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Games of the Decade #9/Blog a Day #22

Hello everyone, how are you?

This video game industry of ours is filled with many different types of games that provide different types of experiences. For this next game, we will be going back to 2010 once again and like before, that year was nothing short of amazing. I will say that this game is really heavy on the story, but it's a fantastic experience like no other out there. For game #9 we are going to look back into the aptly named DS cult classic Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors.

               Music in this game really adds to the overall atmosphere of this game ?

Not quite as intricate backstory: It was the year 2009 and I really hated that year. But you know what I didn't hate? Nintendo Power that's what. I initially learned of 999 through an issue of NP and I think they had about 3-5 pages worth of coverage of the game. I read more and more and I was immediately hooked on the concept and premise of the game. Fast forward to 2011 and I managed to find the game at a sale Gamestop had called Game Days Sale. It's on that sale where I stocked up on a number of PS3 games for the cheap with some birthday money I got. The game had a price of $19.99 so I took it with said PS3 games. Thing is that it was a price error and was actually supposed to be $24.99 but the employee let me have it for the cheaper price. Thank you very much. Question is, was the game any good?

The game follows Junpei, a college student, who along with 8 other people are abducted by the mysterious Zero. You and the other "participants" are forced to participate in the Nonary Game, a game that puts you in life-or-death situations that takes place onboard a sinking cruise ship. To escape, you must find the door with the number "9" on it. And that's all you are getting from me since talking more about the game will spoil something. Trust me, this game is really story heay and talking any more will give away story elements that are best kept secret.

    Some of the puzzles involve looking around rooms for any clues or tools to help you out

The game is both a mix of adventure and visual novel. In the adventure portion, you must look around a room to find a way to escape, like an escape room game. Other times you will be poking around a room for any clues that will help you solve a puzzle or finding items that might come in handy later on. There are some really clever puzzles in this game as well which sometimes involve looking at an object from a different perspective. The game makes really good use of the touch screen for these parts of the game as well. The other half of the game plays like a visual novel and this is where you'll get to experience the story and interact with characters. Trust me, there's a ton of dialogue to go through in this game.

The graphics on the DS aren't really the greatest by any means but in a game like this, graphics don't really matter much since it's mostly narrative. But for the most part, they looks alright for what they managed to do with the DS. The characters themselves look great though.The music itself does a great job with the theme of the game and gives you the feeling that something foreboding is going to happen at any time.

"But Captain N, where can I play this game?" Well hypothetical reader, I want to say on the DS, but thing is the game is old and has since been out of print. It costs aout $40 if you want it there. But you're in luck because the game was remade for both the PS4 and PS Vita but the Vita one is much more expensie now though. Those versions also have voice-acting, which the DS version didn't have. I haven't had a chance to pick either version up so can't comment on how the portions that relied on the touch controls of the DS are. I will say that if you can, get it on the DS since I feel that's the best way to experience the game. But if finding a copy at a decent price proves to be impossible, then the remakes are a good alternative and thyose are considered the definitive versions of the game. The images I used were from the PS4/PSVita versions of the game since it's kinda hard finding good images for DS games.

                        Numbers play a key role in the game as well as these bracelets

Final Thoughts: This game is just fantastic, I loved the story and themes the game had, it also has some science fiction elements too which is really great. The story has a good number of twists and turns that you don't see coming at all, it's really mysterious and thrilling and could rival even the best books of this type. The narrative and storytelling is just so good, they did an amazing job here. The setting of the game really works well and adds a sense of urgency and despair to the situation that looks really hopeless with no chance to escape. The puzzles are really well done, it gives you a sense of accomplishment when you solve one.

Outside the story, I really loved the characters. It's kinda rare that a game makes you care so much for the characters of the game you are playing but that's exactly what happened here. They are really well written characters, each with their own unique personality. As I played the game, I learned more about them and I really cared about what happened to the characters. You can tell they are all afraid and desperate to escape from this situation they didn't chose to be in. I wanted to make sure they got out alive.

The game was considered to be a huge risk to bring due to visual novels not being as popular in America, but in the end they did and it is the game that popularized visual novels in the west. In fact, the game sold much better in America than it did in Japan which is quite shocking if you think aout it. It's a really rare gem of a game, it had me hooked from the moment I started it up. It was so hard to put down because I was so engrossed into the story. Like I was so excited what turn the story would take that I would sometimes play into the late hours of the night trying to see if I could get one of the various endings of the game. I'm glad I took a chance on it and it's thanks to Nintendo Power for making me aware of the game and thanks to the Gamestop employee for knocking off $5 off the price of the game. I know the game is different, but definitely give it a go.

                                                   You'll find out soon enough...

So that's it for this one, number #8 coming soon. I'll see you then as soon as I escape this.