I have been a huge fan of point and click adventure games for many years and, since the DS and this genre would appear to be made for each other, I was really looking forward to this title. I’m new to the series having missed Runaway: A Road Adventure on the PC but I instantly noticed some visual similarities with the Broken Sword series and that’s always a good start. The graphics are bright and colourful and I really like the stylistic cartoon approach to the characters.

I live in hope that the DS stylus and touch-screen will one day work perfectly for this type of game and stop me yearning for a good old fashioned PC mouse. Using the stylus doesn’t exactly break the game but it does make the never-ending search for clues a needlessly fiddly experience. As you explore you will find yourself clicking on clues and accidentally zooming into them which is perfectly fine the first time round but imagine this happening time and again as you walk up and down the same area.

I understand that the creators were aiming for some light-hearted humour, and it may have something to do with a poor translation, but I didn’t find this game to be that funny. When it comes to subtle humour the Lucasarts games of the late eighties and early nineties are hard acts to follow and some say that good comedy is hard to achieve but I still expect more from this type of game.

I would like to see more point and click adventure games on the DS and I’m glad there are developers out there who feel the same and care enough about the genre to create titles such as this as despite its flaws it is a good start. The fact that the DS offers this style of adventure game alongside the wonderful Phoenix Wright series and Hotel Dusk: Room 215 is testament to the versatility of the system.

This genre remains underdeveloped on the DS so if you can’t do without a point and click adventure title then you should probably give this a shot but keep in mind that it’s some way off the standard of other adventure games. I have to say, especially if you’re looking for an adventure game and aren’t bothered about a particular style, I find it much easier to recommend Hotel Dusk and any of the Phoenix Wright titles which I mention above.

The third instalment in the series, Runaway: A Twist of Fate, is scheduled to be release at the end of this year. The graphics engine has been updated and the PC screenshots I’ve seen show a big improvement in that respect but it remains to be seen what the visuals will look like on the DS version. I hope the developers manage to tighten up the controls, which are fiddly in Dream of the Turtle, and focus more on substance as the style will take care of itself.

6/10

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