The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story
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The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story Trailers
The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story | Story & Gameplay Trailer
The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story | Announce Trailer
Critic Reviews for The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story
The Centennial Case aims to make poignant statements about life and death but succumbs to its poor medium choice and confusing logic.
The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story is a killer combination of murder mystery meets TV drama. While the puzzle-solving aspects tend to come with too much unnecessary guidance to help you along, it’s thoroughly enjoyable to be able to channel your inner Poirot and figure out the events of the crime before dramatically unveiling the murderer to all involved. What the game lacks in a challenge, it makes up for with its exciting plot that ticks all the classic whodunnit tropes that mystery drama fans love to see.
Not many games are built like The Centennial Case, and I enjoyed the ambition behind trying something different to tell a complex story and involve the player in piecing it together. It gave me the feeling of reading a great mystery novel, where your head is spinning with possibilities, but the interactivity and structure allow you to better understand the clues and what they all mean. Sometimes The Centennial Case stumbles, but it’s worth enduring for the wild ride it puts you on and the broader questions it poses about what’s ethical in the world of science.
In the history of gaming there have been experiences where everything about the game is fantastic except for the actual gameplay.
The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story is more like watching a campy murder-mystery drama than playing a video game, and what gameplay there is often kills the story's pace. While we enjoyed our time with it all the same, you'll have to ask yourself how interested you are in watching what amounts to a decent Japanese TV series with mediocre interactivity. For us, we won't let another FMV murder-mystery developed by Square Enix escape our notice again, though we certainly hope they rework how we uncover the culprits.
The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story is a great example of FMV done right, with a captivating mystery and engaging investigations throughout.
The Centennial Case A Shijima Story is a well-written and acted investigative game; with undoubted charm, but with not always optimal pacing management.
Review in Italian | Read full review
I thoroughly enjoyed The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story, but it’s definitely an oddity in today’s gaming landscape. It’s more “interactive film” than a video game, and you should definitely go into it with the mindset that it’s something that’s meant to be watched instead of played.
