REVIEW: Chinatown Detective Agency (PC). Forget it, Jake
A good mystery is something everyone loves. It’s always fun following the clues to the end, whether it’s a bank heist or a murder of repute. Chinatown Detective Agency by General Interactive Co is an adventure point-and-click that tells a story of intrigue through the various missions given by mysterious clients.
Amira Darma is a strong ex-policewoman from Singapore, who wanted tangible results in her work in the not too distant future of 2039. She founded the Chinatown Detective Agency and became a private investigator to combat crime. By tapping into her contacts in law enforcement, as well as other interesting characters that you will meet along the journey, you can help her accomplish this.
Amira will be paid for every job she does, and bonuses for jobs that are done correctly. These funds will help keep your office afloat and pay for travel expenses or the acquisition of clues from your library contact. You can fail some missions, but the game will autosave at every end. However, you can manually save between each mission.
Voice acting is a great way to get into the drama. This helps make the characters memorable. It also gives the game an episodic feel that is based on a crime drama.
If you are able to make a lot of money from your investigation, you can expand your office or hire staff to assist. Although it will cost you more monthly, the immersive character building that it provides is well worth it. There are many story paths to choose from, but you need to pick one. This will determine the tone of your adventure. Each mission gives you two missions to complete before you have to make a decision. You’ll feel the need to explore everything that the game has to give you.
Chinatown Detective Agency is the worst offender in this area. You are notified upfront that the game will use your web browser and real search engine. This is because you’ll need to visit the internet to find the clues. You can even tab out of the game by using a dedicated button. However, this is somewhat immersion-breaking in practice and clunky as Steam may not recognize that the game is closed if your browser is still open.
