Trace Memory
DS- Publisher: Nintendo
- Release Date: Sep 27, 2005
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If you’re interested in trying something new, with a great plot and deep rewards, then this is a good pickup. If you’d rather have a more mainstream experience, with more obvious intense moments, then this won’t be a good purchase.
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Even though it's short, and the backtracking can be tedious, I would still recommend this game. I wouldn’t recommend paying full price for it, however.
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The only thing it has going for it is a well-written plot. The game isn’t overly fun to play, and can get annoying at times.
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An enjoyable point and click adventure that has a few quirks that stop it from being a great game. With a short length and linear style to it, the game really is over too quickly.
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At its best moments, a uniquely involving experience. These moments are all too fleeting in a game that has a very short lifespan, and while there's a nice little story and some flashes of brilliance in the design, it's all over far too soon.
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If you’re not the biggest adventure fan in the world (like myself) then the various puzzles will often have you slamming the DS shut in frustration, but for some strange and unapparent reason I kept coming back for more.
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If you need you thirst for adventuring quenched, Another Code is an essential purchase, but novices need to bear in mind that this style of game is very much an acquired taste, and experts should be mindful that compared to the adventuring greats it's not exactly in the same league.
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If only Another Code was double its length... It’s enjoyable and unputdownable until finish.
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You can’t help but feel that this is the type of game perfectly suited to the DS; inventive, addictive and something quite refreshing – a genre injected with a new lease of life on a new platform. It won’t take you long to complete Another Code, but the nature of the game mechanic will ensure you will enjoy doing so.
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Edge MagazineTrace Memory is a sound and striking dissection and rebuilding of the adventure game, one that wraps itself well around the specs and strengths of the DS, but one that isn’t the sum of its parts. But it is a worthy and touching whole, nonetheless. [Aug 2005, p.96]
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games(TM)This is the first time, apart from games such as Zoo Keeper and Meteos, that the DS’s capabilities have been used to good effect and - in some areas - expanded on to the point that we can see many developers in the future ‘borrowing’ ideas for their own games. [Aug 2005, p.100]
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It won’t start a second coming. What it does is showcase what the DS is capable of for this genre, and does it very well indeed. It’s also a very fun, if short-lived, experience and a very satisfying one. Just don’t be disappointed when you finish it in less than six hours.
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Entertaining, fun and well worth playing, but is over far too quickly to consider a definite purchase.
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Pelaaja (Finland)Another Code is an interesting pocket sized old school adventure. The adventure and its puzzles are also quite traditional in the unexciting sense. Luckily, the game and all its puzzles cleverly take advantage of DS’s dual screen and touch abilities. [August 2005, p.74]
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Play MagazineIt's pretty short and linear, and as far as I can tell, you can't die. [Oct 2005]
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Though you are bound to find yourself marveling at the innovative use of the DS hardware and the creativity of the puzzles, the core adventure is simply way too short -- six hours at best.
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As an adventure game on-the-go for younger gamers, Trace Memory offers a solid challenge and a very good presentation and use of the touchscreen.
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Not a game without its problems: its short length, its stilted dialogue, its murky 3D graphics, its ridiculous name (seriously, what will the sequel be called?!); and yet there is an ineffable quality to the game that transcends these shortcomings.
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Less avant-garde than "Indigo Prophecy," far less self-important than "Myst V," Trace Memory is the very definition of a safe, comfortable, middle-of-the-road experience.
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netjakIt's easy to see that the DS was made for adventures like this, but I'm sad to say that unless they get better, we're going to see the point-and-click genre die out again. Trace Memory gives old-school gamers something to be excited about-- but only for a little while.
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Electronic Gaming MonthlySlow to start and quick to finish, Trace holds your attention by the thinnest of strings: a deire to fill the blank pages of the story. [Oct 2005, p.122]
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With it's gentle pace, well-penned storyline and (just occasionally) some of the neatest puzzles we've seen this side of "Grim Fandango", PALGN wants to love CING's game. But it's all a little too obscure in parts, and over too quickly to encourage a real obsession.
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Even with the awkward and sometimes irritating dialogue, it's a good read from beginning to end, and it's a game that will fill the gap as a lengthy bedtime story.
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This isn't the type of game that anyone should play on the bus, standing in line, or at a sporting event. It requires your full attention, so warm some milk, grab some cookies, and hop into bed, as any distraction will make it incredibly difficult to enjoy.
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The perfect rental, lasting only a few short hours and, like most adventure games, doesn’t have much value beyond that.
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Trace Memory is an adequate title in its genre that manages to have a decent plot with likable characters, but its presentation is notably bare, as is its gameplay -- save for a handful of interesting DS-related puzzles.
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As a "my first graphic adventure," it works pretty well, with some unique puzzles and some interesting characters to get involved with. Veterans of the genre, however, will come away wanting more.
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The game doesn’t even come close to the better adventure games on PC, but it is still an enjoyable title to play through if you’ve exhausted all your other DS games.
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Trace Memory is basically "MYST" for kids, offering a short trip through puzzle-ville with occasional stops at the lame story station.
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The fact that they deliberately ensured that you can't pick up items until you need them is just a lame attempt to lengthen what is already a short game.
Awards & Rankings
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31
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16
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#16 Most Discussed DS Game of 2005
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User score distribution:
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Positive: 36 out of 54
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Mixed: 16 out of 54
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Negative: 2 out of 54
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Jan 1, 2021
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Jan 18, 2023My very first ever DS game, the story is touching and the puzzles are interesting. Putting together pieces of the mystery, it's fun to unravel!
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Nov 7, 2022