Here’s a weird one, this unusual new title is what you get mixing things like Saw, Lost and stuff like that into one amazing graphic adventure game with puzzles. Long LOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNGG dialogs and a big dose of mystery, intrigue and blood! Interested? C’mon in and read the full thing!

GRAPHICS:

Well it’s a graphic adventure, so basically we’ll find some static backgrounds with other static things on top of them and we go around touching said stuff to uncover NEW STUFF! So yeah, the graphic aspect of the game isn’t precisely it’s high point but anyway it’s neat it’s clean and it works. Every cutscene or dialog (that’s saying like…80% of the game) are nicely done in an anime fashion that goes really well with the game story. I mean the whole mysterious killer or slaver or whatever the hell the bad guy is (I won’t spoil it for you guys) looks really well rendered with this style. However we’ll be seeing a lot of static drawings with dialogs beneath them so, don’t expect much fluidity here. The one thing is that items that we found or use are fully rendered so we can spin them, zoom in, out and find out important details that’ll help us get on with the story or escape from a horrific death.

SCORE 7

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SOUND:

Well it’s happening a lot lately, the game usually takes sound as a requisite but don’t put THAT much attention to it. That is not the case in this game. 999 features a pretty solid soundtrack that will keep you on the edge of your seat while you try to solve the puzzles that decides if you continue to live or not. The voice acting is pretty neat too, although the bad guy sounds an awful lot like Jigsaw but well, what you gonna do, it fits I guess.  I think that sound may still be used in a bunch of other different ways to help solving some puzzles but well, I guess that’s just me. Another fair score for 999.

SCORE 7

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STORY:

Well here’s where we hit the jackpot, this game has one of the most inmersive and awesome stories ever told on the little DS. It’s basically like reading a mystery book that you actually have to read more than once just to actually figure out what the hell is going on. This is a really good value game since the first run will take you a … pretty long while. And after that you’ll have to replay it choosing some very specific dialogs and timed actions to unlock the other endings. There’s a total of 6 endings on the game and unlocking them is no easy feat, I’ll tell you that much. However you probably need to finish the game twice to actually get a grip on the story. If you are hooked at that point you’ll probably find the strength to finish it a third or even fourth time.

Well Akane no one knows why the hell are we here, so shut it.

SCORE 9

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GAMEPLAY:

I guess that there’s not much to say here. I mean it’s a graphic adventure, that in pc will translate as Point and click, so there’s not THAT much to actually say about gameplay. However I still found some flaws, first of all, the amount of reading you have to do simply gets in the way of playing. It feels more like a book with some activities to do on the side than an game with a good story. The stylus is not used to it’s full potential, and oh my god the tutorial reminders. I DON’T NEED TO KNOW HOW TO TURN A KEY EVERY FREAKING TIME I USE IT! I learned the first 1412414 times you explained to me! Other than that the game just works ok, but again at least in this aspect it’s not ground breaking.

SCORE 7

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OVERALL SCORE 7,5 (REALLY GREAT)

If you were looking for a mystery game or a graphic novel to keep you busy this holiday season I think that you’ll find 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors  a pretty good option. You’ll have a blast playing it if you can bear the humongous amount of text, and as an extra you’ll have to play it at least one more time to get the whole thing. So yeah! See you guys next week.

‘Till then

@Greenmousa, out