I’ll be quite frank and honest with you, I’ve been underwhelmed by the Nintendo Switch’s design, as it feels more like a glorified and prettier Wii U gamepad, with the awkward thumbsticks from the Wii U still intact, than it does a normal gaming system when it comes to controls and such. While I loved games like Wolfenstein for the Switch, I’m not sure I could play Wolfenstein without the use of the dock and an external controller. In the end, there are a lot of design flaws and issues with the Switch hardware, so it’s not my ‘go-to’ when it comes to gaming.
That perceived meanness aside, there’s nothing quite like playing a point and click game on the Nintendo Switch. It’s the perfect system choice for such a genre, as the touchscreen/controls actually work quite well for it. I wish they would release LucasArts games on the system. I would buy those things up lickity-split. One can dream, right? *Sigh*
While I wait for that dream to happen, Detective Gallo is the most recent game we’ve played in the point and click genre for the Switch system from indie developer Footprints Games, and it works just as well as you would think. It uses the power of the touchscreen brilliantly while giving the option to move the selection tool around via the thumbstick, just in case you want to be a ‘mouse’ traditionalist. It’s quite simple in its design, while at the same time showing how much good thought was put into the design as it was put together. We’ll get into more of that aspect in a bit, but you should know they did a great job on it.
Let’s dig right into it, shall we?
The story of the game starts with an introduction to our grumpy feathered detective that has been ground down from the brutality of society he flies within on a day-to-day basis. While waiting for his next case, he gets a call from a rich man, who has had his plants, beings he cherishes more than other ‘actual’ living/breathing/talking things, killed by someone with potential vengeance on their mind. Reluctant to take the case, Gallo accepts the mystery when a gigantic pile of money is offered to him. From that point on, he’s on the case to solve the mystery of the dead plants, put the rich man’s mind at ease, and figure out what the heck is going on that led up to this tragedy.
Now, having had my teeth cut on PC gaming in the late 80s/90s, where LucasArts gave birth to Grim Fandango’s wacky afterlife set up, and hamsters in the microwave from Maniac Mansion, seeing a sassy bird trying to find out who murdered a man’s plants isn’t too far-fetched for me to enjoy. In fact, it just re-activates my love for the genre and reminds me how wacky/creative/unpredictable it is at times. The story of the game is outlandishly fun and it deserves a bit of love because most video game stories these days are throwaways at best, unless you’re a Tomb Raider or Horizon Zero Dawn. Anyway, the story does a good job of keeping the player in the dark until revelations happen through progression, as well as engaged through comedy and characters. Keeping the player on the edge of their seat with difficult puzzles and essentially putting them through a true mystery that could go a number of ways is what makes this game fun. I would imagine that a lot of love and time was spent on outlining how this mystery could go, and it seems like it was worth the complication.
The story also keeps the characters true to their roots. It’s a lost art to individualize characters in games because it’s easier to fall into tropes with them, and it’s even harder to keep those characters on track throughout the game. Footprints Games does a great job of making sure that everyone stays on track with the personality they were established at the beginning. For example, our main character is a bit of a jerk. He is a jerk from the beginning of the game until the end. He never breaks away from that with dialogue when it comes to interacting with other characters. Not with the victim, not with a candy selling bird that dotes on him, or anyone else for that matter — he is a jerk from the beginning of the game until the end. He’s drawn and written to be sassy and cynical, which supports the noir construction of the film, as well as supports the typical detective characteristic that was present during the noir boom of films in the 40s-50s. It’s all intricate and specifically styled, as well as catered and delivered. The developers were meticulous about how characters, like Gallo, should go, and they were consistent with them.
As for the actual gameplay, it’s just as good as what you want from a point and click game on the Nintendo Switch. While this started on the PC, as it should, the Switch does help the function and flow of the game. Like I mentioned above, the game takes advantage of the touchscreen capabilities of the system, where you can touch an option, then choose what you want to do with it. The controls are simplified and they don’t get in the way, nor do they feel like they’re slowing down gameplay. The latter is the most important because we’re all lazy gamers that want to stay in the moment rather than break away from it. If the controls get in the way of the process, then the moment will be broken, which will make the game seem like a lot more effort is needed to progress. If you have that issue on top of a large amount of difficulty and mystery, you no longer have a fun game — you have a chore, which is not a genre. Thankfully, Detective Gallo is not a chore.
The game takes care of you on the controls and does you a solid by almost deciding seamlessly on what you’re going to do with a particular object. For example, if you’re going to move a cardboard cactus in your office to see what’s behind it, you click on the object, and Gallo moves it for you instead of you clicking the LOOK > Cactus > Whatever. It is a simple click and find out what happens, which is brilliant for this day and age. What you do beyond that is your business, as you can observe other aspects of the cactus without needing to worry about other control moves, but the fact that there is an interactive element to the process without saying there should be, makes for an easier time with the game. That’s one particular element of the point and click genre that has improved over the years — understanding that the user really doesn’t want to click more than once or twice to make something happen. That’s one of the driving improvements behind the Remastering of Monkey Island some years ago, and it’s something that has been implemented and works within Detective Gallo. That doesn’t take anything away from the gameplay, it simply keeps the player focused on the mystery, and what they should be doing next. In short, that’s good gameplay design.
As for the mystery itself, the game is difficult and doesn’t give too much away. It will require you to explore and figure out this wacky mystery. It will require hours of sitting, choosing, repeating sometimes, and figuring out the next step in the game. It’s a slow burn with some fun payoff along the way, but it is difficult. You won’t be diving into this and getting it done in an hour or two, at least not without a walkthrough and some precision, or an incredibly large amount of brains, so prepare yourself. The devs did a fantastic job of making you work for it and making sure you got your money’s worth from the title. This is an old school design for the point and click genre. I’m not sure there wasn’t a LucasArts point and click game back in the day that wasn’t difficult, and don’t even get me started on Grim Fandango — that was the most difficult game of the LucasArts family, possible the point and click genre. The balance of difficulty and entertainment is what makes a point and click game good. Detective Gallo is pretty balanced in this arena, as it will throw you for a loop with difficulty, but balance it out with witty dialogue, great animation, and good acting. In other words, it’s entertaining, as you curse on the inside finding a way to progress. See? Balance!
Before I wrap up this review, let’s talk about the developer a bit. Footprints Games, an indie developer, put more effort into this game than some AAA developers do with their games. You can tell through the complicated mystery, the humorous side of the story that gives characters personality, the hand-drawn animation, and fun voice-overs with well-written dialogue. Footprints Games went above and beyond to make this title happen. They probably didn’t have a bazillion dollar budget to make Detective Gallo, but you couldn’t tell because of how well it ended up. It’s truly a gorgeous game from the sassy dialogue and cutscenes, to how absolutely complicated the story progression can be as you unravel it all. It’s a big game and it feels like a big game.
Overall, Detective Gallo is a great point and click game with little to dislike. It brings a solid story, some very likable and dislikable characters, and it does the point and click genre justice. The difficulty might be a bit too much for some, but the payoff is worth it.
