Ghost Trick is an adventure game for the DS brought to us by Shu Takumi, who is better known as the original creator of Capcom’s Ace Attorney series, otherwise known as one of the greatest video game series of all time.

Ghost Trick follows a young man named Sissel, who is murdered and turns into a ghost. As a ghost, you must navigate around various levels by quantum leaping your way from inanimate object to inanimate object before day breaks in an attempt to regain your lost memories and uncover the truth behind your murder.

In a nut shell, Ghost Trick plays out like a murder mystery game combined with the board game Mouse Trap.

Here are some typical scenarios in this game: Sissel needs to get from Point A to Point B, but as a ghost he can only possess certain objects on any given stage, so you jump onto a tennis ball and make it fall into a blender, then you turn on the blender, which causes the tennis ball to fly into the air and land on a storm drain, which eventually falls down and hits a broom. The broom falls over close enough so you can jump onto it and to your next destination.

The gameplay mechanics are really well done; as time goes on, each level presents newer and interesting scenarios for you to overcome, with each level being more interesting than the last.

Although not EVERY item can be possessed; no, that would be too easy. Instead, for some arbitrary reason only a select few items can be possessed. Some, such as “Open umbrella” and “Activate alarm,” can be used as neat little jumping-off points or distractions.

However, not all items have a function, as some are just there to throw you off and can be used as a stepping stone.

Throughout each level, you are either required to make your way to another area or to use your powers to prevent someone from dying, usually someone who knows something about what happened to you in the game. The main theme of the game isn’t so much murder mystery as it is conspiracy; the main point isn’t finding out WHO killed you but WHY you were killed.

And in true Capcom fashion, each individual character (with the possible exception of some of the police grunts) has their own unique traits, characteristics and outward appearances, making the phrase “colorful character” an understatement.

As you go along further and further in the game, the story picks up faster and faster with many twists and turns to keep you interested. Each major NPC has a role in the overall story in at least some small way, making it a real treat to see how everything wraps up in the end.

Another point in the game’s favor is its humor, another carry-over from the Ace Attorney series.

As serious as the story gets from time to time, there is no escaping this game’s funny aesthetic.

During puzzle sections, you have the option of listening to what your partners has to say at any given moment, which I usually wouldn’t recommend in this game as they tend to just tell you what to do next, but it’s almost worth it to read the funny dialogue.

As good as this game is, it does suffer from one big problem and that is this: the epic story and unique gameplay, although don’t really flow that well together. This happens all the time; for example, according to the game you can possess objects, but for the sake of the gameplay only a few. In the game, when a person dies, their spirit will sometimes be unconscious and therefore unable to communicate, and other times a dead person’s spirit will have amnesia. Throughout the story, you communicate with the souls of the dead, only sometimes they’ll have one of the aforementioned afflictions for the sake of the story.

The final ending in particular is guilty of this, with the last puzzle being easy with characters straight up telling you what to do and taking control of the actions during the final sequences of the chapter. Now I don’t mind linearity, especially in a game heavily story based, but others might find it anticlimactic. There are more plot holes here and there that arise from the story and gameplay trying to work together, but for the most part they don’t get in the way too much, and if you can set them aside and simply try to enjoy the game for what it is, it becomes a must-play for any adventure game fan.