Hotel Dusk: Room 215

The ghosts that haunt ex-cop Kyle Hyde lead him to a seedy Hotel in the middle of nowhere. Little does he know that the evening he spends at this hotel would be the key to finding the answers he's been searching for for 3 years. As he checks in, he's given the key to room 215. It's called Wish. Supposedly if someone really wants something, the room will grant them their wish should they stay in it. Welcome to Hotel Dusk: Room 215...

Graphics 5/10:
Very little of the game is attractive beyond an artistic/animation perspective. So I'm going to talk about the boring stuff first. The maps are all drab and boring. Nothing about them stand out or are very memorable (though based on the number of times you walk through the hotel you'll probably remember them regardless). In many cases, the surroundings are are simply unattractive... sort of like an actual hotel. Go figure.

Even the highly detailed still images aren't much better, but at they they mix things up a bit. They don't offer you anything to gawk at or admire beyond the fact that the developers did an astonishing job at making sure the static drops didn't look muddy on the small DS screen (an admirable quality I must admit).

Now, being an animation/cartoon buff, I was absolutely stunned at how impressive the character designs and animations worked so well. They use an certain kind of animation technique called rotoscope. You don't see this sort of thing a whole lot, especially at this day in age. I'll give a brief overlay on what it is for those who don't know.

Rotoscoping is a form of animation where something is filmed using actors and props and whatnot and is then traced over, essentially, to achieve a high level of detail and fluid/realistic animation. A few examples of movies that have used this method of animation are Heavy Metal (1981) and Fire and Ice (1983).

The characters are drawn in fairly rough and etchy states, constantly in motion due to dahses and strokes changing. The animat itself is something to really appreciate. I never got tired of the A+ quality facial expressions. Especially those rare glimpses you see the protagonist crack a smile. There is a fair number of animations to be found and capture the characters' expressions perfectly.

Gameplay 6/10:
The gameplay actually drives an impassible question of "is it good or not?" Of course, the definition will jump based on perspective of the matter. As far as challenge and there being a lot of it, there's really nothing to see. It's just kind of there for the sake of novelty. But what drives the game as far as gameplay is the large number of interactive conversations and the idea of actually completing tedious tasks, such as peeling a label off of a wine bottle, rather than just telling your character to do it for you. It does this in a number of unique ways privy to DS players (such as closing the DS to solve a riddle or holding the DS a different way, etc.) which is always an absolute treat.

Another thing that's worth mentioning is the relentless back-tracking. The whole game is set inside the walls of Hotel Dusk, with the exception of one area. The only option in this game is to constantly run back and forth between rooms and examine and re-examine things. It's an absolute necessity placed upon the player. Every once in a while, you'll get to go in another room or something, but it's rarely anything special. You'll be in the room for two minutes and then never go back to it. So there's a real balance issue as far as gameplay follows.

Story 8/10:
Like any mystery or adventure game, the real reason you play it is for the collective atmosphere and the intricate plot that is presented though detailed and complex story telling. And of course, this game has just about everything on the menu to offer the player. Anyone with a attraction to mystery solving games like myself will immediately feel the mood the game presents swallow them right in to it. It's a gloomy hotel, filled with people who have dark and ugly stories to tell and that's just what you will feel when you check-in.

As for the story itself, it is a very good story. The classic cop's partner betrayed him scheme is something noir fans will eat up in this game. You will uncover the truth over the events that happened years ago by digging deeply in to the history of the others staying in the hotel, and find out what the Hotel itself has to do with anything. But I must say, one of the biggest flaws in this game was the lack of any real or direct connections with the overall plot. Each character will have their own story you must listen to in order to solve the next piece of the puzzle. While each one does relate to the matter at hand, the connections that the protagonist make are rather stretching the bounds of logic in this case. I found myself wondering how he was so sure that everything was so deeply interwoven with his own dilemma despite having not proof or reasoning for thinking so and offering nothing more than a "hunch."

Another thing, the game offers no real closure to a lot of the happenings. While it can be a bit discerning, at the same time you realize that is doesn't really need closure beyond what is offered. It's like a satisfying disappointment... or something.

Music 6/10:
The music mostly goes to fit with the noir theme the game has. None of it is particularly memorable or very good. Though it offers a few silver linings of fantastic composition. Noting much else to say really.

Replay 2/10:
Yeah, once you've beaten it, you've beaten it. There are a few very minor alternative ways to handle specific situations in the game, but nothing important or interesting enough to warrant another play through for anyone who is satisfied or unsatisfied with the game. Strictly for those who enjoy it to a very large extent that would play through it again anyhow.

Overall 7/10:
The game is a fantastic buy for anyone who enjoys these kind of games and it has a story that won't leave you feeling dry that I would recommend to people looking for something fresh and interesting. As for everyone else though, I rather doubt this will be the game to pull newcomers in to the genre.