The 25th Ward: The Silver Case

This adventure returns gamers to a gritty murder mystery, but the convoluted plot and technical issues manage to ruin the game experience. If there's one thing that can be said for game producer Suda51, it's that his games are definitely unique -- his Grasshopper Manufacture studio has been the driving force for some dark and quirky titles, and The 25th Ward: The Silver Case is no exception. Being a sequel to the bizarre visual novel The Silver Case, The 25th Ward follows suit with a similar comic book-ish art design and surreal storytelling. There's a lot of dialogue to sort through, some with key story elements and some a little more than attitude and atmosphere. The problem is, you have to pay attention to all of it, or else you might miss one tiny, seemingly unimportant detail that pops up later as a vital bit of information. Making things more frustrating is that none of it seems to make much sense, even as the pieces of the story end up falling into place. It's a confusing mess that you almost feel forced to play through multiple times just to see if it makes any more sense a second or third time around.

While the confusing story is the most frustrating issue with The 25th Ward, it's far from the game's only problem. For starters, the game's art style isn't exactly pushing any boundaries visually. Put bluntly, it looks dated and bland. The gritty, noir setting has no life or personality. It's just plain boring. This is all exacerbated by poor controls that feel clunky and unresponsive. None of this actually breaks the game or makes it unplayable, but none of it really encourages you to play it, either. The game is essentially a mess from start to finish that, at its best moments, still leaves players scratching their heads and trying to sort everything out.