One Life Left - 2/24/11

Game |9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors
Platform |Nintendo DS
Rating | Mature

For those of you who read my column, you may have noticed an unsettling trend: I have only reviewed sequels or new additions of long-standing franchises. This deeply bothered me, as someone who advocates strongly for the independent/small-developer-based gaming community. I plan to change that with my formal review of 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors (or 999 for short.)
In my “Top Games of 2010” column I dubbed 999 as the best game of 2010. I still stand by that statement, and would like to add that it’s one of the best Nintendo DS games to be released. 999 tells the story of Junpei, a college student who finds himself on a sinking ship. After his escape from a locked room, he discovers eight other individuals (there’s the “9 persons” aspect) who have one thing in common: they are all wearing the same bizarre bracelet. Soon they discover they are a part of the “Nonary Game,” a “Saw”-style game in which the players must use logic and math to solve puzzles. Failure to follow the rules or if the nine hour time limit runs out results in a bomb that has been placed in their lower intestine exploding.
Some of the characters Junpei interacts with are June, his cute childhood friend, Snake, the blind, princely, levelheaded intellectual and Lotus, the token large-breasted woman. All of the characters have a specific number on their bracelets, and these numbers are used to find the digital root (a math theorem used in the game) that opens nine marked doors. Zero, the game’s mysterious antagonist, challenges the nine characters to find the door marked with a “9”in order to escape.
The gameplay itself is of a more classical point-and-click variety; you find yourself trapped in rooms and have to interact with the environment to solve puzzles to find the exit. These puzzles are fun and just difficult enough to keep the game challenging, but not frustrating enough that you need to go running to your laptop to look up a walkthrough.
The story is told through a lot of script and not much animation, but the sprites are very memorable as the dialogue fits each character’s personality perfectly. Honestly, the game is much more of a visual novel than anything else, so if you don’t like to read, you’re going to want to skip this one. However, I cannot remember the last time I played a game this well-written The game discusses subjects such as Chernobyl, the sinking of the Titanic and Ice-9, among various other crazy theories and historical events.
The game also has six different endings, so there is plenty of replay value. When players begin a new game, they can fast-forward through text they have already seen; decisions that have already been made by the player will be faded out so they don’t accidentally go down the same path again.
Of these six endings, only one of them is the “true” ending, and it is completely mind-blowing and unanticipated. It ties everything together, and then, just when you think the game is over, it throws yet another huge plot twist right before the credits roll.
999 is easily one of the best games on the market right now, and at a cool price of $35 (you can probably even get it cheaper used or online), there’s no reason you shouldn’t own a copy.
999 gets a perfect 10/10 and my highest recommendation.