Project Hacker: Awakening (Nintendo DS) Review

You play as Satoru Amatsubo, a talented university student who specialises in computers - especially hacking. Although insisting that he only hacks computers for fun and never deletes or steals any information, he goes a step too far when he manages to break into a government server. They manage to track Satoru down, but instead of arresting him and sending him to jail, they offer him a job at GIS - the main headquarters for computer crime and cyber terrorism.

The game is split into five missions (known as 'Programs'), each covering a different investigation. The first mission also covers how Satoru gets the position at GIS, introduces you to the other main character, Rina, as well as investigating and solving your first act of cyber terrorism. The protagonist of our story comes home one evening to find that his apartment has been broken into and ransacked. Confronted by two governmental-looking men in black suits, our hero manages to escape, and asks Rina, his childhood friend, for help. They realise that they're caught up in a big scandal to bring down a major Japanese phone company, and must stop the rival company at all costs.

If you're played Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney before, then you'll feel right at home here. It plays like a traditional adventure game, choosing the right dialogue threads, examining items, and so forth. As far as the gameplay goes, it feels just like reading a story, or to be more precise, a detective-themed manga comic. Unfortunately, this means the game does not require that much interaction to play. Usually, you'll end up talking to the characters around you, an event happening, talking some more, and so forth, with no branching story. If there is a branch, then usually it will just take you to a dead end and a 'Game Over' screen, making the game very linear.

To break up all the adventuring and examining objects and such, there are several puzzle-solving elements, such as figuring out the passwords on a rival's computer. Most of the time, this can be figured out by just examining your surroundings (for example, if you see several chess-related items around the place, try passwords relating to the board game). But sometimes, you have to rely on the internet for information.

No, not the real internet, but one that is built into the game. From your laptop (or at the start of the game, an internet cafe), you can access a 'fake' internet, comprising of hundreds of pages and links about different companies, products, research articles, directions to key locations, and so forth. It's a great addition, and is integral to the game's progress. And if you're tempted to grab the nearest piece of paper and write down any information you find, you can use the PDA again. Much like the photography function of the DAS device in the DS adventure game 'Another Code', you can keep track of things in the game, by using a virtual notepad. Just scribble down any important names or dates on the touch screen, and you can then access them at any time.

The game also throws in several mini-games to break up the text adventuring even more, such as when you stop rival hackers from accessing a computer by tapping the coloured blocks flying on the screen towards you, or rearrange a scrambled map using the touch screen. These are a nice touch, and help the player to interact with the game, generally making the whole experience feel more immersive.

The graphics of the game, as mentioned before, are manga styled and presented in a neat and colourful form. Even little things such as characters blinking randomly while talking to you is a nice touch, although the poses can be a little repetitive if you're picky, and after a while you wonder why most of the characters never change their clothes throughout a game... As the game is very text heavy, I wouldn't recommend importing this game though, unless you can find a translation guide on the internet, which will be a lifesaver.

If you're worried that the game will be over too quickly, then you'll be glad to hear that each of the five programs will take approximately two hours to complete, meaning plenty of mystery and detective work. Plus, each program is graded, giving you the opportunity to replay the missions if you so wish for a better score. Throw in some unlockable mini-games after completing the game, and you have quite a long game, but unfortunately little incentive to replay the main quest. But don't let this put you off, because this is a fantastic adventure and mystery game... now all we need is the confirmation of a western release!