Ghost Trick's interesting premise and gameplay make for a fun, unusual and intriguing adventure.
Ghost Trick begins on a grim note: with the protagonist, Sissel, waking up just after dieing, now in an amnesiac state (typical occurrence upon becoming a ghost, apparently), and about to witness another murder take place with nothing to do anything but watch -- or so he thinks. Shortly after awakening, Sissel discovers his new "powers of the dead" that allow him to possess and manipulate inanimate objects. Known as "ghost tricks," he finds that he can use these powers to save the life of the woman about to be murdered, as well as the lives of others. He soon decides to use these new-found powers to aid him in restoring his lost memories, as well as uncover the cause behind the numerous strange events occurring this night. One slight problem, however: he only has until sunrise to achieve his objective. Once the sun rises, his ghostly state will cease to exist. Nothing like a bit of pressure, eh?
Luckily for Sissel, he's able to get plenty of help from the odd cast of characters who he meets, and subsequently saves, throughout. Take for example one Inspector Cabanela: A police detective who moves about with a bit of swagger and incorporates a bit of dance flair into his movements. Or perhaps a restaurant cook who's nose resembles a chicken drumstick and often sings about his job. That's only a couple of lighter examples, though, as they get crazier as you progress. And that's why they're so great: their strange nature makes them quite entertaining as it does interesting. They're interactions between each other and with Sissel are well written, making sure to work in some humor alongside the more serious stuff nicely.
Death becomes something of a theme in Ghost Trick. With how often it occurs, its almost like the Reaper himself is following Sissel everywhere he goes. Much to Sissel's benefit, however, he's able to overturn one's death with his ghostly powers. Specifically, he's able to travel back to four minutes before one's death and attempt to change their fate. It's here that the real fun starts.
The process begins by replaying the events in the four minutes prior to death, allowing you to get a good grasp on the situation and how to tackle it. From there, it's a simple matter of manipulating objects until you solve the puzzle. Sissel can move about by placing the DS stylus on him and dragging him toward another nearby object. His range of movement is limited, though, so using the items around you to make a path becomes a part of the puzzle. Each object has a different result when used. It's properties are displayed on the top screen alongside the hourglass timer when highlighted.
Saving a victim from demise isn't a terribly easy affair. Many times the solution will require you to manipulate objects just to move to a certain item that will solve the problem instantly, while other times it becomes a matter of patience and and careful planning to ensure that each element of the plan is executed at just the right moment. It's a surprisingly long and elaborate process for something that takes place in the span of four minutes. Trial-and-error becomes something of a commonality in many cases, therefore, as many of them become quite specific in regards to the order in which items are used. It can be maddening at times -- particularly when you've been at it for what feels like hours to no avail -- but at the same time there exists a constant fairness, for each mistake just assures you that you've almost got it. One such example that demonstrates this has Sissel having to make a teeter-totter of sorts to get a globe onto a sword so that it may act as a golf club of sorts to send a bottle of medication back toward its owner in order to save him. The exact order in which the necessary components need be "ghost tricked" isn't immediately obvious and thus forces a bit of experimentation to discern the answer. They're quite clever and are immensely satisfying to solve.
Averting death isn't the only activity, though. Between those instances, Sissel's powers are put to work in the present for investigation purposes. These sequences are mostly a "get from point A to point B" type affair since they're solely for triggering more story sequences. Getting to point B, however, proves quite entertaining. Since getting around is your only concern in these segments, puzzles present themselves more in a relaxed manner due to there not being any real urgency. Challenge, then, stems from how a path forward can be made. In these cases, that involves a lot of observation and eves-dropping on whatever conversations are going on to see if anyone drops any hints. Making one, however, tends to result in some humorous reactions from those around you as you start operating machinery and generally freaking them out, which is always fun. And unlike the other sequences, there isn't any sort of danger of failure present, which basically means you can sit back and just mess around for kicks if you so desire.
On the visual end, Ghost Trick looks great. Environments are all hand-drawn two-dimensional planes populated by fuax-three-dimensional characters. I say "fuax-three-dimenionsal" because while they move about like polygonal models and carry that slight sense of depth, they're still 2D in appearance. It's an interesting style to go with and complements the art direction nicely. Music is well composed, too, with a variety of catchy tracks that do a great job at emphasizing the tense nature of the many dire situations that crop up throughout with strong, fast moving compositions, as well as those that are calmer with more relaxed, upbeat tunes.
Variety doesn't contain much of a presence here. Saving lives and generally causing mayhem while conducting investigation is really all there is to Ghost Trick. It's a strong concept, however, and it carries itself well throughout the some 12-15 hours or so of gameplay. That the story remains constantly engaging helps, too, of course, especially since it makes up the majority of the game. And it's for precisely those reasons that Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective is such an incredible, enjoyable adventure game.