Skip to main content

Posts

Shenmue Review

Shenmue The grandfather of the Yakuza series. Platform: Dreamcast Developer: SEGA AM2 Publisher: SEGA Played by: Bradley The Mystery Cartridge verdict: Open the File — Recommended Do You Remember the Day the Snow Turned to Rain? Before there was Yakuza , there was Shenmue . Released for the SEGA Dreamcast in 1999 in Japan and 2000 elsewhere, Shenmue was an astonishingly ambitious game for its time. It gave players a living, explorable city, a day-and-night cycle, weather, NPC routines, arcade games, shops, jobs, collectibles, martial arts combat, and a mystery to investigate. Today, a game about wandering around a city, talking to people, investigating clues, getting into fights, and occasionally doing whatever the hell else you feel like doing sounds completely normal. In 1999? This was revolutionary. Shenmue essentially laid the groundwork for a style of game that would eventually become one of the most recognizable genres in gaming. And if you've played the Yakuza series...
Post a Comment
Read more
Recent posts

Doki Doki Literature Club Review

Doki Doki Literature Club Blood for the Blood God Platform: Android (It is also available on the Switch and elsewhere) Developer: Team Salvato Publisher: Team Salvato Played by: Bradley The Mystery Cartridge verdict: Open the File — Recommended Mannequin Warning: None Content Warnings: Suicide, self-harm, depression, anxiety, psychological horror, violence, death, gore, disturbing imagery, abuse, and other mature themes. This Isn't What You Think It Is At first, Doki Doki Literature Club looks like a cute visual novel about joining a high-school literature club, writing poems, and getting to know four girls. That's all we're going to say about that. If you enjoy games that don't just tell you a story but actively fuck with your perception of the game itself , you need to put Doki Doki Literature Club on your list. It begins innocently enough. Almost suspiciously innocently. The cheerful art, upbeat music, and characters give you every reason to believe you know...
Post a Comment
Read more

What Makes a Game a "Palette Cleanser"?

What Makes a Game a "Palette Cleanser"? There is a particular kind of game that we have come to appreciate at The Mystery Cartridge. It isn't necessarily the best game we've played that month. It may not have the biggest budget, the most impressive graphics, or a story that we're going to be thinking about five years from now. Sometimes, it's a game that we play because we need a break. After spending hours investigating a murder, navigating a psychological horror story, trying to determine which character is lying to us, or generally wondering whether the next room contains a clue or a horrifying surprise, sometimes we want to play something that asks us to do absolutely none of those things. We call those games palette cleansers . And no, we don't mean that the game is bad. Quite the opposite. A good palette cleanser can be exactly what we need. What Is a Palette Cleanser? The term comes from food. If you're eating several courses, something small an...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Biggest Problem With Mystery Games Might Actually Be Their Best Feature

The Biggest Problem With Mystery Games Might Actually Be Their Best Feature Mystery games have a problem. Once you solve the mystery, you've solved the mystery. That sounds obvious, but it's actually a pretty significant limitation. Take something like the Unsolved Case Files games. The whole point is to investigate a crime, examine the evidence, connect the dots, and eventually figure out whodunnit. The first time you play, there's nothing quite like it. You don't know the answer. Every piece of evidence matters. Every suspect is potentially guilty. You're looking for inconsistencies, trying to connect timelines, and occasionally accusing someone because "there is no way it could be this obvious." And then you solve it. Congratulations. You know who did it. Which means the next time you play, you're not really solving a mystery anymore. That's one reason mystery games have relatively low replayability compared with other types of games. A role-pl...
Post a Comment
Read more

Can a Video Game Actually Change the Way You Think?

 Can a Video Game Actually Change the Way You Think? There is a question that tends to come up whenever people start talking seriously about video games: Can a video game actually change the way you think? Not just make you laugh. Not just scare you. Not just give you something to do for twenty hours. Can a game actually change the way you look at people, decisions, morality, relationships, or even yourself? We think the answer is yes. And we're not talking about a game suddenly turning you into a completely different person. We're talking about something considerably more subtle, and potentially much more interesting. Sometimes, a game gives you a different way of looking at something you've encountered a hundred times before. Sometimes, it makes you uncomfortable. Sometimes, it forces you to make a decision when there isn't a good answer. And sometimes, hours after you've turned the console off, you're still thinking about what you did. That's when a game ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fell, Feral City Review

  Fell: Feral City Eight issues. One collection. One very important question: Is there ever going to be an ending? Format: Comic Collection / Trade Paperback Publisher: Image Comics Writer: Warren Ellis Artist: Ben Templesmith Collects: Fell #1–8 Published: 2007 (our copy was purchased around 2010-2012). Genre: Crime / Detective / Horror TMC Classification: Mystery Rating: NOPE Welcome to Feral City We like mysteries. We like detectives. We like weird shit. So when we picked up Fell: Feral City , a collection of the first eight issues of Warren Ellis and Ben Templesmith's Fell , it seemed like a pretty safe bet for The Mystery Cartridge (decades before the site was founded). Detective Richard Fell has been transferred to Snowtown, a nightmarish urban wasteland where crime, corruption, violence, and general human depravity seem to be the natural order of things. It's a detective comic. It's dark. It's weird. It's got Ben Templesmith's distinctive art. A...
Post a Comment
Read more

Night Trap Review

Night Trap: 25th Anniversary Edition The game Joe Lieberman told your parents about back in 1993. Platform: Nintendo Switch Genre: FMV / Interactive Movie / Strategy Developer: Digital Pictures Publisher: Screaming Villains Original Release: 1992 Players: 1 Time to Finish: About 30 minutes TMC Classification: Palette Cleanser Rating: Recommended — But Wait for a Sale The Game Joe Lieberman Told You About, Who Knew He Was Such a Nice Guy? There are video games that become famous because they're revolutionary. There are games that become famous because they're terrible. And then there is Night Trap , which became famous because a United States senator decided that this game was a threat to America's children. Yes. This is that game. If you grew up in a Nintendo household like we did, there's a pretty good chance you never played Night Trap when it originally came out. We certainly didn't. And honestly? That's probably for the best. Not because Night Trap...
Post a Comment
Read more

Death and Taxes Review

Death and Taxes Platform: Nintendo Switch Genre: Narrative / Puzzle / Adventure / Dark Comedy Developer: Placeholder Gameworks Publisher: Placeholder Gameworks Release: 2020 Players: 1 Time to Finish: A few hours, depending on how many endings you pursue TMC Classification: Mystery-ish Rating: Recommended - Open the Case Finally, a Game About Death and Taxes There are two things you can count on in life: death and taxes. And since Bradley is a tax expert, it was probably inevitable that Death and Taxes would eventually end up on The Mystery Cartridge. Unfortunately, the game doesn't let you prepare anyone's 1040. Instead, you play a junior Grim Reaper , sitting at a desk in an office and deciding who gets to die. Which, when you think about it, sounds like a pretty straightforward job. A list of names shows up. You look at the information. You decide who lives. You decide who dies. You stamp some paperwork. Go home. Repeat tomorrow. What could possibly go wrong? Well....
Post a Comment
Read more

Forensic M. E. Protocol Review

 Forensic M.E. Protocol Why did I put my roll of tape on top of the murder weapon? I hope no one asks... Platform: Nintendo Switch  Developer: K148 Game Studio Publisher: Jandusoft Genre: Simulation / Investigation / Mystery Review Code: Provided by the publisher Our Verdict: Open the case You're the Medical Examiner. Good Luck. First, a thank you to Jandusoft for providing The Mystery Cartridge with a review code for Forensic M.E. Protocol . Now, with that out of the way, let's talk about the hardest part of being a medical examiner: Apparently, you're supposed to already know how to be one. Forensic M.E. Protocol puts you in the role of a medical examiner investigating a series of deaths. Across several different types of incidents, you're tasked with examining the scene, identifying the deceased, determining how they died, figuring out what happened, and, when appropriate, determining who killed them. It sounds like exactly the sort of game that should be righ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Why Is the Elevator Always a Bad Idea?

Why Is the Elevator Always a Bad Idea? ...Or how do we know something is going to happen in the elevator? There are many things we have learned from playing video games. Don't trust the suspiciously friendly stranger. If there's a locked door, we'll eventually need to find the key (Yes, even in Mideel, if you know, you know). If someone tells you not to go into the basement, you should probably go into the basement. And if you walk into an elevator? Something is about to go horribly wrong. It doesn't matter what kind of game you're playing. Horror game? Definitely something terrible. Mystery game? Something suspicious. Action game? The elevator is going to break. Metal Gear Solid ? Guys in stealth camo are about to attack. Final Fantasy VII ? Rude's going to pop in and ask you to take him, and you, to the prison floor. And if you're playing Silent Hill ? Well... You'd better check the floor indicator. Because there may be a floor there now that absolutel...
Post a Comment
Read more