Sq. Enix’s The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story () was an incredibly good time, but additionally one of many greatest surprises from the writer in a very long time. From its exhibiting 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 recreation has gotten a couple of notable updates enhancing the general interface and controls, however I all the time puzzled how lengthy it might take to hit cellular. Lower than a 12 months 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 Swap, Swap Lite, PC, and Steam Deck earlier than, I’m very impressed with most issues concerning the iOS model.
For my evaluation of The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story, I’m going to cowl why that is my favourite FMV recreation of all time, the way it performs on each iPad and iPhone, examine the completely different variations briefly that will help 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 a giant finances Netflix drama.
The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story has you sort out a number of murders happening over the span of a century in an FMV recreation, and its manufacturing values are superlative. It’s not like 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 recreation, you’ll spend a lot of the 14 or so hours runtime watching scenes play out, however the best way the solid takes on completely different roles throughout completely different time intervals throughout the story is incredible.
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 solid all through, however that is the very best 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 enjoying out. As a story-focused launch, I’d suggest shopping for or attempting this by means of the demo when you have a distant curiosity.
Barring watching the story progress by means of a video and making some selections, The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story has you placing collectively clues and mysteries to type your speculation as Haruka Kagami. This entails scrolling by means of a timeline grid and putting hexagonal items accurately. It isn’t quite simple, however typically going by means of the motions of varied choices to search out the answer you’ve already found out would possibly get tiring. This part performs out like a mix of a primary matching recreation as you discover the right patterns on the items. The answer part comes after this the place you utilize your speculation to try to resolve the issue.
As a smaller solid than I anticipated, The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story does loads with its expertise. FMV video games stay 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 12 months. Barring Nanami Sakuraba who performs the protagonist Haruka, Mansaku Ikeuchi is well my favourite of the solid. The unique actors spoke in Japanese, however there’s an elective English voice monitor. 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 couple of hours.
Hayashi Yuuki’s rating for The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story is superb. The completely different variations of particular songs that play based mostly on the period in-game are glorious. The complete soundtrack is nice, and I’m glad Sq. Enix lastly added it to streaming providers 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 additionally its music which I proceed listening to exterior the sport.
Visually, The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story appears beautiful. The encoding carried out for the movies isn’t good, nevertheless it appears nice on my iPad Professional (2020) mannequin nearly on a regular basis. There are some cases the place I’d have most popular increased decision movies although. As a recreation designed for 16:9 shows, The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story does have black bars with art work to refill the display screen relying in your gadget. There may be seemingly no method to zoom in or change the art work utilized in these components. There may be an choice to alter the standard of the 3D gameplay parts which apply to the hypotheses.
When it debuted on PC and consoles final 12 months, I wasn’t a fan of the controls. The cursor motion was too gradual even on PS5, and it simply felt sluggish on Swap in components. It was additionally a bit annoying to undergo the Reasoning Section with choosing up hexagons and putting them on the grid. A post-launch patch dramatically improved how I felt concerning the controls, and I nonetheless hoped to see contact assist added on Swap. 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 fee in these components. Granted, I don’t have the most recent gadgets, however I might’ve favored a efficiency mode for the Reasoning Section at the least. The controls through the precise FMV sequences are good on a touchscreen.
I used to be interested by how The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story would deal with the set up measurement on cellular given it’s over 15GB even on Swap. On iOS, you should obtain a further 1.53GB in-game simply to start out the prologue after the preliminary App Retailer model is put in. Past that, the remaining chapters will be downloaded on demand whenever you attain them in-game or from the title display screen. The entire remaining obtain measurement is 13.68GB for the total recreation.
My points with The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story on iOS particularly are the dearth of iCloud save syncing, no controller assist (minor concern), and a few interface components not being excessive decision. Having 4K video assist for the in-game FMV sequences just isn’t possible given the file measurement of these movies on PC and PS5, however Sq. Enix ought to’ve made certain the sport’s interface appears crisp on all gadgets. Controller assist isn’t wanted, however I don’t get why they didn’t depart it in since this recreation is on the market on consoles with controller assist already. The dearth of iCloud sync is annoying. It could’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, Swap, 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 very best 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 assist in its present state. Following these two, I’d go along with a more recent 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 until you’ve got an iPhone 14 Plus or related sized display screen. The Swap 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 nearly as good as an OLED Swap or any latest iOS gadget I’ve entry to.
My suggestions, assuming you’ve got entry to the techniques, are PS5 if you happen to don’t care about portability and iPad in order for you the very best moveable expertise. You may check out the free demo for The Centennial Case: A Shijima Story on PS5, PS4, Swap, or a Home windows PC proper now to get an thought of the way it appears 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 recreation, and one in every of my favourite Sq. Enix video games in over a decade. The story is incredible and the actors had 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 very best moveable model of the sport. My favourite model continues 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 will be sorted in updates.
