Chase: Cold Case Investigations – Distant Memories Review

<p><em>Chase&colon; Cold Case Investigations &&num;8211&semi; Distant Memories<&sol;em> developed by Arc System Works and published by Aksys Games is intended to be a visual novel&comma; and it achieves this purpose beautifully&period; The two main characters work in the cold case unit of a police headquarters and are rarely given the chance to participate in anything interesting&period; A cold case unit&comma; which is the department that reopens old cases or cases whose trails have gone cold&comma; is explained early on in the story&comma; which quickly clears up any questions&period; Suddenly their department receives a phone call that claims a hospital explosion that took place five years ago and killed someone was no accident&period; In fact&comma; the mysterious voice claims it was murder&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;114337" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-114337" style&equals;"width&colon; 400px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;10&sol;17225334&sol;image2002&lowbar;0117&lowbar;0047&lowbar;1&period;bmp"><img class&equals;"wp-image-114337 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;10&sol;17225334&sol;image2002&lowbar;0117&lowbar;0047&lowbar;1&period;bmp" alt&equals;"Chase&colon; Cold Case Investigations Distant Memories &sol; Aksys Games " width&equals;"400" height&equals;"480" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-114337" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Chase&colon; Cold Case Investigations &&num;8211&semi; Distant Memories<&sol;em>&comma; Aksys Games&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>The game developers of <em>Chase<&sol;em> have grasped the concept of heart-wrenching emotions and uses this understanding to their advantage by preying upon their audience&period; The gloomy atmosphere and nior color scheme is befitting the sorrowful tone of the story&period; Players will see the world as Shounosuke Nanase sees it &&num;8211&semi; as uninteresting&period; There is little in the universe that seems to excite him and within the short time span of the game&comma; viewers will learn he is a troubled man&period; His junior&comma; Koto Amekura&comma; does her best to encourage Nanase but ends up missing bits of vital info that is easily seen by her senior&period; These two misfit detectives end up being presented as two sides of the same coin&period; They play upon each others&&num;8217&semi; strengths and weaknesses&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;114339" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-114339" style&equals;"width&colon; 399px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;10&sol;17230026&sol;image2002&lowbar;0117&lowbar;0050&lowbar;0-e1476759785837&period;bmp"><img class&equals;"wp-image-114339 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;10&sol;17230026&sol;image2002&lowbar;0117&lowbar;0050&lowbar;0-e1476759785837&period;bmp" alt&equals;"Chase&colon; Cold Case Investigations Distant Memories &sol; Aksys Games " width&equals;"399" height&equals;"240" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-114339" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Chase&colon; Cold Case Investigations &&num;8211&semi; Distant Memories<&sol;em>&comma; Aksys Games&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Aside from a brilliant narrative&comma; the musical score ends up playing a large role in <em>Distant Memories<&sol;em>&period; Often during my experience of this mystery&comma; I found my own heart following along to the soundtrack and felt it entangling as the story progressed&period; Although the story and music are exquisite for a short mystery&comma; the interactions are limited&period; Aside from two tasks&comma; there are no other choices to be made in <em>Chase<&sol;em>&period; There are choices of questions to pick from when interrogating suspects&period; And players will need to figure out details of the crime by tapping on a portion of a photograph that is presented to you by a character&period; The questions lack a real challenge for seasoned mystery solvers yet the narrative is what pushes the player into desiring more of the story&period; It is impressive to find that the writers were able to create a plot that uses empathy this strongly&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;114338" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-114338" style&equals;"width&colon; 400px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;10&sol;17225615&sol;image2002&lowbar;0117&lowbar;0107&lowbar;2&period;bmp"><img class&equals;"wp-image-114338 size-full" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;10&sol;17225615&sol;image2002&lowbar;0117&lowbar;0107&lowbar;2&period;bmp" alt&equals;"Chase&colon; Cold Case Investigations Distant Memories &sol; Aksys Games " width&equals;"400" height&equals;"480" &sol;><&sol;a><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-114338" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Chase&colon; Cold Case Investigations &&num;8211&semi; Distant Memories<&sol;em>&comma; Aksys Games&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p><em>Chase&colon; Cold Case Investigations &&num;8211&semi; Distant Memories<&sol;em> has all the makings of an engaging detective visual novel series&period; I can see plenty of potential and the possibility of it gaining popularity among mystery-game enthusiasts&period; As a stand-alone game&comma; it lacks the feeling of completion and the ending is left completely open&period; <em>Chase<&sol;em> appears to be more of a chapter of a longer story and it wouldn&&num;8217&semi;t be surprising to learn that it is merely the first episode of a series&period; If this is the case&comma; then I am more than ready to wait for the next chapter&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<hr &sol;>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>&nbsp&semi;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p style&equals;"text-align&colon; center&semi;"><strong>A 3DS Code for <em>Chase&colon; Cold Case Investigations &&num;8211&semi; Distant Memories <&sol;em>was provided by Aksys Games for the purpose of this review<&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;