The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story Reviews
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 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.
The Centennial Case tries to engage the player/viewer, but lacks the bite of a Telling Lies or the simple, but welcome interactivity with the scenarios of an Ace Attorney.
Review in Italian | Read full review
If you fancy yourself a bit of a budding sleuth and enjoy a good murder mystery, you’ll love The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story. The narrative is rich and twisting, and even as it jumps between time periods it always manages to keep you engaged. As long as you don’t mind a bit of ham and cheese (and stay away from the English dub), you’ll have a grand old time with this whodunnit.
The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story tells a thrilling tale of greed, family and death. It is beautifully shot and manages to achieve a level of quality rarely seen in the genre. The detective segments are great but are far too easy due to visual clues plastered throughout. While there are issues with the game, it is still an enjoyable experience that will keep you guessing throughout.
The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story is surprisingly addictive, which comes down to the well crafted narrative and a great cast of characters.
This high-budget FMV Japanese mystery adventure is an exceptional game in almost every way, but its tedious "gameplay" sections are its largest Achilles' heel.
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
The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story shows us a hundred years of the Shijima clan amidst mysteries, deaths and intrigues. It does so with an interesting story, which works well and which, albeit with some strange events, follows a coherent and understandable plot. Gameplay is simple, with some interesting ideas and a few too many hints that reduce the need to think and to guess what happened. Even with this limitation, it still remains a fun gaming experience, that will bring crime fans on a century-long journey for a considerable number of hours.
Review in Italian | Read full review
The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story is an exceptional grouping of semi-connected detective stories. Experiencing a whodunnit while marginally helping piece the mystery together was a great combination. While much of the investigation is much too guided, getting to watch the suspect react as you place down piece after piece of evidence is completely worth it. The game never works better than it does when you just get to sit back and enjoy watching the story unfold.
Years after releasing games from established franchises or western indies, Square Enix took a different direction with impressive new Japanese titles. The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story was a surprise. And a great one.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
The Centennial Case is a unique experiment, and a solid one at that, with a good central plot and a few missteps too, first of all its high price. A good choice for the visual novel fans.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Fans of mystery novels will enjoy trying to discover the murderer of each episode in this series of cases that make up The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story. Perhaps a little more interaction would be good in a game in which the moments of discovering the murderer shine with their own light, reminiscent of the trials of the Phoenix Wright saga.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
The Centennial Case is not the game you should look toward for gameplay, but rather for its story. With hours of live action footage as the bulk of its content, playing it feels like watching a mystery show while piecing the clues together. If you enjoy trying to figure out a mystery yourself as the story unfolds, this game’s approach should appeal to you.
It’s an utterly unique title that boasts astounding production values, supported by a cast of actors that do an incredible job of playing multiple characters. There are a few niggling issues with the various gameplay systems, but it’s an incredible experience that easily stands out as one of my favorites of the year.
Overall, The Centennial Case is probably not going to knock anybody's socks off, but it is at the very least an interesting mystery filled with enjoyable characters that is worth a few afternoons of an aspiring detective's time. It may not be up to the standards of a big budget theatrical production, but the actors feel competent and the musical score adds an air of drama that makes it hard not to get sucked in at times. If you find yourself with a craving for a relatively simple set of mysteries to walk through and solve, this is likely a game to keep your eye on for a rainy day.
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 an interactive film that proposes different cases to solve, all of them very well constructed. A different and very interesting proposal.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
In the history of gaming there have been experiences where everything about the game is fantastic except for the actual gameplay.
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.