The exciting follow-up to The Silver Case arrives with SUDA51's remake of The 25th Ward: The Silver Case. Follow the threads in a grim psychological thriller and discover the darkness at the heart of Kanto's newly built 25th Ward.1 player10MB minimum save sizeDUALSHOCK®4.
- Platforms: PC PS4
- Developer: Grasshopper Manufacture
- Publisher:NIS America
- Release: March 13, 2018
Playism and Grasshopper Manufacturer released the long talked about, never localized The Silver Case to western audiences in 2016. A project of love for both the 1999 classic and fans of Suda 51, the provocative creator behind the title, it was a tale in the mad world of the Kanto wards amidst the terror of an unchecked and unexplained series of murders. It was weird, creepy and more than a little off-kilter, evoking an unease through still art and text that so many other horror titles can only envy. It managed to feel fresh despite the fact that it was a remaster of a fifteen year old title, with some graphical issues that age can impart. Because it was such a niche title, there was doubt that the mobile only sequel, The 25th Ward, would follow suit. Fortunately, publisher NIS America has taken up the call, bringing it to western audiences. It’s a great thing they did as The 25th Ward manages to be even more engrossing than its predecessor, a feat that shouldn’t be possible.
Set a few years after the events of The Silver Case, the events of The 25th Ward are broken up across three, for lack of a better word, campaigns. Set in the titular ward, an experiment in a society that supposedly has done away with the bureaucratic nature of government in favor of a more loose community based system, the three campaigns follow members of the Heinous Crimes Unit, Regional Adjustment Bureau, as well as Tokio, the protagonist from the first game. Through the three campaigns, players begin to uncover an underlying conspiracy all tied to one name: Kamui…
This explanation of the setting may seem rather dry. The reason for this is that one hesitates how to tackle the rampant insanity found in this visual novel/adventure game. The 25th Ward is Goichi Suda at peak Sudaness. For the uninitiated, this means that the writing and story are crazier than a hair swallowing fetish. For once, this isn’t some random “wacky” example made up by this writer to illustrate a point. A hair-swallowing fetish is an actual plot point that gets covered relatively early on. It is also dismissed as a “common perversion,” so, you know, dating Suda must be one heck of an adventure. The Postal Service now employs government sanctioned hit men to “adjust” people who complain about the most minor of irritants. The hot new method of suicide causes blood to boil and erupt from the face. People spout nonsense like “What am I supposed to do if I die?” as though they are pondering what steps they should take if they lose a job. The entire thing is unbelievably bizarre, but it also makes a strange sort of sense once one gets acclimated to the dystopian setting and the roles people in this society take.
That acclimation is a bit more difficult than it needs to be. The whats and whys of the of the world are strange even for veterans of The Silver Case. Frankly, the best advice to be given is to take two minutes to read over the “Story” and “Character” sections of NISA’s official site. It sets up the world succinctly, which is something that should have been included in the game itself. It’s possible to pick it up while going along, but it’s more enjoyable to not read the text while in a state of befuddled confusion. Fortunately, the same is not true for people who skipped this title’s predecessor. When knowledge of these events becomes needed, the game gives a clear recap, especially during the prologue section of Tokio’s campaign.
One thing that The 25th Ward does incredibly well is the interlocking story. Each chapter covers a different point of view surrounding major incidents. Each character fits in to the overarching tale in interesting ways. This writing conceit can often be used as a crutch to reuse chunks of story. That’s not the case here. The story beats are unique and what does get revisited is fresh (except for one annoying part when trying to reach an appraiser in two of the campaigns). Instead, these different perspectives gives the story an interesting life as pieces fall into place. While there is no “right” way to play it, it’s recommended that the player experiences the chapters with each other. Meaning, play Chapter One of all three, then Two and so on. The twists simply pop out better this way and gives the events deeper meaning.
A major improvement over the prequel are the controls. One of the things that stuck out like a sore spot was the cumbersome input methods needed to move around the environment and interact. It stood out for actually apologizing to the player as it was explaining them. The mobile roots of this one actually plays to the game’s favor here. Controls are simplified so that the focus can be on gathering information and solving puzzles. Movement is chosen from contextual directions and various side die are used for inputting passwords and commands. It works well on the PlayStation 4 and keeps the interface clean, allowing the unique art style more breathing room to shine.
The same cannot be said about some of the puzzles. Often times, the way forward is to simply exercise all options until the game is satisfied. Why the player is required to choose the “Look” command a few times over until the game is ready to proceed is a topic best left to the philosophers. This stunts the flow of the conversations taking place and clicking an option until the text starts repeating gets old. There are also puzzles that have to be brute forced. One particularly annoying series involved keeping various chatbots engaged via selecting the correct responses in a multiple choice menu. Players are advised to “read the flow”, but save for an occasional pattern that can be found in a group chat, the “flow” did not make the transition to English. Also, those fights against the hit men can seriously go adjust themselves.
Speaking of the transition, the build that was played for review featured some typos. “The police can’t haven’t been able to intervene” just hurts to type let alone read and an end of chapter screen captioned “Heroes and Villans” should probably have been caught already. This is still a pre-release build, however, so it’s entirely possible that these issues will be fixed in time. One returning problem from The Silver Case is the sound the text makes as it’s being printed on the screen. It was terrible in the first game and it would have been great if it was changed for the sequel. Imagine an audio recording of Gilbert Gottfried being beaten to death with a typewriter dubbed onto cassette tape repeatedly and the results would be close to this. Protip: Lower the sound setting to 25%. It removes the edge of the printing sound while keeping other story specific sound effects audible. Well, at least on my TV. It might require some experimentation.
The music more than makes up for this, though. Spanning genres such as jazz, Japanese Punk, ambient noise, trance and more, the music evokes the mood of each piece of the story, lending the experience an extra texture. While none of these genres are among my chosen styles, what is offered here builds upon the world. Heard on its own, one might argue that it’s not a good soundtrack, but in the context of the experience, it remains…well, not a “good” soundtrack. Instead, it’s a perfect soundtrack that makes the experience so much richer.
Closing Comments:
The Silver Case was a seminal example of an incredibly influential game creator’s early days while he is finding his creative footing. It still remains a flawed, but genius, masterwork. The 25th Ward: The Silver Case manages to fix some of those flaws, keep others and introduce whole new ones. In the end, The 25th Ward takes the edge as it is a less clumsy, more playable experience even if it could be argued that the quality level is a wash. This is a fantastic experience for people who enjoy Suda51, visual novels or finding out of context quotes to annoy friends.
Version Reviewed: PlayStation 4
Many know Goichi Suda or Suda51 for his work on titles such as Killer7 or No More Heroes but his popularity in Japan originally started with his company’s first title, The Silver Case. The game, which was originally released in Japan for the PlayStation in 1999, never made it to international audiences until it was remastered and released for the PC last year. A PS4 release was then announced in October of last year which would feature a new remixed soundtrack (including two brand new tracks) and two new story scenarios set after the original story.
Complex Scenarios
The events of The Silver Case take place around the late ‘90s, in a time when the digital world was beginning to overtake analog and the world was in the middle of society’s digital revolution, in a fictional futuristic Japanese city called the 24 Wards. The original portion of the game is divided into two scenarios called “Transmitter” and “Placebo.” Players start off in the first scenario but eventually unlock the second. From there, players can choose to progress in either of the scenarios alternately or finish one before the other.
In Transmitter, the player takes on the role of a nameless agent of the High-Degree Murder Division who, along with a team of other agents, begin to investigate a string of murders they believe to be committed by an infamous serial killer named Kamui Uehara. The second scenario, which happens concurrently with the first, stars Tokio Morishima, a freelance reporter who’s hired to investigate and write a report on the Kamui Uehara case. Inevitably, the stories of both scenarios intertwine at certain intervals, giving players different viewpoints of the overall story.
The two original scenarios are vastly different, to say the least, not just in writing and storytelling style but in gameplay and mood as well. This is due to the two scenarios being written by different individuals. Transmitter was written by Suda while Placebo was written by Masahi Ooka and Sako Kato.
Transmitter’s nameless protagonist felt more like a tag-along rather than the scenario’s main character, mostly just observing the game’s cast of characters tell the game’s story. There are no dialogue choices during the protagonist’s conversations with people and you’re never really shown what the character actually says. Due to this, there isn’t any real insight into the character or his personality which also significantly limited any form of character development. In spite of this, Transmitter is the scenario with the most gameplay as the protagonist is regularly tasked to explore areas and solve puzzles.
On the other hand, Placebo puts significantly more detail into its protagonist. Not only is it riddled with internal monologue but Tokio Morishima also keeps a journal where he details most, if not all of his experiences and thoughts throughout the story. This also means that Placebo features minimal gameplay. Much of the scenario is spent going through dialogue as well as reading and sending e-mails on Morishima’s computer, along with the other activities he does on it such as writing on his aforementioned journal or chatting with people on the internet.
As previously mentioned, the PS4 release of The Silver Case also features two additional scenarios called “Yami” and “Whiteout Prologue.” Ooka returned to work on both scenarios with Suda also contributing to the latter. Yami is set several months after the events of the first two scenarios while Whiteout Prologue is set much further into the future, connecting The Silver Case to its episode sequel Ward 25. The additional scenarios, while not really adding anything in the gameplay department, gave the title a much better finish than the original release as well as some much-needed closure.
Give or Take
The presentation of The Silver Case is pretty unique, much like Suda’s other works. But The Silver Case is also unique among his own works as it presents a darker, more serious, and more experimental tone than his latter and more known projects, which have become less serious and more comedic. While the game’s scenarios are incredibly different, the style of which the visuals are presented stay mostly consistent and make for a complex and fairly unique experience, combining several visual elements such as CG, 2D animation, live action, and still illustrations to tell the game’s story.
Dragon Ball Origins. Manufacturer Video. Upload your video. Customer Questions & Answers See questions and answers. Customer reviews. 3.7 out of 5 stars. 3.7 out of 5. 30 customer ratings. 5 star 33% 4 star 33% 3 star 7%. Dragon Ball: Origins, originally published as Dragon Ball DS (ドラゴンボール DS ディーエス, Doragon Bōru Dī Esu) in Japan, is a video game for the Nintendo DS based on Dragon Ball.It was developed by Game Republic and published by Atari and Namco Bandai under the Bandai label. It was released on September 18, 2008 in Japan, on November 4, 2008 in America, on December 5, 2008 in. Dragon ball origins 3. Dragon Ball Origins Episode 3-3: Target: Faur Star Ball - A stroll in the desert! Where on earth is the Four Star.
Sadly, the variety and quality of the game’s visuals doesn’t make it to the game’s levels and areas which, at many points in the game, are reused or recycled. Additionally, the gameplay area of the second scenario takes place almost entirely in a single space. Many of the levels and areas themselves are minimalist, to say the least, with barely any assets other than the walls, doors, control panels, and furniture. There aren’t any details to make important rooms stand out, such as blood on the walls or floors, and characters aren’t shown in the game’s rooms, even though they’re there.
Exploring the game’s levels and areas, which is mostly done in the first-person, is composed of moving from one specific point to the other, marked by floating triangles. The triangles then turn into stars whenever specific markers have points of interest, such as dialogue or cutscenes as well as objects that the player can interact with such as control panels or puzzles. This is when the game’s controls and movement prove to be cumbersome due to its slow responsiveness and inefficient control and menu system.
The Silver Case is definitely not for everyone. While it’s visuals and presentation may prove interesting to some, the issues with its gameplay and some of its storytelling could turn off others. Those unfamiliar with Suda’s style may find the themes and pacing of the game remarkably slow. But fans of Suda’s work will definitely enjoy The Silver Case as it showcases his unique style incredibly well. Regardless of its setbacks, the PS4 release of The Silver Case is a unique and complex experience that could easily draw in those who are open to playing something undeniably strange and different.
The Silver Chair review code provided by publisher. Reviewed on PS4. For more information on scoring, please read our Review Policy.
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- Author: admin
- Category: Category
The exciting follow-up to The Silver Case arrives with SUDA51's remake of The 25th Ward: The Silver Case. Follow the threads in a grim psychological thriller and discover the darkness at the heart of Kanto's newly built 25th Ward.1 player10MB minimum save sizeDUALSHOCK®4.
- Platforms: PC PS4
- Developer: Grasshopper Manufacture
- Publisher:NIS America
- Release: March 13, 2018
Playism and Grasshopper Manufacturer released the long talked about, never localized The Silver Case to western audiences in 2016. A project of love for both the 1999 classic and fans of Suda 51, the provocative creator behind the title, it was a tale in the mad world of the Kanto wards amidst the terror of an unchecked and unexplained series of murders. It was weird, creepy and more than a little off-kilter, evoking an unease through still art and text that so many other horror titles can only envy. It managed to feel fresh despite the fact that it was a remaster of a fifteen year old title, with some graphical issues that age can impart. Because it was such a niche title, there was doubt that the mobile only sequel, The 25th Ward, would follow suit. Fortunately, publisher NIS America has taken up the call, bringing it to western audiences. It’s a great thing they did as The 25th Ward manages to be even more engrossing than its predecessor, a feat that shouldn’t be possible.
Set a few years after the events of The Silver Case, the events of The 25th Ward are broken up across three, for lack of a better word, campaigns. Set in the titular ward, an experiment in a society that supposedly has done away with the bureaucratic nature of government in favor of a more loose community based system, the three campaigns follow members of the Heinous Crimes Unit, Regional Adjustment Bureau, as well as Tokio, the protagonist from the first game. Through the three campaigns, players begin to uncover an underlying conspiracy all tied to one name: Kamui…
This explanation of the setting may seem rather dry. The reason for this is that one hesitates how to tackle the rampant insanity found in this visual novel/adventure game. The 25th Ward is Goichi Suda at peak Sudaness. For the uninitiated, this means that the writing and story are crazier than a hair swallowing fetish. For once, this isn’t some random “wacky” example made up by this writer to illustrate a point. A hair-swallowing fetish is an actual plot point that gets covered relatively early on. It is also dismissed as a “common perversion,” so, you know, dating Suda must be one heck of an adventure. The Postal Service now employs government sanctioned hit men to “adjust” people who complain about the most minor of irritants. The hot new method of suicide causes blood to boil and erupt from the face. People spout nonsense like “What am I supposed to do if I die?” as though they are pondering what steps they should take if they lose a job. The entire thing is unbelievably bizarre, but it also makes a strange sort of sense once one gets acclimated to the dystopian setting and the roles people in this society take.
That acclimation is a bit more difficult than it needs to be. The whats and whys of the of the world are strange even for veterans of The Silver Case. Frankly, the best advice to be given is to take two minutes to read over the “Story” and “Character” sections of NISA’s official site. It sets up the world succinctly, which is something that should have been included in the game itself. It’s possible to pick it up while going along, but it’s more enjoyable to not read the text while in a state of befuddled confusion. Fortunately, the same is not true for people who skipped this title’s predecessor. When knowledge of these events becomes needed, the game gives a clear recap, especially during the prologue section of Tokio’s campaign.
One thing that The 25th Ward does incredibly well is the interlocking story. Each chapter covers a different point of view surrounding major incidents. Each character fits in to the overarching tale in interesting ways. This writing conceit can often be used as a crutch to reuse chunks of story. That’s not the case here. The story beats are unique and what does get revisited is fresh (except for one annoying part when trying to reach an appraiser in two of the campaigns). Instead, these different perspectives gives the story an interesting life as pieces fall into place. While there is no “right” way to play it, it’s recommended that the player experiences the chapters with each other. Meaning, play Chapter One of all three, then Two and so on. The twists simply pop out better this way and gives the events deeper meaning.
A major improvement over the prequel are the controls. One of the things that stuck out like a sore spot was the cumbersome input methods needed to move around the environment and interact. It stood out for actually apologizing to the player as it was explaining them. The mobile roots of this one actually plays to the game’s favor here. Controls are simplified so that the focus can be on gathering information and solving puzzles. Movement is chosen from contextual directions and various side die are used for inputting passwords and commands. It works well on the PlayStation 4 and keeps the interface clean, allowing the unique art style more breathing room to shine.
The same cannot be said about some of the puzzles. Often times, the way forward is to simply exercise all options until the game is satisfied. Why the player is required to choose the “Look” command a few times over until the game is ready to proceed is a topic best left to the philosophers. This stunts the flow of the conversations taking place and clicking an option until the text starts repeating gets old. There are also puzzles that have to be brute forced. One particularly annoying series involved keeping various chatbots engaged via selecting the correct responses in a multiple choice menu. Players are advised to “read the flow”, but save for an occasional pattern that can be found in a group chat, the “flow” did not make the transition to English. Also, those fights against the hit men can seriously go adjust themselves.
Speaking of the transition, the build that was played for review featured some typos. “The police can’t haven’t been able to intervene” just hurts to type let alone read and an end of chapter screen captioned “Heroes and Villans” should probably have been caught already. This is still a pre-release build, however, so it’s entirely possible that these issues will be fixed in time. One returning problem from The Silver Case is the sound the text makes as it’s being printed on the screen. It was terrible in the first game and it would have been great if it was changed for the sequel. Imagine an audio recording of Gilbert Gottfried being beaten to death with a typewriter dubbed onto cassette tape repeatedly and the results would be close to this. Protip: Lower the sound setting to 25%. It removes the edge of the printing sound while keeping other story specific sound effects audible. Well, at least on my TV. It might require some experimentation.
The music more than makes up for this, though. Spanning genres such as jazz, Japanese Punk, ambient noise, trance and more, the music evokes the mood of each piece of the story, lending the experience an extra texture. While none of these genres are among my chosen styles, what is offered here builds upon the world. Heard on its own, one might argue that it’s not a good soundtrack, but in the context of the experience, it remains…well, not a “good” soundtrack. Instead, it’s a perfect soundtrack that makes the experience so much richer.
Closing Comments:
The Silver Case was a seminal example of an incredibly influential game creator’s early days while he is finding his creative footing. It still remains a flawed, but genius, masterwork. The 25th Ward: The Silver Case manages to fix some of those flaws, keep others and introduce whole new ones. In the end, The 25th Ward takes the edge as it is a less clumsy, more playable experience even if it could be argued that the quality level is a wash. This is a fantastic experience for people who enjoy Suda51, visual novels or finding out of context quotes to annoy friends.
Version Reviewed: PlayStation 4
Many know Goichi Suda or Suda51 for his work on titles such as Killer7 or No More Heroes but his popularity in Japan originally started with his company’s first title, The Silver Case. The game, which was originally released in Japan for the PlayStation in 1999, never made it to international audiences until it was remastered and released for the PC last year. A PS4 release was then announced in October of last year which would feature a new remixed soundtrack (including two brand new tracks) and two new story scenarios set after the original story.
Complex Scenarios
The events of The Silver Case take place around the late ‘90s, in a time when the digital world was beginning to overtake analog and the world was in the middle of society’s digital revolution, in a fictional futuristic Japanese city called the 24 Wards. The original portion of the game is divided into two scenarios called “Transmitter” and “Placebo.” Players start off in the first scenario but eventually unlock the second. From there, players can choose to progress in either of the scenarios alternately or finish one before the other.
In Transmitter, the player takes on the role of a nameless agent of the High-Degree Murder Division who, along with a team of other agents, begin to investigate a string of murders they believe to be committed by an infamous serial killer named Kamui Uehara. The second scenario, which happens concurrently with the first, stars Tokio Morishima, a freelance reporter who’s hired to investigate and write a report on the Kamui Uehara case. Inevitably, the stories of both scenarios intertwine at certain intervals, giving players different viewpoints of the overall story.
The two original scenarios are vastly different, to say the least, not just in writing and storytelling style but in gameplay and mood as well. This is due to the two scenarios being written by different individuals. Transmitter was written by Suda while Placebo was written by Masahi Ooka and Sako Kato.
Transmitter’s nameless protagonist felt more like a tag-along rather than the scenario’s main character, mostly just observing the game’s cast of characters tell the game’s story. There are no dialogue choices during the protagonist’s conversations with people and you’re never really shown what the character actually says. Due to this, there isn’t any real insight into the character or his personality which also significantly limited any form of character development. In spite of this, Transmitter is the scenario with the most gameplay as the protagonist is regularly tasked to explore areas and solve puzzles.
On the other hand, Placebo puts significantly more detail into its protagonist. Not only is it riddled with internal monologue but Tokio Morishima also keeps a journal where he details most, if not all of his experiences and thoughts throughout the story. This also means that Placebo features minimal gameplay. Much of the scenario is spent going through dialogue as well as reading and sending e-mails on Morishima’s computer, along with the other activities he does on it such as writing on his aforementioned journal or chatting with people on the internet.
As previously mentioned, the PS4 release of The Silver Case also features two additional scenarios called “Yami” and “Whiteout Prologue.” Ooka returned to work on both scenarios with Suda also contributing to the latter. Yami is set several months after the events of the first two scenarios while Whiteout Prologue is set much further into the future, connecting The Silver Case to its episode sequel Ward 25. The additional scenarios, while not really adding anything in the gameplay department, gave the title a much better finish than the original release as well as some much-needed closure.
Give or Take
The presentation of The Silver Case is pretty unique, much like Suda’s other works. But The Silver Case is also unique among his own works as it presents a darker, more serious, and more experimental tone than his latter and more known projects, which have become less serious and more comedic. While the game’s scenarios are incredibly different, the style of which the visuals are presented stay mostly consistent and make for a complex and fairly unique experience, combining several visual elements such as CG, 2D animation, live action, and still illustrations to tell the game’s story.
Dragon Ball Origins. Manufacturer Video. Upload your video. Customer Questions & Answers See questions and answers. Customer reviews. 3.7 out of 5 stars. 3.7 out of 5. 30 customer ratings. 5 star 33% 4 star 33% 3 star 7%. Dragon Ball: Origins, originally published as Dragon Ball DS (ドラゴンボール DS ディーエス, Doragon Bōru Dī Esu) in Japan, is a video game for the Nintendo DS based on Dragon Ball.It was developed by Game Republic and published by Atari and Namco Bandai under the Bandai label. It was released on September 18, 2008 in Japan, on November 4, 2008 in America, on December 5, 2008 in. Dragon ball origins 3. Dragon Ball Origins Episode 3-3: Target: Faur Star Ball - A stroll in the desert! Where on earth is the Four Star.
Sadly, the variety and quality of the game’s visuals doesn’t make it to the game’s levels and areas which, at many points in the game, are reused or recycled. Additionally, the gameplay area of the second scenario takes place almost entirely in a single space. Many of the levels and areas themselves are minimalist, to say the least, with barely any assets other than the walls, doors, control panels, and furniture. There aren’t any details to make important rooms stand out, such as blood on the walls or floors, and characters aren’t shown in the game’s rooms, even though they’re there.
Exploring the game’s levels and areas, which is mostly done in the first-person, is composed of moving from one specific point to the other, marked by floating triangles. The triangles then turn into stars whenever specific markers have points of interest, such as dialogue or cutscenes as well as objects that the player can interact with such as control panels or puzzles. This is when the game’s controls and movement prove to be cumbersome due to its slow responsiveness and inefficient control and menu system.
The Silver Case is definitely not for everyone. While it’s visuals and presentation may prove interesting to some, the issues with its gameplay and some of its storytelling could turn off others. Those unfamiliar with Suda’s style may find the themes and pacing of the game remarkably slow. But fans of Suda’s work will definitely enjoy The Silver Case as it showcases his unique style incredibly well. Regardless of its setbacks, the PS4 release of The Silver Case is a unique and complex experience that could easily draw in those who are open to playing something undeniably strange and different.
The Silver Chair review code provided by publisher. Reviewed on PS4. For more information on scoring, please read our Review Policy.
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