TGS 08: Fans of Hotel Dusk take note, Again is relevant to your interests

9:38 AM on 10.13.2008   |   Nick Chester

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Tecmo's upcoming Nintendo DS title, Again: Eye of Providence, follows the story of FBI special agent John Weaver. When he links the mysterious murder of his family to a string cases called the "Providence Murders," Weaver must must use his "past vision" ability to provide answers to unanswered questions and unravel the mystery. 

Developed by Cing, Again has a similar look and feel to developer Cing's previous title, Hotel Dusk. Utilizing both screens on the DS, the handheld is held open like a book, with one screen displaying a crime scene, and the other showing the same scene in the past. 

The game's producer Koichi Yamaguchi showed off a quick demo of the title at Tecmo's Tokyo Game Show party this weekend, and it gave us a pretty good idea of what to expect. In the demo, Yamaguchi used the d-pad to walk freely around a 3D crime scene, exploring the area. The "past" side of the screen displayed a stain on a carpet; tapping that area on the "present" screen triggered a "cut-scene" in the past, giving a clue as to what should be investigated next. Using this line of discovery, Yamaguchi was able to uncover details of a murder that had taken place.

Fans of adventure and mystery titles will likely find a place for Again in their collection; despite the fact that the DS is perfect for the genre, the market is starving for titles like this. But at this early stage, it's unclear how else Cing will use the past/present mechanic, or (more importantly, perhaps) if the narrative will be solid enough to support the gameplay.

Again: Eye of Providence is slated for release sometime in 2009.