Less than two years ago narrative driven games were something of a rarity in the west. While gamers in the east poured hundreds of hours into classic titles such as Clannad, The Nonary Games/Zero Time Dilemma and of course the totally brilliant Steins;Gate, over here these masterpieces of dedication, observation and decision making were virtually ignored. Luckily developer Chunsoft (those of Dragon Quest and The Portopia Serial Murder Case fame), may be on the verge of redressing the balance with 428: Shibuya Scramble. Originally developed for the Wii’s Japanese market in 2008, 428: Shibuya Scramble is a visual novel adventure game that tells the story of five main characters all living in Tokyo’s Shibuya ward. The characters stories unravel parallel to each other and they take place with no knowledge of each other. However, decisions you make in one characters story can impact on others both positively and negatively.
Of the five characters there are; the young and dedicated detective Kano who is trying to crack a case involving the kidnapping of Maria, the daughter of wealthy scientist Kenji Osawa. During a sting which includes using Osawa’s other daughter, Hitomi, as bait, street thug Achi wanders along and, thinking he’s helping Hitomi, runs off with her. Meanwhile freelance journo Minorikawa is tasked with putting a magazine together to stave off the publishing company’s financial ruin. Oh, and the fifth character, Tama, is forced to sell suspicious diet drinks on behalf of a local villain. All this while wearing a cat mascot outfit. Sounds crazy? It does. But it works.
During the course of 428: Shibuya Scramble you’ll read how these characters stories intertwine and unravel. And you’ll get a chance to direct their destiny’s by making multiple choice decisions at important moments. What makes 428: Shibuya Scramble truly stand out is its high production values and the seamless way it blends scrolling text, live action stills and video sequences to deliver an engaging and thought provoking adventure. The fact that you’ll be doing a lot of reading while playing 428: Shibuya Scramble is quickly forgotten as you immerse yourself in the lives of these complex and yet totally believable characters.
Depending on what decisions you make, different scenarios are opened up as the story develops which leads to new outcomes and endings. 428: Shibuya Scramble boasts huge replay value as the game comes with no less than 85 possible endings.
On occasions you’ll make the wrong decisions which will lead to a ‘Bad End.’ At that point you’ll jump back in time and try it again and again until you get it right. Excellent.
Visually, 428: Shibuya Scramble is a work of art. Chunsoft spent countless months taking thousands of high quality stills to truly immerse you in the story. Occasionally you’ll also have brief video scenes to emphasise important moments in the narrative. The developers also make great use of sound effects and music to complement the text and photo’s. While playing 428: Shibuya Scramble the only minor niggle we encountered where occasional moments when going back in time meant replaying long sequences over and over which, in some games, could be a grind. However, this wrinkle does little to detract from what is an extraordinary gaming experience. For anyone familiar with narrative driven games, 428: Shibuya Scramble is a must buy. For newcomers to the genre, there can be no better introduction. Go buy.
9 out of 10