Detective Pikachu (3DS)

Pikachu has been the face of the Pokemon franchise ever since its inception, but over time the little yellow mouse did undergo some subtle changes, losing his chubby, squat design to assume a more inviting and humanoid shape. He’s the adorably simple face meant to ease players into a world full of creatures with strange and fantastical designs, but Detective Pikachu takes 20 years of building up the public perception of Pikachu and deliberately turns it on its head, the game’s central character a Pikachu who speaks in a gruff voice, drinks black coffee, and is as close to a womanizer as the Pokemon Company is daring to go. This intentional disconnect between the carefully tailored cute mascot and this detective persona put on him is pretty effective at tapping the humor the game is going for, the out of shape little guy still managing to be endearing and even cute even when he’s grousing about his shortcomings and inability to use electrical attacks.

 

One thing that sets the character of Detective Pikachu apart from other members of his species is his ability to speak, but only one human in the game can even understand him, that being Tim Goodman, the player’s avatar in the game’s story. Tim’s father Harry and his partner Pokemon Pikachu ended up in an accident, and while the Pikachu walked away from the incident, Tim’s father is nowhere to be found. Suspecting foul play and hoping to find the true fate of his father, Tim heads to Ryme City and encounters that same Pikachu, only to learn that he can understand it and it has a bit of an ego and an attitude. Still, Pikachu is just as interested in finding answers as Tim is after the accident, Pikachu’s memories up to the crash having mysteriously disappeared. To try and find out the truth, Tim and Pikachu follow the trail his detective father left as he investigated a mystery about Pokemon running berserk with seemingly no provocation.

Detective Pikachu’s story has an incredible amount of effort put into it, to the point it almost feels like the developers intended to make it a nine part anime series and ended up retooling it into a game with nine chapters instead. Each chapter takes some time to look at Tim and Pikachu’s relationship as well as focusing on some smaller part of the larger mystery at hand. While not every chapter’s case is directly tied to the bigger picture, they do at least take place along the way to solving it and can be justified as important in some capacity, even if not totally relevant to the bigger picture. Still, some chapters do almost feel like episodes of Scooby Doo, with most the cases being whodunit mysteries with a small cast of characters introduced to serve as the potential culprits of whatever crime is committed that chapter, although there is a recurring cast that crops up along the way as well so it’s not a series of isolated incidents. Deviation from the central mystery doesn’t weaken it thankfully, although even some of the important reveals along the way can be a bit obvious well before the characters catch up with what the player has already figured out.

 

In fact, the game on the whole is certainly a bit easy because of the way its mysteries are constructed, and it can get even easier if you enable the tips available in easy mode. Unless you are an incredibly young player, Detective Pikachu’s mysteries shouldn’t really stump you, especially since the game does not punish failure during them at all. During a case, you and Pikachu go around collecting testimony and evidence, which just comes down to interviewing everyone available and looking around the environment. Once you’ve got the info you need, you can deduce what took place and act on it, whether that be opening up the next step of the case or wrapping it up entirely, but this usually involves Pikachu asking you a few questions and you presenting the appropriate evidence or testimony to justify your solution to the mystery. There is no penalty for getting things wrong though, all you have to do is try another arrangement of evidence until Pikachu is pleased, but at least sometimes that could conceivably be tedious so its best to think about your replies instead of just throwing in ideas until something works. Since investigations are often done in limited areas with limited options for what to interact with, it means the act of unraveling a mystery doesn’t often call on the player to make any clever observations, although it does maintain a quick pace since limited investigative options means the game never dwells too long on a single portion of the case. Another point where failure is not really punished are during the small action moments that crop up during the story. When things get dangerous or you need to perform some athletic feat, the game will pop up some button prompts during cutscenes, the player either needing to press A at the right time or mash A quickly enough to succeed. The price of failure is just the scene playing again to give you a second shot, so it’s more about interactivity than challenge.

Despite how easy the game can be at times, the construction of the cases are interesting and actually pretty unique since all of them draw on Pokemon as valuable parts of the puzzle. Whether they be evidence, victims, or even the culprit, Pokemon of all types play heavily into every case you come across, and Tim has a unique feature that makes him the only detective qualified to handle such cases, that being able to bridge the communication gap. For the most part, Pokemon are monsters that come in all shapes and forms and can perform amazing attacks based on what type of monster they are, but they can only speak by saying their name or making a sound. Detective Pikachu acts as an interpreter for the player, letting Tim interview Pokemon so he can get unique perspectives in a world where many humans accept that Pokemon can’t speak with humans. The skills, traits, and attacks of these Pokemon crop up constantly as vital parts of the mysteries, with things like a Pokemon being able to literally hide in the shadows being an important clue, a Pokemon’s ability to fire a blast of ice useful for solving a puzzle, or a Pokemon’s role in the society putting them in the best position to see or know something that humans are understandably tight-lipped about. The society of this game world seems to have people often attach to one single Pokemon as their partner Pokemon, but there are wild ones as well and ones that seem more employees than partners. The implementation of them into what otherwise could be a world much like ours is surprisingly natural due to the thought put into their presence, with every Pokemon having a place just like the humans they coexist with.

 

While Detective Pikachu is a detective adventure game mechanically, the main appeal of the title seems to be the effort put into constructing an episodic series of fun, light-hearted journeys to different locations to see who you will meet, what Pokemon will be there, and how it all comes together into a bit of drama. Even for people unfamiliar with Pokemon, the game makes sure to introduce each new creature and any pertinent details about it so they can follow along and crack the cases, although some foreknowledge of Pokemon may make a few moments a bit predictable. It is a game targeted towards younger audiences so the plot isn’t very daring, but it does entertain in the same way a cartoon might, but it unfortunately blunts its ending a bit as if there are to be continued adventures in a future title. The fact they’re making a Detective Pikachu movie in development might follow up on this, and it might just be the coalescing of what seems like a desire to write a narrative rather than make a video game.

THE VERDICT: As a detective game, Detective Pikachu is a bit too forgiving and straightforward to really tickle the mind, but it’s well realized world of Pokemon and people and how they weave into the cases still makes it intriguing even when the answers come a bit too easily. The gruff but lovable Pikachu at the helm makes for a fun partner that enhances the episodic cases you encounter along the way to investigating the bigger mystery of berserk Pokemon, with each case having a bit of light drama to get you invested in its resolution. Detective Pikachu keeps the player moving between locations and introducing new cast members often enough that it works as a story to watch even if the case solving isn’t fully engaging despite the clever angle of having the powers of Pokemon play such pivotal roles in them all.

 

And so, I give Detective Pikachu for the 3DS…

A GOOD rating. Story-wise, Detective Pikachu has most of what it needs to be an all-ages mystery game, it’s the case solving that could use more oomph. Detective Pikachu makes you want to look around not because there are clues to be found, but because its cast and their relationship with Pokemon is well-developed and makes for a solid game world. Evidence and testimony come a bit too easily and fit together in obvious patterns a bit too much, but the game at least keeps up its energy and pace by not making you dwell on any mystery too long.

 

Detective Pikachu is a surprisingly fresh interpretation of the Pokemon world and its main mascot, and while its mysteries aren’t quite as inspired despite their connections to it, Detective Pikachu is still an enjoyable cartoon-like story for those not too concerned about not being challenged much by a mystery.