS Yamamura Misa Suspense in particular was far too linear and simple. 

In 2008 however, Tecmo also released a sequel to DS Nishimura Kyoutarou Suspense Shin Tantei Series as the third entry in their DS Suspense series. DS Nishimura Kyoutarou Suspense 2 Shin Tantei Series - Kanazawa, Hakodate, Gokkan no Keikoku: Fukushuu no Kage ("DS Nishimura Kyoutarou Suspense - A New Detective Series:Kanazawa, Hakodate, a Freezing Valley - Shadows of Revenge") too has a ridiculously long title and of course once again about the newbie private detective Arata Isshin, who inherited his late father's detective agency. He is assisted by Kyou Asuka, his father's former disciple. These two characters are especially created for this game series with supervision of Nishimura by the way, and thus are not featured in any of his books, but the game does invokve the feeling of the 'two-hour suspenseful television drama' so strongly associated with Nishimura Kyoutarou, and the game of course always ends on a cliff-hanger at the end of each act, and there's even eyecatches between the acts with a Stereotypical Suspense tune. Following the story structure of the first game, we follow Isshin and Asuka on three adventures, one involving murder case happening inside the manor of a pottery master in Kanazawa, the second adventure set in cold Hakodate where a woman is found dead in the hot spring of an inn, and finally, a case involving Asuka's own past, set in a mansion hidden in a deep, snowy valley. It's up to Isshin, and the player to solve these cases!

 

Not as if this game is challenging or anything though. It is definitely not as easy and simple as DS Yamamura Misa, but you can easily tell this game is made to also appeal to people who have never played a game, as the Nintendo DS was one of those handhelds that really reached beyond the traditional gamer audience. Not a bad thing per se, but there's a lot of competition on the DS when it comes to mystery adventure games. Unsurprisingly, DS Nishimura Kyoutarou Suspense 2 plays exactly the same as the first game, following standard adventure format: you visit various locations as you interview people and gather evidence or testimony. The evidence and testimony you have gathered allow you to answer the quiz-like questions asked in dialogue confrontations with allies or suspects, which will further develop the plot and eventually allow you to solve the case. There's no penalty for getting questions wrong (you are just asked again), so it's all very beginner-friendly. It is not as linear as DS Yamamura Misa Suspense though, fortunately, and therefore feels less rigid. 

As mystery stories, the three episodes included in this game aren't really complex and a lot of the "twists" are telegraphed a bit obviously, but I have to admit that usually, each episode seemed to have a plot point directly related to the mystery which I genuinely found clever and on the whole, the stories themselves are also told better than those in DS Yamamura Misa, so this game never actually felt boring, as it managed to keep a good pace throughout, even if the stories it told were simple. The opening story, Broken Bonds, has Isshin and Asuka travel to Kanazawa, as they have been hired by a master in pottery baking to investigate a series of thefts of expensive pots from their storage. When Isshin arrives there however, he discovers the body of the number one disciple, and the future master of the school as the victim was supposed to marry the current master's daughter. However, while Isshin is busy looking for help, the body disappears from the room Isshin found it. The last act is very clumsily written to show you who the real murderer is as it was basically putting them beneath a spotlight, but I like the whole deal about why the body was spirited away after Isshin had already found it. The second episode, Frozen Feelings, has Isshin winning tickets to Hakodate, so he visits there with Asuka. They meet a woman who is holding an ice sculpture exhibition in an hot spring inn, so they visit there, but as they prepare to enter the hot springs, Asuka discovers a dead woman in the women's bath. This story feels very much like a Nishimura story, as it involves Isshin and Asuka checking out the alibis of the suspects and making use of various means of transport to which of the suspects could've made it to the crime scene despiet a seemingly perfect alibi (being on the other side of the city). I think that on the whole, this was the best episode of the game, feeling exactly like what you'd expect of a game with Nishimura Kyoutarou's name on the cover, even if again the final act feels a bit cheap as it kinda takes the easiest way to eliminate viable suspects by pointing very very obviously to the real culprit. The final episode, Never-Ending Requiem, is a story that hinges on a certain thing that could work in some specific fictional worlds, but not really here, and it just falls flat because of that. Atmosphere-wise, it's pretty good, with Asuka disappearing while she was investigating a case on her own, and Isshin tracing her last known whereabouts to a manor hidden deep in a snowy valley and then everyone getting snowed in, but it tries to do something fairly unrealistic, even though the world depicted in these games is actually fairly realistic. 

Like the first game, DS Nishimura Kyoutarou Suspense 2 also has an extra mode called West Village II ("Nishimura" meaning "West Village"), which this time contains 100 mystery-themed quizzes and puzzles. Some are pure puzzles, but others are short mystery stories where you have to pick a specific sentence to show where the culprit slipped up or where the contradiction is, and they are acually quite fun to kill some time with. The overall game is pretty short, and you probably won't even have 10 hours on the clock by the time you see the credits, but this extra mode will add a few more hours to that.

DS Nishimura Kyoutarou Suspense 2 Shin Tantei Series - Kanazawa, Hakodate, Gokkan no Keikoku: Fukushuu no Kage is plainly put, very much like the first game. It's a game that has decent enough production values, but it is also clearly a game made for people who don't usually play mystery adventure games, so while some of the episodes feature some small clever ideas, on the whole it's all just very simple. and you're more there to enjoy the ride rather than really being challenged mentally to solve a mysterious crime. I played the game between other games though, and found the relaxing pace perfect as such, but this is by no means a high point in the list of Nintendo DS mystery adventure games. It's certainly the best of the three Tecmo DS Suspense adventures though, and if you're like me and just enjoy playing mystery ADVs on the DS, DS Nishimura Kyoutarou Suspense 2 is made well enough to provide for a few hours of entertainment.

Original Japanese title(s): 『DS西村京太郎サスペンス2 新探偵シリーズ「金沢・函館・極寒の峡谷 復讐の影」』