Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors Game by ChunSoft/Aksys Games Reviewed by Philip "Pocket Squirrel" Wesley Save: battery (One save slot) Released: 2010 Works with: Nintendo DS systems ESRB Rated: M Rating Descriptions: Blood, Drug Reference, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence Quick Opinion: Own....... **************************************************************************** Opening Snide Remarks: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors is a part of the "Zero Escape" series. When the game came out it was not part of a series, but the sequel was released while this review was being written. The sequel: "Virtue's Last Reward" confirmed that this game should be called: "Zero Escape Volume 1: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors." Most people refer to the game as 999 since that is a little bit easier. The Zero Escape series is now a franchise of "Visual Novel" games. This genre is similar to the "adventure" genre in that it relies on a few puzzles and the story progresses by means of the players choices. There are a lot of these kinds of games on the Nintendo DS. The most prominent ones being the Phoenix Wright series, Professor Layton series, and games like Hotel Dusk. On the PC, the closest thing would be games like Myst. Now before you consider purchasing this game, I must address some of the content in it. Regardless of the gameplay and presentation of a title, the real enjoyment of a visual novel game is the story. Please keep in mind that this game is rated M and contains exactly what it says in the Rating Description. This would be considered a "HARD" M rating in that it contains as much profanity as an R rated movie and a lot of implied, described, and shown gore. The way this is handled is in a tense way. If you get easily disturbed by movies with grim settings, you should skip this game. Okay, now that I have that out of the way, how is the actual game? **************************************************************************** Gameplay Description: I hope you love reading and math. Because that is the kind of game that this is. Let me explain a little bit about the puzzles in this game. Some of them are pretty simple, but others require you to bust out your math skills. The basis of the title is a math trick called: "The Nonary Game." The Nonary Game is a simple trick in which you add up numbers from 1 to 9 in sets of three or more to create root numbers that equal a set number. Each number can be used only once to make that number. For this example, let us pretend that there are nine people and each one has a numbered card in their hand. The numbered cards must be inserted into a machine that needs to add up to a root number of six. 1 + 2 + 3 = 6 1 + 8 + 6 = 15(15 = 1 + 5) = 6 9 + 1 + 2 + 3 = 15(15 = 1 + 5) = 6 8 + 2 + 5 = 15(15 = 1 + 5) = 6 And so forth. Got it? That's The Nonary Game. If that confused you a little, think of a "Root Number" being the final single digit sum of a series of numbers. 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 + 8 + 9 = 45 Split 45 up since it has to be a single digit. Look. 45 becomes 4 + 5. 4 + 5 = 9. Do you get it now? In this game, the whole point of the story is to get through a series of numbered rooms with groups of people to search for a door with the number 9 on it. Once everyone gets to that door with a 9 on it, they can "escape" and go home. Pretty simple. Of course, there are a few stipulations. Only a set amount of people can go through a door at once and this creates the tension in the story. Or does it? The story begins inside of a locked cabin on a ship. The main character needs to figure out how to get out of that room. You investigate a room by tapping around on your surroundings to gather items that give you clues or are used for whatever puzzle will allow you to open the door to leave the room. A good example would be something like this. Click on a desk to lift up a secret panel to find a broken key half with a number 5 on it. Now click on a flower pot to find another numbered key half. By searching the room, you find a few more key halves. The key halves are numbered 3, 9, 4, and 7. On the door to escape the room, is a box with a number 9 engraved on it. Combine the 4 key part with the broken 5 key part to unlock the box. The 9 key is now stuck in the box. Inside the box is a keyhole with the number 3 written on it in what appears to be blood. Use the remaining key halves to unlock the door. Did you solve the puzzle? If you can solve that puzzle, you will have no problems with the puzzles in the game. The other parts of the game have to do with making choices in story areas and deciding what rooms to go through. When you finish the story, you can restart the game to make different choices and go through different rooms. In fact, you get to fast forward through dialogue you have already read. Making different choices leads to different endings as you look for a path to the "True Ending" of the game. This kind of game relies on the story being good. Depending on how you play the game, the story changes to reflect that. Is the story in this game good? It depends on how well you take "tense" stories. I happen to absolutely love those kinds of stories, so keep that in mind when you read this review. Liked: The story is a tense, sometimes gruesome, sometimes disturbing and full of lots of great dialogue. The puzzles are very clever and make sense. Hated: This is a very text heavy game and that can be a bit daunting for some people. Elements of the story are pretty gruesome. **************************************************************************** Graphics Description: Since this is a visual novel, the text has to be very readable. The text is easy to read and easy to see. The environments and the characters are made with sprites or pre-rendered models. There is fairly limited animation for the sprites and the pre-rendered models are similar to older PC games like Myst. Clicking around never becomes a "Pixel Hunt" like some graphic novels or adventure games. A "Pixel Hunt" refers to when an area you can click or touch is extremely small or hard to see in comparison to other items you can interact with inside of an Adventure game or Graphic Novel game. The animation and look of the characters adds personality to the odd cast of victims/survivors onboard the ship. A lot of the action in the game is provided by reading the text. He looked up from reading the sentence in the review. "A lot of the action in the game is provided by reading the text." He pondered for a moment on the implications of this weird twist in the narrative structure. His thoughts were cut short by the sound of footsteps running toward him. "What the Hell?" He shot to his feet and turned around to see her running toward him, holding some sort of heavy object. Madness flashed in her eyes as he stumbled backwards, falling over his chair, and narrowly avoiding the object she had swung at him. He landed on the ground and looked up into her eyes as she took one more swing at him with the object. Her light brown eyes looked empty, barely human any more and then he felt it. The blow caused his vision to blur almost instantly. The second blow must have been on his shoulder because he felt a sharp pain shoot through it. That was the last thing he felt as the world went white and nothing in the review seemed to matter anymore. The game is a lot better written than that previous paragraph. Liked: Everything is easy to read, easy to understand (mostly), and gives off a very good concept of the stakes in The Nonary Game. The description of violence feels much more real than the portrayal of violence. When you tap on an item, the outline of it turns white to note that it can be interacted with. When playing through for other endings, you can skip text variations that you have seen before by holding RIGHT and you can press UP to review previously stated text in case you missed something. Hated: Well, I would like more animation. A lot of the game is conveyed through text and people with no patience for this style of game would be turned off by that. **************************************************************************** Sound/Music Description: The best way to describe the music in the game is "heavy industrial techno" with some pretty deep drops. There are mixtures of other styles of music and it works well to convey the tension and fear of the characters as they go through the storyline. Sound effects are really well done too. Every footstep, blow, and extremely nasty squishing sound is appropriate and even squeamish in presentation. I have no complaints about the music other than that it is not exactly easy to acquire a soundtrack for it. I would have loved a sound test or something for this game. The music is foreboding, tragic, and even whimsical at times. Liked: The music is really tense and fits the game perfectly. Hated: This is a game that could benefit from some limited voice acting to just establish characters even further. **************************************************************************** Play Control/Game Design: Gameplay consists of tapping the screen or and reading. Occasionally solving math problems, and challenging puzzles. Like all good visual novel games, the real value in the game is in the story. This game delivers that in spades, but only if you are willing to go back through the game multiple times to get all of the endings. I really love how the game mixes science fiction elements with actual science to make for a very intelligent game. The "meta game" of this title is looking up and reading about the objects, history, books, and other items the game makes references to in order to fully understand the information presented to you. The text skipping option is good, but I do wish I did not have to resolve some of the puzzles just to get to a spot where I can make a slightly different text choice. The game also has a slightly perverted sense of humor in some of the text. It really earns the M rating due to the amount of cursing thrown around as well. Every character is pretty well written and their motivations make them really great characters. Liked: Great story with intelligent writing and easy to understand controls. Hated: I can not skip puzzles I have already done, but I suppose that is a bit of a minor annoyance. **************************************************************************** Improve: Voice acting, stepping up the animation, allowing a better way to branch toward the other endings, more endings, and so forth. RIYL: Myst, Phoenix Wright, movies like Saw, The Method, or Battle Royale. Do you love a good story with intense scenes in it? You will like this game if you have the patience to sit down, calm down, and work out the problems. **************************************************************************** Final Words: The answer to the previous puzzle was to combine the 9 and the 3 key laves. They add up to 12 and twelve can be read as "1 + 2," which equals 3 and opens the door. If you solved that puzzle really easily and want a good story, track down 999. This is the game and the story that you need. **************************************************************************** Score Gameplay: **** Graphics: **** Sound/Music: ***** Play Control/Game Design: **** Value: ***** Star Total: 66% Personal Opinion Merit: 25% Final Score: 91% Letter Grade: A ****************************************************************************