The Silver Case Review
Release Date: April 11th, 2017
Developer: Grasshopper Manufacture
Platforms: PS4 and PC
Price: (PC) $19.99 / (PS4) $29.99
Visual novels are just gaining steam here in North America, but they've been a staple in Japanese gaming. The Silver Case, which was originally developed by Grasshopper Manufacture in 1999 for the PlayStation, adds a little extra flair to the genre by including first-person point-and-click adventure style gameplay.
The game takes place over the course of five different cases all which are somehow related to the legendary serial killer, Kamui Uehara. The game is divided into two different scenarios: Transmitter and Placebo. Transmitter follows a rookie cop who joins the 24 Districts Police Department while Placebo follows reporters who are piecing together details to write about the Transmitter events. At first, I thought that the Placebo portion was just a small little side thing, but it actually helps expand on the events of the main story and definitely deserves to be played.
One of the interesting things about The Silver Case is the fact that it's an HD remaster of a PS1 game. When playing, it almost feels like you're playing a new game that's trying to be retro. With PS2 or PS3 remasters they can easily be modified to look like a modern game, but PS1 games were all blocky and weird looking. With that being said, this adds to the charm of The Silver Case and makes for a unique experience.
The controls in The Silver Case definitely took some getting used to. You have to press triangle to bring up a menu and select an action. This is something that you have to do whenever you want to move, interact with something in your inventory, or look at something. This is one of the drawbacks that could potentially happen when you remaster an old game.
While the majority of the game does a good job moving you along, there are a few parts that define the word tedious. There is a part particularly towards the end, where you have to thoroughly investigate 10 towers. All the towers have the same layout, but it's very easy to miss something. Furthermore, every time you enter a tower you have to pull up your menu, select move and then move forward. Ideally "move" would just always be the default setting, but that is not the case.
Another thing that might turn people off is that The Silver Case is pretty vulgar. We keep The Gamers Lounge family friendly so I won't write any of the words here, but it will be interesting to see how people feel about the language when they play it. There are even a few sexist parts, which I personally feel is actually about the characters and their behavior, than a reflection on the developers. The main reason I am bringing all of this up is because it shows how different games were in 1999 and even how different games are Japan. This is refreshing though, because it's nice to know that the developers kept the game in its original form.
Overall Grasshopper Manufacture's remastered version of their first game will take you about 15 hours to complete. For anyone who is a fan of Suda 51 and company, or if you're looking for a game that gives a unique experience, The Silver Case is definitely worth a playthrough.
Pros:
- Interesting Story
- Unique experience
- Rich characters
Cons:
- Can be tedious
- Controls are outdated
The Silver Case was reviewed on the PlayStation 4. Thank you to NIS for providing us with the code.