A Shijima Story’ iOS Review – The Best Portable Version of an FMV Masterpiece – TouchArcade

Sq. Enix’s The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story () was an incredibly good time, but in addition one of many largest surprises from the writer in a very long time. From its displaying within the Japanese Nintendo Direct to getting confirmed for international launch and at last hitting consoles and PC, The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story has been fairly a journey. Since launching, the FMV mystery-adventure sport has gotten a number of notable updates bettering the general interface and controls, however I at all times puzzled how lengthy it will take to hit cellular. Lower than a yr after debuting for $49.99, The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story hit cellular every week in the past for $19.99 bringing the entire expertise to iOS and Android gadgets worldwide. Having performed The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story on PS5, Nintendo Change, Change Lite, PC, and Steam Deck earlier than, I’m very impressed with most issues in regards to the iOS model.

For my evaluate of The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story, I’m going to cowl why that is my favourite FMV sport of all time, the way it performs on each iPad and iPhone, evaluate the completely different variations briefly that can assist you discover what to purchase, and in addition what wants fixing in potential updates. I’ve stated this earlier than, however The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story feels just like the closest expertise to an interactive model of an enormous funds Netflix drama.

The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story has you sort out a number of murders going down over the span of a century in an FMV sport, and its manufacturing values are superlative. It’s in contrast to something I had performed earlier than, and I nonetheless take into consideration how the builders pulled this off throughout a pandemic as properly. As an FMV sport, you’ll spend a lot of the 14 or so hours runtime watching scenes play out, however the way in which the forged takes on completely different roles throughout completely different time intervals throughout the story is unbelievable.

Because the identify suggests, The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story focuses on the Shijimas, and begins with you taking over the function of thriller novelist Haruka Kagami assembly them. The story offers with murders, betrayal, household heirlooms, curses, and extra. On paper, I assumed I’d get uninterested in the identical forged all through, however that is the perfect showcase of the actors’ expertise with how they managed pulling off a number of roles and the way it all match completely into the overarching narrative and cause for this taking part in out. As a story-focused launch, I’d advocate shopping for or attempting this via the demo when you have a distant curiosity.

Barring watching the story progress via a video and making some choices, The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story has you placing collectively clues and mysteries to kind your speculation as Haruka Kagami. This entails scrolling via a timeline grid and putting hexagonal items accurately. It isn’t quite simple, however generally going via the motions of varied choices to seek out the answer you’ve already discovered may get tiring. This part performs out like a mix of a primary matching sport as you discover the proper patterns on the items. The answer section comes after this the place you employ your speculation to attempt to unravel the issue.

As a smaller forged than I anticipated, The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story does so much with its expertise. FMV video games reside and die by their appearing and manufacturing for the movies, and I’m but to see one ship on immersion like The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story did since I performed it final yr. Barring Nanami Sakuraba who performs the protagonist Haruka, Mansaku Ikeuchi is well my favourite of the forged. The unique actors spoke in Japanese, however there may be an elective English voice observe. I used to be happy to see the choice, however the English dub right here ought to’ve been higher. I caught to Japanese for my playthroughs throughout all platforms after testing out the English choice for a number of hours.

Hayashi Yuuki’s rating for The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story is superb. The completely different variations of particular songs that play primarily based on the period in-game are glorious. Your entire soundtrack is nice, and I’m glad Sq. Enix lastly added it to streaming companies worldwide when the cellular model of the sport was launched. The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story was a spotlight of 2022 not only for its story and actors, but in addition its music which I proceed listening to outdoors the sport.

Visually, The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story seems to be beautiful. The encoding achieved for the movies isn’t excellent, but it surely seems to be nice on my iPad Professional (2020) mannequin virtually on a regular basis. There are some situations the place I’d have most popular increased decision movies although. As a sport designed for 16:9 shows, The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story does have black bars with paintings to replenish the display screen relying in your system. There’s seemingly no solution to zoom in or change the paintings utilized in these elements. There’s an choice to alter the standard of the 3D gameplay parts which apply to the hypotheses.

When it debuted on PC and consoles final yr, I wasn’t a fan of the controls. The cursor motion was too gradual even on PS5, and it simply felt sluggish on Change in elements. It was additionally a bit annoying to undergo the Reasoning Part with choosing up hexagons and putting them on the grid. A post-launch patch dramatically improved how I felt in regards to the controls, and I nonetheless hoped to see contact help added on Change. It by no means arrived. On iPad and iPhone, The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story performs nice, however I want it ran at the next body charge in these elements. Granted, I don’t have the most recent gadgets, however I might’ve favored a efficiency mode for the Reasoning Part at the very least. The controls throughout the precise FMV sequences are excellent on a touchscreen.

I used to be inquisitive about how The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story would deal with the set up measurement on cellular given it’s over 15GB even on Change. On iOS, you want to obtain an extra 1.53GB in-game simply to begin the prologue after the preliminary App Retailer model is put in. Past that, the remaining chapters might be downloaded on demand if you attain them in-game or from the title display screen. The full remaining obtain measurement is 13.68GB for the complete sport.

My points with The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story on iOS particularly are the dearth of iCloud save syncing, no controller help (minor problem), and a few interface components not being excessive decision. Having 4K video help for the in-game FMV sequences will not be possible given the file measurement of these movies on PC and PS5, however Sq. Enix ought to’ve made certain the sport’s interface seems to be crisp on all gadgets. Controller help isn’t wanted, however I don’t get why they didn’t go away it in since this sport is out there on consoles with controller help already. The dearth of iCloud sync is annoying. It will’ve been nice to play this like watching one thing on Netflix by resuming throughout gadgets. I’m happy that The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story doesn’t have on-line DRM for launching the sport like Sq. Enix’s Voice of Playing cards trilogy on cellular.

The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story – PS5, Change, Steam Deck, PC, and iOS in contrast

One of the best ways to expertise The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story proper now’s on a 4K show on PS5. it has the perfect visuals, DualSense options, and extra. The PC model with the 4K DLC pack is a detailed second, however the PC model has no Steam Cloud help in its present state. Following these two, I’d go along with a more moderen iPad as the easiest way to expertise The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story on the go. It has nice visuals and performs brilliantly. It isn’t as intuitive on a smaller display screen so I might go iPad over iPhone except you’ve an iPhone 14 Plus or related sized display screen. The Change model has the slowest loading, some efficiency points, and the bottom high quality for the movies in comparison with different platforms. Steam Deck can supply a greater expertise due to 1080p movies downsampled on the system, however the display screen isn’t pretty much as good as an OLED Change or any current iOS system I’ve entry to.

My suggestions, assuming you’ve entry to the programs, are PS5 for those who don’t care about portability and iPad if you need the perfect moveable expertise. You possibly can check out the free demo for The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story on PS5, PS4, Change, or a Home windows PC proper now to get an thought of the way it seems to be and controls in your platform of selection.

Whereas I hope it will get a demo sooner or later on cellular like on different platforms, The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story is a gem of an FMV sport, and certainly one of my favourite Sq. Enix video games in over a decade. The story is unbelievable and the actors have been superb throughout the board. All of this was elevated by its magnificent soundtrack. Having hit cellular with all updates included and controls properly, The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story on iOS is the perfect moveable model of the sport. My favourite model remains to be the PS5 launch, however I’m very happy with how The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story turned out in its cellular debut. Hopefully the few points I’ve might be sorted in updates.