The most famous and acclaimed franchise in this genre would undoubtedly be the PC series Myst, with four games already out, those being Myst, Riven, Exile, and Revelation, with a fifth installment on the way, End of Ages. Trace Memory is in the same vein as this series, in that it is 100% story and puzzle driven, with little emphasis on fighting bad guys, staying alive, or going as fast as possible. This is a game for people who like to think, to solve, and to, on occasion, feel outsmarted. It is a lonely experience, and it is meant to be. You are thrown onto a strange island that you have never seen, and you are totally alone. You have your backpack, your camera, your DS (yeah, the character has a DS) and your wits. That’s it.

The main character, a young girl, has come to this island, where she knows that something not nice has been going on. Her father, a scientist and her aunt have disappeared, somewhere on this island, and she has set out to find them, and save them. She bravely comes to the island and is immediately set up against nearly impossible odds: a gate. Ok, doesn’t sound too impossible. But keep in mind, the gate’s locked, and rusty. It’s code activated, and you have to somehow crack it. Luckily for you, she’s one smart little chick, and you’re not too dumb either. Using hints, clues, and items found along the way, you have to solve problems to crack the code and venture further onto the island.

Graphically the game is very pretty. The top screen shows a slideshow of what you’re looking at, along the lines of the original Myst. The touch screen is where the action takes place. You can either use the directional pad to walk around, or drag the stylus wherever you want to go. It’s all done from a top-down view until you press the examine button at certain areas, at which point you’ll enter another slide show format, in which you can interact more intimately with your surroundings. You’ll be able to look closely at things, move levers, pick up objects, take snapshots with your camera (very useful for solving puzzles in areas where the clues are far away), or any other such thing.

As far as audio goes, as with any other DS impressions you see from us at the Café, I couldn’t hear much of it, as we had direct feed audio cables going to the camera, so you’ll have to watch our videos if you want to know how it sounds.

The demo ends when you manage to get yourself inside the gate, which could take a long time if you didn’t know what you were doing, or as short as 15 minutes if you did. Just as with other adventure-puzzlers, the game will last as long as it has to. For some, it could take months, for others, not much time at all. It all depends on how quickly you can solve puzzles.

E3 verdict: I’m certainly interested to know more about this game and the story behind it, and, me being the lover I am of the Myst franchise, and how similar this game is to that, I’ll be sure to check it out. If you need high-octane thrills and Jerry Bruckheimer action, you won’t get it here. If you like engrossing storylines and mind-bending puzzles, check this one out.

Carl DeNovio