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999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors (Nintendo DS) Review
Review by 
8.82/10 from 18 user ratings
 
Imagine that you wake up in a strange room, dazed and confused, with no idea how you got there. The door is locked tight, and the only window is a small porthole, which subsequently bursts, and water starts pouring in. With no time to think, you go about searching the room desperately, hoping to find some way to escape. You start to find little clues, and objects that seem to serve some greater purpose, and begin to piece together a way out of the room. Finally, with the water rising higher and higher, you manage to unlock the door and escape...

...for now. But you have no idea where you are. And then you hear voices, and realize that you are not alone. You, and eight others, have been chosen to play a game. You have nine hours to find the door with a nine marked on it. The reward for winning is escape. The penalty for losing is death. Can you succeed?


Thus begins 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, and if it sounds like the start to another generic Saw movie, rest assured, it is not. In fact, 999 may have one of the most amazing storylines that I have ever experienced in a video game; the dialog often feels more like a (digital) novel than your typical video game dialog (which is no surprise, as it is penned by a famous Japanese graphic novelist) and it is chock full of detail. It takes some time and effort to get to the true ending (including required multiple playthroughs, more on this later) but when you do, everything comes together in such a brilliant manner that you can't help feeling like you have just experienced something truly unique and wonderful. But I won't spoil the story, other than to tell you that there is much more going on than a simple game of escape. Much, much more.

You play the game as Junpei, a college-aged young adult, waking up into the aforementioned situation. You quickly learn that you are stuck in the "nonary" game, thus named for its connection to the base nine system of numbers. You and the other eight players each have a bracelet that cannot be removed, with a number on it from one through nine, and each door you approach also has a number on it. The game takes this concept and runs with it; most everything in the game, whether the exploration/puzzles or the choice of paths, depends on the character's numbers and the base nine system.

The game itself is divided up into two general types of play. The first is what I will call the escape sequences, where you (and others) are locked into a set of rooms and must find objects and solve puzzles in order to progress. Despite the fact that the storyline involves a nine hour time limit to find the final door to escape, the game itself has no time limit, and you can explore these rooms at your own pace. Exploration takes place using point and click mechanics, very similar to something like Hotel Dusk. The puzzles themselves are generally pretty decent, and sometimes show some spurts of true inspiration, but they aren't really anything to write home about.


The second type of play is what I will call the dialog/choice sequences. These are where the bulk of the dialog happens and the story is progressed (although plenty of dialog/story is mixed into the escape sequences as well) and they generally don't involve much interaction besides clicking on the screen to see more dialog. This may sound somewhat dull, but the storyline in this game is amazing, and it constantly creates just enough mystery to keep you anticipating the next time you get a mere shred of information that can help bring about any more clarity. Again, I don't want to give away the story, but I will say that it builds off of certain real life events and experiments and occurrences and the depth of detail involved shows that the writer (writers?) did some research. I was often finding myself on wikipedia due to things brought up in the game, learning a lot about some really interesting stuff I would otherwise be ignorant on. See, it's not just compelling, it's educational!

These portions of the game also involve choices, generally in the form of a choice of which numbered door you will travel through. One rule of the game is that only three to five players can go through a door at once, and they can only go through a door if their combined digital root equals that number. What is a digital root, you ask? Well, I'll let the game explain that one. The end result of this system is that depending on which door you (as Junpei) choose to go through, you are naturally teamed up with different groups of people, because there are a limited number of options for who can go through which door.

There is another part of the game system that the game itself doesn't do the best job of explaining right away, but you should probably know before jumping in. Because of the choices you can make, there are multiple paths through the game with multiple endings, and the "true" ending is impossible to get your first time through. And to be frank (without giving too much away), pretty much every ending but the true ending is sort of abrupt and leaves you wanting. So you're going to want to experience the true ending, which means a minimum of playing through the game at least twice. That is twice if you know exactly which choices to make each time through (you need to get a very specific ending on one playthrough before you are even allowed to shoot for the true ending on a subsequent playthrough), and without Gamefaqs or something similar, you won't know which choices to make. In fact, it is very unlikely that you will stumble upon the true ending period without reading how to find it elsewhere, as the game itself does very little to point you in the right direction, and there are way too many paths that don't lead there to try to blindly stumble upon it. Anyhow, I honestly believe that the ideal way to play the game is to get all four of the initial endings before going for the true ending, as they all contain various pieces of information that come together to create a more coherent whole. This would mean playing through the entire game five times, and although it is a fairly short game, there are multiple paths through and the game system lets you speed through certain text you have already experienced, this still involves a bit of repetition. It would have been nice if there were a way to experience the full story without having to play through the entire game so many times.


I suppose I would say that this repetition (not required, but required to get the full story) is my only real complaint with the game. Some of the puzzles could have been a bit more thought-provoking as well, but they do the job. These minor complaints are over-ridden by what is, frankly, one of the greatest stories and presentations I have experienced in a video game. The characters are all developed fully, the writing is top-notch (including some very graphic descriptions of gore that made me more sick to my stomach than any game visuals ever have, rightly earning this game its M rating), and the game leads you on with just enough teases to keep you coming back wanting more.

I feel like the term "experience" is thrown around way too often in the video game world, but I'm going to use it now. This isn't just a game, it is an experience. And it is unlike anything else that you have ever experienced in interactive media. You can think of it as a game with a surprisingly great story, or a digital novel with interactive parts. Whatever the case, it is something that you don't want to miss. I'd say 999 resembles the family of games including Phoenix Wright, Professor Layton, and Hotel Dusk, but at the same time, it stands alone.

Check it out. Thank me later.

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 Excellent  9.5 / 10
12/31/10, 19:22   Edited:  10/23/12, 07:27
 
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Should've given it a 9

Posted by 
 on: 12/31/10, 19:34
I get the feeling that this game will get a lot of 9s from reviewers thinking they're being clever.

That is, if anyone is even playing it to review it. It seems grossly underplayed.

Posted by 
 on: 12/31/10, 19:39
Nintendo Power gave it a 9. Destructoid gave it a 10. This game is definitely a sleeper hit.

I've had my copy for a couple weeks now...no idea when I'm going to get around to it, but I'm very much looking forward to playing.

Posted by 
 on: 12/31/10, 20:07
Grisly gore? There isn't anyone with, like, their eyes ripped out or anything, right? I'm paranoid about that sort of thing, and it always seems to pop up where I least expect it.

Also, good review. Makes me want to try the game (although the play 2+ times sounds a little time-consuming). This is definitely near the top of my "to buy" list.

Posted by 
 on: 12/31/10, 20:08
@TriforceBun Well, I don't want to spoil too much, but um... it can get pretty gory. You don't actually see much in the visuals but the descriptions are often very, very detailed. Like, stomach turning detailed. I don't believe I've read anything like this in game text before. BUT... the game overall isn't really about gore. Again, don't want to spoil too much, but it's not like people are dropping like flies or anything. These are some very specific parts of the game, you're not constantly reading gory descriptions of things.

As for the multiple playthroughs, it's not really that time consuming. You're either doing new stuff (in which case it is new and interesting) or doing stuff you did before, in which case you already know what items you need and how to solve the puzzles. And reading dialog is a big part of what takes time, and you can zoom past any dialog you already did, so that saves a lot of time. My first playthrough took about 5-6 hours but subsequent playthroughs were much shorter (except the "true ending" one because it has some new puzzles and a ton of new dialog... so it took some time.)

Posted by 
 on: 12/31/10, 20:21   Edited:  12/31/10, 20:22
PS. You guys should get on this game ASAP! I'm going to be saddened if it doesn't at least place in our DS GOTY awards. Everyone I know who has played it loves it, but I don't think many people have played it yet...

Posted by 
 on: 12/31/10, 20:23
@TriforceBun
They leave a lot to the imagination, which is the best graphics around. They explain in explicit details what to imagine, which churns your stomach.

Posted by 
 on: 12/31/10, 20:24
I have this waiting for me, once I complete Ace Attorney. Can't wait!

Posted by 
 on: 12/31/10, 20:26
Okay, I can live with text; it's just visual stuff that gets me.

Posted by 
 on: 12/31/10, 20:46
The writing is really what sets this game apart. There are some decent puzzles in there, but the real "meat" of the game is the narrative and description of what's happening. And when Zero says the game gets detailed, he's not kidding. It goes beyond just describing what stuff looks like... you'll also get Junpei's inner thoughts, you'll get descriptions of the sounds, feels and even the smells of what the characters are experiencing. It's pretty in-depth.

But it's a fantastic experience, and definitely the best narrative I've experienced in a video game. Really, really well done.

Posted by 
 on: 01/01/11, 06:28
I really should play this game on my NINETENDO DS


BOOYAH

Posted by 
 on: 01/01/11, 06:48
@Secret_Tunnel
That actually took me a second. Nice!

Posted by 
 on: 01/01/11, 08:25
@GameDadGrant Woah... it's like the game came alive and Zero is here...

RIGHT NOW.

AND YOU'RE ALL IN MY GAME. 9 HOURS TO FIND THE DOOR MARKED 9, OR YOU ALL DIE.

BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA.

Posted by 
 on: 01/01/11, 09:24
Sounds intriguing. Given my huge backlog though, I don't think I'll get near this game anytime soon. But since I'm skipping the 3DS for at least 2 years and PSP2 for at least 4, I think I'll eventually get to it. I would still need to play Hotel Dusk first.

Posted by 
 on: 01/02/11, 09:14
I finally read your review. Good stuff. I actually kept myself as oblivious to the story until I played through it myself. Now I'm reading anything and everything I can about the game. Plus, maybe having two 999 threads on the first page will remind others that they need to check it out.

Posted by 
 on: 01/20/11, 21:22
BTW Aksys is having a 999 caption contest and the winner gets a free copy of the game.

Go for it!

Posted by 
 on: 01/24/11, 19:56
@Zero
The contest almost deserves its own thread... Anything that'll get more people playing this game, hm?

Posted by 
 on: 01/24/11, 20:04
@Zero

Is it open to Canadians?

Posted by 
 on: 01/24/11, 20:28
I dunno, it doesn't say anything about that.

Posted by 
 on: 01/24/11, 20:33
Just started playing this over the weekend, and got my first ending yesterday... I didn't see it coming at all. The writing is pretty good and I the characters are interesting... I need to see how the story and endings play out before I pass any kind of final judgment on it. My only beef with the game at large it that it doesn't let the text auto-advance until you're repeating something... I don't think the game would lose anything by allowing you to increase the default text speed.

In my first playthrough June brought up a bunch of stuff about glycerin crystallization, telepathic communication, ice-9 and automatic writing. I spent as much time as I could in that run with her, so this time around I'm trying to avoid her as much as possible to see how that shakes out.

So far, so good, though. When a game references a poll and indicates that results that are different numerically but the difference isn't statistically significant... well it sure knows the way to my heart!

Posted by 
 on: 01/24/11, 20:48
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