Chinatown Detective Agency

Though the occasional bug or out-of-place mechanic bogs down the experience, Chinatown Detective Agency delivers a fulfilling investigator fantasy with real-world sleuthing.

Those small - or big, depending upon your personal view - irritations aside, there's a lot to enjoy about Chinatown Detective Agency, and the story's just about worth the ride. Personally, I'm a little tired of the penchant for retro pixel art, but if you can make your peace with the other lightweight or frustrating mechanics, Chinatown Detective Agency introduces you to a memorable cast and takes you to some striking places. What a crime it is, then, that such a promising premise doesn't quite do enough with them.

Chinatown Detective Agency is a solid hardboiled detective adventure with a unique DIY approach to clue-solving-but it's most impressive as a cultural artefact.

Chinatown Detective Agency is a stylish cyberpunk detective game with a wonderful cast, and it has a cool real-world aspect to puzzle solving. But it does feel a bit like doing homework sometimes.

Chinatown Detective Agency does some things right, but where it fails, it falls hard.

General Interactive deserve applause for their unique approach to detective work in adventure games, but the central mechanic in Chinatown Detective Agency feels like it deserves to be in a more substantial game.

While not all the the offbeat spots in Chinatown Detective Agency can be written off as thematic, its intention may well be clear enough to win you over.

I played CDA so you didn’t have to. Well, actually, I played CDA because I thought it would be great but it turned out to be one of the most disappointing things I’ve ever played. I have no interest in booting up a second and third playthrough to trudge through the mire of the other storylines and don’t recommend you trudge through even one of them. Play something else.

Granting players a peek into futuristic Singapore and putting their research skills to the test, Chinatown Detective Agency stands out for its story and visuals, but less so for the detective work.

Chinatown Detective Agency is made in the image of classic adventure games and never aspires beyond that. Meeting it on its own terms, it’s an adequate cybernoir mystery with a compelling lead and colorful scenery. If you’re not into that already, this game probably won’t tickle your fancy very much.