Bloody murder: The 25th Ward: The Silver Case review | Technobubble
Playing “The 25th Ward: The Silver Case” is akin to opening a time capsule.
There’s the decidedly old-school feel of its visual novel looks and mechanics, of course. But it also showcases the raw and rough stylings of a younger Goichi Suda, who’s more commonly known to the world as Suda 51 of developer Grasshopper Manufacture.
The mastermind behind No More Heroes, Suda penned one of the game’s three scenarios. The guy’s unmistakable style is definitely present in “Correctness,” a scenario that oozes Suda’s trademark rough-and-tumble bravado and helter-skelter dialogue. This includes unapologetically bloody scenes as well as sandpaper-rough language that’ll make a schoolmarm bring out the wooden ruler post-haste.
On one hand, The Silver Case benefits from it. The game has a certain irreverent and unstructured rhythm that makes it feel unique when compared to other video game offerings. Let’s just say that you’re not going to play too many games like this.
Then again, while Suda’s punk-inspired style works well in the free-flowing No More Heroes, it admittedly feels a bit too coarse, perhaps even overindulgent in the more procedural Silver Case. It kind of reminds me of the work some of my students turned in when I taught a journalism class at my university. You can see glimmers of the genius there but the work is definitely rough around the edges. It's the kind of writing that’ll make folks in the journalism business go, “the guy shows promise but he definitely needs an editor.”
I don’t know if it’s a matter of things getting lost in translation. The dialogue, however, has a certain lack of maturity to it, not just from a tone standpoint but structurally as well. Personally, I rarely do pointed critiques of the writing when I’m reviewing games but the dialogue is such a big part of this game that it’s hard not to.
Oftentimes, it’s had to take characters seriously given how they act more like caricatures than actual people. You’ve got folks like a potty-mouthed superior who’s supposed to be edgy but sounds more like a tryhard edgelord who could benefit from meditating in the Himalayas. Then you’ve got her seemingly unmotivated subordinate who just spouts weird nonsense at times.
It’s a bit of a shame as little issues like this distract from the more solid parts of the narrative, which includes some pretty interesting scenarios and characters. The 25th Ward certainly has its share of interesting characters, each with their own motivations and quirks in terms of how they respond to the expectations and pressures that their world imposes on them.
The Silver Case’s scenarios are definitely more gray than black-and-white, and it’s hard to figure out who’s good or bad, primarily because everyone has both good and bad in them. It’s like stumbling into an imperfect world filled with even more imperfect people.
At the same time, that imperfection extends to several aspects of the game as well. The user interface, for example, feels archaic and cumbersome. I could see it working well on phones but it feels mightily clunky on a gamepad. The conversation mechanics also feel a bit laborious. More often than not, you’ll find yourself clicking things more as a chore than an engaging interaction. The result is an experience that feels more by the numbers, as opposed to something that’s intellectually stimulating.
Now to be fair, this review probably sounds more negative than my actual experience with the game. The Silver Case definitely has strong points, too. Its look has a certain artistic dichotomy to it that meshes a dirty pop style with a simple, almost antiseptic 3D style. Its various twists and turns will also leave folks curious about how everything unfolds. It’s just that the game has so much promise and I feel it gets sabotaged by some mechanical hiccups as well as odd writing choices that drag you out of the game’s immersion far too often to my liking. These include ill-conceived jokes, sometimes sexual ones, that miss the mark at best and can feel highly inappropriate at worst.
All that being said, as helter-skelter as the game can be there will be folks who will love The 25th Ward. I mean, I personally tuned out of Evangelion toward the end but there are folks who love that series’ confusing and, at times, disturbing style. If you love games with an aesthetic and plot akin to an M.C. Escher lithograph, The 25th Ward: The Silver Case will be right up your alley. Or inverted stairs.
- Rating: 6 out of 10
- Cost: $29.99, PS4 (reviewed)
- http://nisamerica.com/games/the-25th-ward/
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