Toronto Thumbs

Whodunnit?
Guilty Party Preview

Last week we were invited to check out some of Disney Interactive’s new offerings, namely Guilty Party and Toy Story 3. Disney is always fun to check out because they usually have the added challenge of accommodating a larger demographic than other companies (Street Fighter IV is not officially for kids, is it?); they always do a great job when it comes to games that involve the whole family. We settled onto some comfy couches in an office in downtown Toronto – amidst a pile of plush friends and some stand-up cardboard likenesses of well-known characters – and watched Wideload Games and Avalanche Software show off their shiny new games. In this first segment we take a look at Wideload’s mystery-themed game…

Guilty Party

Jon Krusell from Wideload Games is a pretty cool guy; he’s pretty jazzed to be working on a Wii exclusive like Guilty Party, and after the preview it’s not hard to see why. Wideload has wanted to make a game in the mystery genre for a long time, which is a brave undertaking. I know from personal experience playing a number of mystery titles, that it is a tough go. Mystery games are hit-and-miss; this genre seems to have more variables at play than other type of game when it comes to pleasing the audience; there is also the matter of scaling difficulty based on who is playing: too easy and people become bored, too challenging and the game becomes frustrating.

In the initial stages of development, inspiration was drawn from a mix of both table-top and computer games (think Clue and Carmen Sandiego) to create a Family-friendly game. This is very apparent when you observe the layout of the levels and the characters. The various scenarios in the game closely resemble a game board or doll house, with different rooms that one may access. The characters are very “cartoony”, and seem to be loosely based on various stereotypes from various mystery stories (X-Files-type female agent, Columbo, Shaft, Holmes, etc.); it’s cool that each character has their own distinct look and voice actor.

Story mode has you pursuing the mysterious Mr. Valentine, with each new level increasing in difficulty as you progress through the game. The format is turn-based, allowing all players a chance to help solve the mystery; each player will essentially find clues via interesting mini-games (some of these are just too awesome: attempting to stare down a suspect by matching gazes with the Wii-Mote was cool to begin with, but being able to honk your quarry’s nose to get their attention is just gravy!). To aid you in your quest is your trusty notebook. Each player contributes to the notes and you narrow down your suspects until you find the guilty party for that scenario.

Another part of the game is the savvy card system; these cards help you through some of the more difficult parts of the game, almost like a free pass for certain mini-games. Some characters start with certain savvy cards (one such card makes the stare-down very easy, for instance), and you can earn savvy points with each solved mini-game to use towards more cards. Guilty party also has a series of twist sequences, that turn the experience into an all-player mini-game.

Family is obviously very important to Wideload as the game contains a layer catering to kids and another layer for the grown-ups. There is a hint system built in for the younger crowd, and the main story is cooperative. That’s not to say that there isn’t some friendly competition; the party mode allows you to create a huge array of unique cases (hello, replayability) allowing you to have a level playing field when dealing with your chums.

With a handy save game system, automatically scalable difficulty, family-friendly tone and entertainment value, Guilty Party looks to be an awesome purchase come July 27th.

Posted in PlayStation 3, Previews, Wii, Xbox 360 |