Another Code R: A Journey Into Lost Memories [OUT NOW]

WotanAnubis

Another Code: Two Memories, also known as Trace Memory in the US, was an early title for the Nintendo DS. It was a point-and-click adventure best known for using the handheld in inventive ways and for being pretty darn short.

The game's star was Ashley Mizuki Robins, a 14-year old teenager who was raised by her aunt after her mother was killed and her father disappeared. She came to the cheerfully named Blood Edward Island to reunite with her father and also happened to help out an amnesiac ghost in the process.

Another Code R: A Journey into Lost Memories is the upcoming sequel for the Wii and is set about two years later. Ashley again sets out to some place she's never heard of called Lake Juliet. There, she hopes to learn more about her mother and just what kind of research she was involved in before her murder.

English Trailer

The currently still rather sparse official page

Another Code R: A Journey Into Lost Memories is supposed to come out on June 26 in Europe. No release date for the US has been announced yet.

And now, some screenshots:

Impersonator

That last screenshot made me laugh

Anyway, I love the art style!

cj iwakura

I will be so cross if this doesn't get a US release.

Vegan

Trace Memory was a bit mediocre with the exception of some truly creative puzzle solutions, but Hotel Dusk was fantastic. I think they've learned a lot since, so hopefully this is up to that standard.

WotanAnubis

The game'll be out in a couple of days, so I figured I might as well bump this topic.

The IGN UK review is in, giving it an 8 out of 10.

Apparently, the game'll have a lot of Hotel Dusk-style talking, but also some of the inventive puzzles of the first Another Code/Trace Memory.

According to them, it'll be longer than the first (admittedly not hard to do) and the game'll be about 12 hours long - longer depending on how good you are at solving the puzzles.

Antihippy

Wait, IGN UK review, so there's gonna be a PAL version?

I was kinda looking forward to it once I get a Wii.

WotanAnubis

Antihippy wrote: »

Wait, IGN UK review, so there's gonna be a PAL version?

I was kinda looking forward to it once I get a Wii.

Uhm... yeah. In fact, it's only been announced for Europe so far (and it's supposed to come out this Friday, in fact). It hasn't even been announced for America yet.

Don't know about Australia, though.

Antihippy

Oh damn. Though there usually is an Australian release with EU releases I think.

Well, are there any import sites that import PAL?

Opium

cj iwakura wrote: »

I will be so cross if this doesn't get a US release.

Me too, especially since they don't even have to translate it from Japanese anymore now. Just take the UK code, print a boxart, ship it, and done.

Jam Warrior

IGN wrote:

Anyone who remembers being dazzled by Two Memories' astonishing print-press moment will likely thrill at the bewildering uses the Wii Remote is put to throughout Another Code: R.

This quote here just sold me the game. It truly was a phenomenal moment solving that one in the DS game.

The 'press the stamp on the top screen on to the paper on the bottom screen by closing the DS lid' puzzle. A puzzle which received larger exposure when Phantom Hourglass stole it :P

Lunker

EUROOOOOOOOOPE (shakes fist angrily)

First you get Little King Story early, and now you mock me with this game while it may not even make it to the U.S. What bizarre world do we live in where I'm actually jealous of the EU release schedule?

I liked Trace Memory, even though it was crazy short and fairly easy, but a few of the puzzles there really shined and made me even more intrigued with the DS—it was well-placed as a game so early in the DS's library life. I'm really interested to see if it fleshes out into a fuller game. It helps that the art style is really pretty.

Dangerous

I thought this was going to be for the DS. I am soooo sad right now.

WotanAnubis

So I picked this game up today. Haven't played it much and won't today because I won't have that much time, but enough to get a couple of first impressions.

The music is still awesome. Ashley is still pretty believable and likeable as a modern, moody teenager and it's obvious that she's a couple of years older than in the first game personality-wise without really going overboard with it. The graphics honestly didn't wow me at first, but seeing them in motion now they're decent to good.

Also, Ashley's dad is a dick.

Xagarath

Is it worth tracking down the first game first, or just getting this one?

WotanAnubis

Xagarath wrote: »

Is it worth tracking down the first game first, or just getting this one?

Can't say. I don't think you really need to have played the first one - this game gives you a brief summary of events in that brief game concerning Ashley and her parents, so you probably don't need to story-wise.

However, if you enjoy inventive (if really short) puzzle games that use the DS in a couple of clever ways, it might be worth it to see if you can get it on the cheap. But like I said, I don't it's necessary to enjoy this one.

Besides, this one's apparently longer. And easier to get. And has Hotel Dusk-style dialogue if that's your thing.

Lunker

Trace Memory / Another Code was decent enough at that particular moment in the DS's library, but I don't really think it's worth any more than spending $5 or $10 on nowadays. As an adventure game, it's crazy easy, and outside of two puzzles in particular they're pretty by the books (and at least one of the puzzles has been since replicated in several other DS games). If you enjoy reading short novels that have a few gameplay elements, though, it might be worth a few bucks. I finished it in maybe 5 hours in my first playthrough.

cj iwakura

First ignoring Fatal Frame, now this. :?

What'd we do to make Nintendo of America hate us?

WotanAnubis

cj iwakura wrote: »

What'd we do to make Nintendo of America hate us?

I guess you'd have to ask Reggie that. :P

Lenore03

Antihippy wrote: »

Oh damn. Though there usually is an Australian release with EU releases I think.

Well, are there any import sites that import PAL?

Here try this, it's a NZ site and I think they ship to Auzzie: http://www.mightyape.co.nz/product/Nintendo-Wii/Another-Code-R-A-Journey-into-Lost-Memories/2793178/

And this site ships to here so it should get to you. Cheaper by about thirty dollars and takes two weeks to ship standard post. http://www.game.co.uk/Wii/~r342124/Another-Code-R/?s=another%20code

Excited for this game etc etc.

Yea, and Fatal Frame getting a PAL release would be super Reggie make it happen!

Lenore03

It's weird having a double post nearly two weeks apart for a game that's barely been out that long.

Just finished chapter two. Here's my gripes, not too spoilery:

I know its early in the game but the memory review thing she does is super easy. Does me getting them correct actually have an effect on anything ingame?

I hate how you can't move on in the game' story unless you exhaust the question opportunities that arise during conversations. Whats the point of giving me the opportunity to click the choice if I can't untimately decide not to click it. You can actually leave the conversation and theyd be, "Hey havn't you got something else to say?" Just freaking give me all the infomation then, if Ashley has a question on her mind then she shouldnt wait for me to waggle the wiimote across the screen.

There was a puzzle in chapter two that gets you into a building. Poorly done. Really dissapointed.

And this isnt really a bid deal. But man is there words-words-words.

I like how there isnt really a tutorial. You sorta gotta just dick around with everything in the menus to figure out what to do. Though it's pretty obvious most of the time.

WotanAnubis

I think the end-of-chapter questions are simply there to remind you what happened, maybe clear up a couple of things, so you don't get lost and confused or just to make sure you were paying attention.

They're not really important. I think.

Lenore03

Damnit all. TAS strikes again.

Where's that Psyduck gif.

I managed to input the right code but I have no idea what the clues meant. Like none at all. It's gonna be torturing me for the rest of my years. Can't even remember what chapter I'm on my brain is so fried.

I guess I'm in the last quarter of the game. Home stretch ahoy!

WotanAnubis

Lenore03 wrote: »

I managed to input the right code but I have no idea what the clues meant. Like none at all. It's gonna be torturing me for the rest of my years.

Which one was it? Because I'm pretty sure I might be able to explain them all, if you really want to know.

Lenore03

Welp. Game completed.

Here's my short review. No spoilers:

The first half is kinda weak in terms of puzzles and motion control usage. It gets much better on both fronts in the last half. It's very words-words-words like I said before. Some of the puzzles are very creative and others just stumped me stone cold.