Well. Being game of the week couldn't last forever. But in the mean time, Ghost Trick is still quite accessible by being #2 in the "What's Hot" section of the iOS App Store.

Now since this is the last foreseeable update on Ghost Trick at CR, why not give it a nice farewell with a review? Now, while I still have yet to beat the iOS version, mostly due to being distracted by GS123 HD, I think I've played enough to give it a good enough review.

First, I have to say, of all the iPhone ports I've played, Ghost Trick is easily the best. This wasn't a build a DS emulator and throw it on the App Store and hope it sells by branding alone kind of project. Capcom did some actual work to make this game worth buying a second time. And it honestly truly shows. I almost like this port more then the original.

The most fascinating problems Capcom solved was the screen issue. The DS has two, and they're at both a different resolution and ratio to the iPhone. Capcom solved this problem by scaling the primary DS screen to fit the iPhone, and then using the remaining margin to display the second DS screen. This works surprisingly well, mostly because in Ghost Trick only the touch screen is ever truly important, but this also means that the levels won't look odd, since there are quite a few places that cover 'exactly' the space of the DS screen.

- iPhone
- DS

As for gameplay itself, trading in the DS's stylus for your finger, I actually believe works a lot better on the iPhone. (Though, if I remember, I think I played Ghost Trick on the DS using the D-Pad Controls. So maybe I'm saying the D pad is better then the stylus, and both are less then your finger.) There's something about dragging the protagonist from point to point that engages you a bit more. I wouldn't recommend it for all games, touch controls have their own problems, but for Ghost Trick it fits like a glove.

As for the graphics, things are much more crisp then on the DS. But it's hard to say which device Capcom optimized the game for. Ghost Trick iOS will play on the iPod Touch/iPhone, and iPad. Of the set, the iPad seems to have been a last second thought. The game will play just fine, but pixelation is more noticeable (This is compared to the iPad's normal user interface, not comparing to the iPhone version). On my Retina iPhone, some things look superb, such as the large dialog sprites, but other items, like the chapter screens are horribly stretched.

The story? Same great experience as the DS. Takumi's signature tendency to combine slapstick comedy and serious murder mystery is just as, if not more prevalent then in the Ace Attorney saga he pioneered. I haven't noticed any dialog changes, neither major nor minor. But I wouldn't be surprised if there were some minor tweaks I'm missing. When Capcom was porting Justice for All and Trials and Tribulations from Japan to America, and again to Europe every release had an upgrade in grammar even though all versions contained English (EU-2 not withstanding). (Though it took until perhaps a second printing in Europe to catch JFA's timeless "The miracle never happen".)

Now, do yourself a favor, stop reading this review, and go play the latest and greatest thing to come out of the genius of Takumi since Ace Attorney

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I love Ghost Trick. I've played through it at least 5 times and I'm so glad that it's getting so popular.

I'm wondering, though, how some things would work with the loss of a top screen (minor things). On the top screen it showed what the shape of the item you are possessing.



Is there something like that? Little icons maybe? I dunno...

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It's all jammed into the sidebar.

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I had never played Ghost Trick before this, my DS has long had its bottom screen shattered (and it was an original generation DS too!), and whenever I tried to get a ROM (shhhh) it wouldn't work on this emulator. When I heard that it was coming out on the iOS (or rather, when I saw the post announcing it had been released in the U.S. on the iOS), I leapt at the chance to buy it and I don't regret a single cent.

The idea of having the first two chapters free was a brilliant one, it was enough to teach me how to use the game and get a fun amount of use and involved enough in the story, but not enough to leave me feeling satisfied. I wanted more! I dropped the $10 the moment I got an internet connection.

Let me just say, this is far and away one of the best games I've played. In a long time. It had me laughing out loud, loving the characters, becoming visibly shocked when a plot twist I wasn't expecting happened, and most importantly, had my heart racing during the intense moments because I was so involved with the story. This was brilliant game design at it's finest. Having never played the DS version, I can't make a comparison between the touch screen mechanics. However, I will say that the game almost feels like it was MADE for the iOS. I can't imagine NOT moving Sissel around with my finger, it was quite engaging, and really intuitive.

The characters were Takumi classics. Humorous, each having their own quirks, but at the same time, even the little doggie, each character had a depth and an emotional quality to them that rivals some of the best characters of classic literature. I must say, Inspector Cabanela and Detective Jowd were personal favorites of mine. The music was pretty decent too, I don't think it's extremely memorable (not like Ace Attorney themes) but Lynne's theme always put a smile on my face. And I think one of the songs sounded similar to a Tricks and Logic theme from AA...

Speaking of, loved all the Ace Attorney easter eggs!

The graphics are GORGEOUS, the iOS renders them beautifully, and I think the animations were smoother than a number of First-Party multi-million dollar productions these days. The only issue I really had was that some of the graphics seemed blurry and too scaled-up (the four minutes before death title cards were excellent examples of this). The sidebar is a brilliant way to condense everything down, though, I will be honest, there were one or two occasions where I missed something for a little bit for not paying attention to the sidebar.

Overall, this was a wonderful purchase, and I'd reccommend it to everyone with an iOS device, it's not too long (I think about 15 hours) but you'll not want to put it down. I'm considering replaying it right now, and I just finished it under a week ago. EVERYONE BUY THIS!

(EDIT: I posted a tweaked version of this on the iTunes store, most of the 1-star reviews seem to stem from them not understanding that this is a story driven game, not a fruit ninja or something, and not reading the description outlining how the first two chapters are free, but you must buy the others! Silly people.)

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Well... since my good 'ol Ds lite is with it's screen like shit I was mostly force to use an emulator (Whoa did I say that out loud! XD). And I was amazed as I hadn't been in a long time in my videogaming experience with it's interesting, funny and at the same time surprising and unexpected events for the story.

I was surprised with a lot of revelations, I guessed some stuff due to experience with games but some things just were mindblowing. Well maybe that overreacting but I loved the game.

Now that I know it is for the iPod touch I'll start bothering my dad to buy it and let me play it. After ll, the emulator screwed up most of the amazing ost the game has for me to listen. I'll have to play it a second time to enjoy it properly.

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