Everybody seems to immediately pin Jake Hunter as a Phoenix Wright rip-off,but its a disservice to both games.
Hard Boiled
Jake Hunter relies heavily on story and narrative, which is why it's so frustrating that the writing is so bad. It's stiff and fails to breathe any life into the characters that inhabit its dark and gritty world. Some of the dialogue reads as if it was ripped right out of a copy of How To Write Noir For Dummies. The cut scenes also fail to impress, with sparse animations and stilted presentation.
The game doesn't fare any better when it comes to actual gameplay. You spend your entire experience navigating menus-even action scenes are resolved through static menus. Imagine getting into a fight and having to choose your fighting moves from a list; this really robs the game of any sort of impact. The puzzle-solving and clue gathering elements are also poorly handled-unlike other adventure games, you never have to actually tap around an environment for clues. And while there are some "puzzles" scattered around, most of them barely qualify for that term. Worst yet, there is no penalty for getting something wrong, so rather than actually use your brain, you can just brute force your way through with random guessing.
Over Easy
In fact, it's tempting to just call Jake Hunter a picture book with a couple of easy-peasy quizzes tossed in for variety's sake. It's an overly linear adventure game that doesn't offer much of a challenge; if, for some reason, you ever get lost, which is nearly impossible, all you have to do is hit the L button and you'll be transported to a "Smoking" screen where Jake lights a cigarette and fills you in on what you're up to.
The worst part is the Jake Hunter had a lot of potential. The noir setting and the campy art style was a solid foundation and done right, the game could have been a great homage to the old school adventure genre while also providing DS owners with an interesting gaming experience. Instead, Jake Hunter: Detective Chronicles fails to deliver on all counts; it's enough to make you want to scream out "Objection!"
Overall
The Good: Noir theme and art style are interesting.
The Bad: The writing is dull and clich?d; super boring menu-based interface doesn't help.