AESTHETIC OVERVIEW - Ghost Trick

Ghost Trick is a game developed by Capcom, originally for the Nintendo DS, but it has been ported to mobile devices.

In it, you play as a man who has apparently been murdered. You don't actually know how or anything, because you are suffering from some laser-guided amnesia. Still, you want to solve the mystery behind your own death. Unfortunately, your first / only lead quickly ends up murdered, which kicks off the plot of the game.

In terms of gameplay, your character has the ability to manipulate objects in a minor fashion (these actions are known as "tricks"). But this is nothing in comparison to his rather impressive ability to rewind time to exactly four minutes before a person's death in order to save their fate.

The first thing I want to note about this game is its portrait art and the strong colours involved. Like, they have a pretty warm and varied colour palette and they stick with it through the whole game. Here are some portraits as examples.
 


 The colours are harsh against each other and also contrast heavily with the shading that is the same colour as the bold lines. Plus, because the shadows are so sharp and dark, it makes the portraits have something reminiscent of dramatic lighting. And, hey, guess what? It's a crime-solving game. Of course some dramatic lighting fits into the picture!

Some of the bold colours are so bright that they're almost neon, but they have the outlines to balance it out. This prevents it from hurting too much if you look at them for too long, and it gives your eyes somewhere to ground themselves.

In terms of general stylization, they're sort of cartoony and their hair can get kind of outrageous, but it's not too distracting, in my opinion. The people still look human with reasonable proportions, so the stylization isn't as hardcore as it could be.

Anyway, getting too real would kind of distract from the fact that you're a literal ghost with the ability to rewind time. Like, sometimes the game can get pretty serious, but it's important to remember that the premise doesn't exactly lend itself to "100% realism" very well.

I really like the portraits for this game. They're unique and fit the mood and their use of colours is pretty great.

Another thing to note is that the animations are buttery smooth and dripping with personality. If you want an example of character acting in animation then, well, here it is!

He's just full of personality as he tosses that stopwatch. This character also dances down the stairs; he's great and super fun to watch.  

Still, because the animations are so smooth, sometimes they don't feel as sharp as they could be and end up a little sluggish. But then again, this may have to do with the time-based nature of the game, where you need to do things as certain things are happening for puzzles. Animations that are too snappy or action that's too fast could make the game a frustrating and difficult experience.

I still really like them though.

 Anyway, in conclusion, I like the way that this game looks!  It's got an interesting premise, and the style is pretty great. On top of that, every environment is designed incredibly well so that it fits in with the gameplay. I'd definitely recommend checking out the game, even if the gameplay isn't for everyone. It's got a free demo on iTunes, so what are you waiting for?

 (sorry for the short blog post! I'd go over more, but today was super busy for me! Also I know this doesn't have to do with visual aesthetic, but this game's got a pretty rockin' soundtrack too!)