This is a game to be read, not be played. Generally not worth the price of admission.

User Rating: 6.5 | Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles DS
First of all, let me speak about the genre of the game. At first I thought it was a point and click adventure, but it's not. The game is filled with 3 detective stories, where pretty much all you do is to read text. On the back of the box it said "intuitive point-and-click touch screen interface", but I got through the game without even using the stylus once. I mean, you can touch the screen but I found it much better to just use the buttons, as there is really no reason to point to options in drop-down menus.

Each of the 3 cases are pretty much the same thing. You get a request from a case, talk to people, go to places, and eventually come to a conclusion. In each area in the game, you first look around, and then talk to people. There is an inventory and a notepad to record information, but you use items so rarely it's kind of sad. Also, the notepad serves no purpose other than to remind you of key characters and information.

The game is so easy it's almost insulting. There is no way to have a gameover, so when you choose an option that's wrong, it will not let you proceed until you choose the right one. In addition, you can't leave an area until everything/everyone is examined/spoken to, which takes a lot away from the exploration element. Also, unless you were not paying attention throughout the whole case, it's too obvious who the culprit is at the end.

The music and background sound effects are bland and repetitive. Especially the sound playing in the main game menu will make you want to skip to the gameplay as soon as possible.

Personally for me the game isn't a total disaster because at least the plots were interesting enough for me to want to find out more. There were also little charming bits here and there.

Overall I guess this game is for those of you not wanting a challenge, and want to just play it as if reading a novel, although not as if the plots are overly sophisticated. Rent it if you absolutely must give it a try.