CATE WEST: THE VANISHING FILES (DS)
Part mystery, part observational puzzler, Cate West: The Vanishing Files first appeared on mobile platforms and PC in 2008, before making its way to Nintendo formats eighteen months later. A DS port was a smart move for this casual-friendly title, as the stylus is a natural fit for picking out clues. Whilst nothing to write home about, it’s absorbing enough to guarantee an easy means of losing half an hour here and there. But whilst an intriguing narrative adds impetus, it’s ultimately weighed down by technical issues and repetitive gameplay.
The titular heroine is a crime writer with the gift (or curse) of psychic visions, and has developed a sixth sense for unearthing leads. The local police enlist her help in solving some dead-end cases, dubbed “The Vanishing Files”, and this manifests itself in the form of 15 cases, each with four subtly different search ‘n’ find exercises, plus an interlude that tasks you with identifying the criminal from some clues and a line-up.
The first and most prominent section is “Find Clues”. Put simply, this involves finding ten items on a checklist that are hidden amidst a busy static backdrop, which the player can pore over with the stylus. It’s accompanied by a generous time limit, though the player is penalised thirty seconds for “random tapping”, which is a smart means of ensuring you can’t just spam your way through the game. It highlights the best and worst of Cate West. On the plus side, it’s surprisingly challenging, and offers a solid hook in bursts that’s suitable to its portable environment. The problem is, they can start to feel a little onerous, as the DS’s lack of visual clarity can rather submerge items in the backgrounds. Some of them prove an almost-exact palette match for the walls, windows or other surrounds within which they’re camouflaged, and too often you’re reduced to looking for a few stray pixels. Furthermore, the scale of each item, which isn’t hinted at in the clues, can vary wildly and generally has little bearing how an item might appear in reality, so it’s not uncommon to see super-sized dominos and flowers confusingly mixing it with tiny trophies and televisions.
And whilst in the latter puzzles you’re given an idea of what the items may look like, finding them from a checklist can be unreliable. Every now and then, you’ll unearth an item that, with the best will in the world, bears no resemblance to what you’ve been looking for. There’s various bits of fruit that appear the wrong shape and colour, various items have virtually no detail with which to identify them and in once instance, I discovered a box of matches that was essentially just a small block of whiteness, hidden rather inconveniently against a white wall.
So you’ll have to take the rough with the smooth at times. “Gather Evidence” is a little better as it’s a similar format, except you’re given images of the items and all-told, this makes for less head-scratching moments. “Match the Crime Scene”, the final segment of each quest, is essentially the inverse of this as you must put items back into place that are missing in a split-screen comparison. Another that uses this neat innovation is “Confirm Hideout”, literally a game of spot the difference but one that’s good fun and somewhat less troublesome than the earlier challenges, and is likely the most enjoyable.
The story is inviting though simplistic, and prone to post-case discussions that tend to repeat the sentiment that Cate and her intrepid bunch are no closer to solving the wider mystery than before, as they must wait for contact from the sinister “M” to move things forward. It’s also a bit of a shame the puzzle-book nature of the challenges proves so incongruous to the cases themselves, as none of the items or locations bare any significance to the ongoing narrative. Aside identifying the criminal from a line-up, you’re rarely called to solve anything through logic or deduction, meaning story and gameplay can feel like two unconnected entities. Nevertheless, there’s no denying it’s conveyed with some degree of style. Animated stills and swift, attractive text-box conversations move things along, and the game is given a surprising ambient weight by some impressive, sombre mystery music.
So you’ll have to take the rough with the smooth at times. “Gather Evidence” is a little better as it’s a similar format, except you’re given images of the items and all-told, this makes for less head-scratching moments. “Match the Crime Scene”, the final segment of each quest, is essentially the inverse of this as you must put items back into place that are missing in a split-screen comparison. Another that uses this neat innovation is “Confirm Hideout”, literally a game of spot the difference but one that’s good fun and somewhat less troublesome than the earlier challenges, and is likely the most enjoyable.
The story is inviting though simplistic, and prone to post-case discussions that tend to repeat the sentiment that Cate and her intrepid bunch are no closer to solving the wider mystery than before, as they must wait for contact from the sinister “M” to move things forward. It’s also a bit of a shame the puzzle-book nature of the challenges proves so incongruous to the cases themselves, as none of the items or locations bare any significance to the ongoing narrative. Aside identifying the criminal from a line-up, you’re rarely called to solve anything through logic or deduction, meaning story and gameplay can feel like two unconnected entities. Nevertheless, there’s no denying it’s conveyed with some degree of style. Animated stills and swift, attractive text-box conversations move things along, and the game is given a surprising ambient weight by some impressive, sombre mystery music.
More crime scenes than Midsomer in murder season
Graphically it struggles for clarity against other versions, and whilst this wouldn’t usually be a sticking point, it does affect the gameplay. There’s plenty of detail to each scene, tonnes in fact, but with items blending and blurring together in a mess of colour, it makes identifying items a bit of a peering contest. Fortunately, there’s a handy hint system which can bail you out after a certain period of inaction, the repeated use of which makes for a small dent in your score but saves you a world of frustration.
The variances make for a complimentary mix that, for the most part, delivers pretty solid gameplay. There are over one hundred puzzles in total, though it does start to get a bit repetitive before the end, a sensation that’s not helped by a heavier focus on the laborious “Gather Evidence” sections as the story progresses. Inevitably, there’s also a host of backdrops that are returned to, with slightly rearranged items, or different checklists to complete.
Cate West: The Vanishing Files may not live long in the memory, but if it hooks you, there’s plenty of mileage in some mostly quite well-conceived puzzles. It’s smartly designed and offers some neat presentation and at least the outline of an intriguing story. The DS struggles to offer the visual sharpness needed for the kind of scrutiny demanded of its backdrops, but Gamenauts must shoulder some of the blame for item design that’s occasionally a little too ambiguous or well-hidden. A few concessions to this might have helped a little, but in the end, The Vanishing Files is alright.
The variances make for a complimentary mix that, for the most part, delivers pretty solid gameplay. There are over one hundred puzzles in total, though it does start to get a bit repetitive before the end, a sensation that’s not helped by a heavier focus on the laborious “Gather Evidence” sections as the story progresses. Inevitably, there’s also a host of backdrops that are returned to, with slightly rearranged items, or different checklists to complete.
Cate West: The Vanishing Files may not live long in the memory, but if it hooks you, there’s plenty of mileage in some mostly quite well-conceived puzzles. It’s smartly designed and offers some neat presentation and at least the outline of an intriguing story. The DS struggles to offer the visual sharpness needed for the kind of scrutiny demanded of its backdrops, but Gamenauts must shoulder some of the blame for item design that’s occasionally a little too ambiguous or well-hidden. A few concessions to this might have helped a little, but in the end, The Vanishing Files is alright.
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VERDICT
Visual: 5/10
Audio: 6/10 Gameplay: 5/10 Longevity: 5/10 OVERALL: 5/10 |