McQueen and Dooley At Your Service!
Point-and-click games are quite rare to find these days. I remember playing the old X Files on the original PlayStation and I absolutely loved it. There wasn’t much gameplay but you really felt like you were in control of what was happening on the screen. Spooky Doorway have brought their already PC released point-and-click case solving game to the Nintendo Switch with The Darkside Detective. It’s very, very retro, quite short and to be fair, I’m not really sure how I feel about it on the whole, and I’ll explain why.
First thing is first, being 30 years old, I can appreciate the visuals that are in The Darkside Detective. The older generation will surely remember those games that were basically just pixels on the screen. It’s got a very 80’s and early 90’s look to it. There isn’t much detail. Dooley and McQueen don’t have faces particular. But I have to say that it works. I enjoyed the visuals and it was just nice to play a game that goes back to the days like that. The story in a nutshell bases around 6 different cases where you take on the role of Detective McQueen, alongside his sidekick Officer Dooley, where you have to solve the cases.
The main part of this game is the dialogue and the humor that goes along with it. There are parts of it where I had a little chuckle to myself, it’s that kind of humor that I’d probably use when talking to my mates. The case names alone are quite funny. Malice In Wonderland, Tome Alone and the Loch Mess are just three of the cases that you’ll be solving and I did laugh at the names. The written dialogue is definitely the best part of the game but if you don’t get the humor that it portrays, you’ll probably struggle with this.
With a point and click game, you know that there isn’t really going to be much gameplay to get your teeth stuck into. This isn’t a Final Fantasy, The Witcher or any game like that. For the majority of time you are just going to be reading and clicking. That’s just it. However, that doesn’t have to mean you can’t enjoy it, you can. The reason that I said at the beginning how I didn’t know how I quite felt about it was because of the content. I’m not sure that there is enough. The cases, 6 all together, takes roughly around 3 and a half hours to complete but there isn’t any scope or reason why you’d wanna play through them again.
The time you do get with the game however isn’t all bad in my opinion. Each case works through the same kind of thing. You have to travel through each room, talk to some people and eventually find the Darkside. Along the way you’ll be able to find and collect different items. When you have collected an item, its use isn’t usually too far in advance. Some items you’ll have to put together in order to make another item which is needed for something else in the case. It’s not really difficult and you get the hang of it, but maybe it’s just a little too repetitive?
All in all, The Darkside Detective isn’t a bad point and click title, I’m just not sure there is enough there to fully warrant me giving it a recommendation. I do hope that in the future weeks and months down the line, they add more cases to the game. Give this another 4 or 5 cases a least and it definitely would get a higher score from me.
