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999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors
Publisher: Aksys Games
Developer: Chunsoft
Genre: Text Based Adventure
Release Date: November 16, 2010
Platform: Nintendo DS
ESRB: M - Mature
Reviewer: Lauren
The game with a full title that I can never remember - something about people
and doors, and did I mention it was rated M?! Alright, totally went into this
one with the lowest expectations but then I saw the user ratings and just had to
give it a try. What can I say with the overall outcome; easy, it was epically
awesome!
I wouldn't consider this a game so much, more like a point and click novel. The
premise of this game is quite dark for a DS game. You play as this character
Junpei who has been kidnapped along with 8 others and placed aboard a sinking
ship. It kind of reminded me of Saw a bit except with a much more anime feel, oh
and it didn't suck.
So back to the story; the goal is to make your way through the ship via numbered
doors to escape the ship with your life. There is a catch however; the game uses
math heavily. Each character within the game has a wristband with an allotted
number between 1 and 9. The only way to get through a numbered door is to use
the wristbands, that when the digits are added together, they must equal 9. For
example, if someone wanted to go through door 7, you could use 7+3+6 which
equals 16, and then you add 1+6 to get 7. It may sound complicated but its
really not. The cool thing about the wristbands though is if you don't follow
the directions of the game properly, the kidnapper has implanted in the
intestines of each character a bomb which will detonate via the wristband (which
can only be removed if you die or escape)
The best part of the game in my opinion is the whole 6 ending thing. What makes
it even better is that you need to correctly complete each ending to understand
the mystery of the whole story. What is even better is that you can not even get
the "true" ending until you complete all the others, which basically forces you
to play through multiple times. I thought I would have a huge problem with
playing the same thing over and over, but I was surprised that I ended up for
playing hours straight just to unlock more of the mystery. The game has a cool
feature that allows you to fast forward through sections already beaten if you
decide to play through the game multiple times.
In all the story is awesome and it was great to see a ds game full of gory
murders (with pictures and extremely detailed descriptions) and a dialogue
filled with f bombs, because you really don't see that too often on a handheld.
The compelling story also made up for the mediocre gameplay. The puzzles were
good and slightly difficult, but there were a bit too few, yet I don't think
that took away from the game whatsoever.
Final Verdict
Basically, I could not put this one down and recommend it to someone looking for
that niche game because this is definitely it.
Rating Breakdown
Gameplay: 9.50 out of 10
+ Off the wall and creepy escape the room puzzles that are
both horrifying and awesome
- Only complaint I could give is that there aren't enough
puzzles because of the heavy dialogue
Story: 10+ out of 10
+ One of the best stories I have ever come across in a
handheld full of interesting characters, murders, plot twists, etc.
+ Nice to see a rated M twist on a DS game
Graphics: 10 out of 10
+ Really enjoyed the anime art style.. and the gore
Audio: 10 out of 10
+ Music appropriate for the atmosphere of the game and often
got stuck in my head
Replay Value: 10 out 10
+ Probably the best aspect about this game - it makes you
urge to keep replaying to unlock the rest of the story
+ Also has an option to replay any puzzles aside from playing
through the story
Overall
9.90 out of 10
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