Glass Rose

aka: Glass no Bara

Moby ID: 12668

PlayStation 2 version

An excellent whodunit of a lost forgotten genre.

The Good
So new, yet proving us that long-lost adventure genre still lives in the minds of the creators. And this time, a great detective/mystery adventure from one of the finest companies out there, Capcom. The game could easily be mistaken like it was made years ago, but this is not some cutting-edge top-budget game on the level of Onimusha 3 or Bio Hazard 4, instead, Capcom brought us what we would least expect from them, a mystery detective adventure, set up in the mansion some seventy years in the past, uncovering the leads to the real killer in a role of an outsider from the future. Yes, hard to believe, but this game is a mystery indeed, with no horror elements in it whatsoever, which is, I admit, kinda weird coming from Capcom. No zombies, no monsters, no demons... well, that last one may be a little undefined, it's a psychological thriller as the box says, but that's top. Game is very suspense and although very simplistic and old looking, it won't let go of you that easily. The mansion gives lots to explore, and pretty much anyone to suspect... only to make a few chilling twists near then end and prove you your speculations are far from the truth. It supports USB mouse which pretty much makes this game 3rd-person point 'n' click adventure (never could've thought I'd see my fav genre on a PlayStation 2, not from Capcom, anyway), but with gamepad it's just as easily navigable. It gives you very short learning curve so you'll get the hang of how to explore and how to chat in a shortwhile. Characters are full of mysteries, and beside the one frightening truth, you'll uncover a lot more secrets that are inside the locked hearts of this mansion's inhabitants, as well as of visitors. It'll keep you guessing and with stretched nerves right until the end, this is a great game that looks very much like Sierra's renowned Colonel's Bequest, only this time, even you may be the killer.

The Bad
Each time you visit certain room or floor you get prompted to know what you visited. That just takes one click away and is fine to see the first time through, but every time... it becomes a little annoying. Unless this is sort of idea of camouflaging the loading time, or Capcom's way to try and prolongue the game a little.

The Bottom Line
This Capcom's superb and addictive adventure game features:

an intriguing storyline putting you in the hotspot of the murder case that happened seventy years ago

very secretive and nicely depicted set of characters you'll question, observe, and suspect

detailed pre-rendered background with 3d character models and some nice extras never allowing you to loose the sight of your mouse cursor

a musical piece not varying too much and not counting more than five interlooping tracks depending on the place you're at, but adding greatly to the suspense of the atmosphere

pre-rendered cinematics are here and will appear every now and then, though you shouldn't expect anything on the level of Onimusha 3, but rather oldish yet stylish

the ability to read other character's mind and hence finding out their darkest secrets noone else knows about

quick-time events during some pre-rendered cinematics that may appeal to those who liked them in Shenmue saga

multiple endings depending upon your progress throughout the game and selection of dialogues

interesting way of conversation that may resemble to ancient text-parser games and yet bring nostalgia to some folks

by MAT (240988) on February 23, 2012

Back to Reviews