Tech Blog

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While visiting Disney Interactive Studios to check out Toy Story 3 , I also had the opportunity to get some hands-on time with Wideload Games' latest creation, Disney Guilty Party .  If I had to take a guess on what the next offering would be from the studio that brought us the brain-eating Stubbs the Zombie and the animal kingdom political party game Hail to the Chimp , a Scooby-doo meets Zack and Wiki whodunit mystery party game would not have been on my list.  An odd combination sure, but the result was an entertaining, clever and addictive family-fun game that's sure to delight fans of classic board games such as Guess Who or Clue.

Disney Guilty Party is a light-hearted crime solving game that stars the Dickens family of detectives, each of whom represent archetypes inspired by detective lore.  There's your trench coat-sporting Sherlock Holmes-esque grandfather, the young, self-possessed Nancy Drew granddaughter, the child superhero-wannabe gumshoe, and the Murder She Wrote-like grandma.  The writing and dialogue in the game is superbly witty, providing that perfect Pixar balance of entertaining both children and adults alike.  The cutscenes are equally as amusing as you watch the eclectic cast of characters interact with suspects and each other.  While I only had a limited time to test the game out, the rich personality of the characters stuck with me long after the play session had expired.

The Dickens Detective Agency is out to bring a master criminal known as Mr. Valentine to justice.  As you progress through the game you'll travel to a variety of classic mystery fiction locations such as like a manor, a luxury cruise ship, or train station (reminds me of locales oft visited in Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego or Professor Layton ).

Inspecting the train suspects

Interrogating the butler

The game mechanics are quite intuitive, and if you've played a point-and-click adventure such as The Secret of Monkey Island or Zack and Wiki , you'll pick up the controls immediately.  In the game you'll move from area to area uncovering clues and interrogating suspects in an attempt to piece together the identity of the guilty party.  The accused eventually cough over a clue to the culprit's identity in one of four categories: hair, gender, weight and height.  The suspects are pretty amusing, ranging from your slender mustached butler, a plump bearded chef, and a wacky scientist.  In the introductory case I played, which took place in the manor, there were only a handful of suspects and the case was easily cracked, but a later mission on the luxury cruise ship had about twenty passengers to interview.

Supporting up to four-player competitive and co-operative play, Disney Guilty Party is intended as a social experience.  That's not to say you won't have fun playing single-player as I certainly did during my hands-on. The reason for the wide cast of characters is, I'm sure, to have a relatable character for everyone in the room who's playing the game.  Each player chooses their preferred detective and takes turns exploring the environment to gather clues and interrogate suspects.  When you draw out a clue from the individual you point your Wii Remote at the screen, which acts as a lie detector and shows whether the person is fibbing or not. Since all players in the game can see the screen at the same time you might wonder about others seeing your clues, but the developers have a neat little trick to prevent this from happening.  If you choose to, holding down the A button on the Wii Remote will have the lie detector register the opposite response on-screen.  So for instance, if the character is telling you the truth and you press the A button when you're detecting, it'll say they are lying.  When players have enough evidence, they can accuse their prime suspect and try to solve the case.

An interrogation mini-game

Interrogating a suspect immediately calls open a randomly selected, sometimes bizarre minigame.  There are approximately 50 minigames in total, ranging from bribing a witness by placing wads of cash in their hands, dusting a desk with a sweep of your Wii Remote in search of hidden clues, and a stare-down competition where you point your eyes at the screen and try to keep them fixated on a jittery suspect.  Prior to starting each mystery you can select a difficulty rating for each player which effects the challenge level of minigames.  I was told by a Wideload developer that a more difficult version of the staring contest exists where the suspect will cover their eyes, leaving you no choice but to honk their nose in attempt to reveal their eyes again.

Disney Interactive was so impressed with the game, it was said to be one of the reasons why they acquired Wideload Games last fall.  After spending time with the game I think Disney made a wise choice investing in this game and the developer.  It was charming and fun, and certainly a lot more interesting then the deluge of minigame compilations that seem to befall the Wii.  Feels like ages since I've played a game of Clue, or any good detective game really, perhaps when Disney Guilty Party comes out it'll fill that void nicely.

Look for Disney Guilty Party to release in Canada on July 27, 2010.