Hotel Dusk Room 215.

i first heard about this game by reading penny arcade. tycho's original comment on the game was as follows:

It's basically a videogame for people who like books. I'm trying to figure out if that's like a ballet for people who like masonry, but there's definitely something here.

now this, of course, piqued my interest immediately. what can i say? i am a nerd, yes. however, he also linked to this extremely slow-loading but gorgeous video of the japanese version of the game (simply called "Wish Room"). watching the video, you become aware that these hand-drawn sketches are in fact visions of in-game play. the interest became an obsession.

when the opportunity to acquire the game for $5 off at toys'r'us presented itself, i was, of course, overwhelmed. in a rare feat for me, i completed the game in what it tells me was 35 hours and change (about two weeks in calendar time). the amount of video games i have completed in the past 15 years or so of playing video games can be counted on one hand.

the game is, on the surface, a noir-esque point-and-click adventure game of the old style, similar to, for example, the Monkey Island franchise, except your main character is a depressed ex-cop named Kyle Hyde instead of a goofy pirate. however, Hotel Dusk has much more film/novel influence. the game's attention is almost entirely based on the narrative and character development with the puzzle-solving coming in almost as an afterthought. it is basically like playing your way through a mildly interactive novel illustrated with pencil-and-watercolor sketches. i will confess to, on occasion, consulting a walkthrough on occasion when a puzzle took an odd or, in one case, an entirely unexpected technique to solve.

one of the things about nintendo's DS handheld that makes it attractive is that if you have to drop the game now, you can just close the lid and it suspends itself in its current state. this also has the advantage of allowing you to shove the thing into your pocket or bag while not losing the state of your game. it was, therefore, not at all anticipated that the makers of Hotel Dusk would use this mechanism to solve puzzles. there are two puzzles in the game which can only be solved by closing and then opening the handheld. while most of the puzzles to follow the adventure genre standard technique of choosing the right item in your inventory and applying it correctly or combining it with the other item, Hotel Dusk really uses the DS hardware in some neat ways.

the other thing i really liked about the game was the way it forced you to play the character. more often than not, the story is progressed by conversations with the other characters than solving puzzles. but the conversation threads are in themselves puzzles, because when you come to a major plot point, the game gives you a choice of which way you want to direct the conversation. choose the wrong one, and you lose the game. as the story progresses, it becomes easier to choose the right conversation path. your main character is an ex-NYPD detective. so all you really have to do is be able to think like a cop *grin* you can tell he's used to getting people to talk; the writers of the game give you the classic open-ended, yet subtly hinted questions to ask your fellow guests at the hotel. it's your job to think like a cop and decide which one will get them to spill their guts.

while the end of the game ties up most of the plot points, the story doesn't really have a happy ending, which is another thing that sets Hotel Dusk apart. i really enjoyed it still. and it's just a beautiful game. i give it 4.5 carrots out of 5. i only wish it had been longer :) i'd also love to add my voice to tycho's expressed desire for a sequel. more Kyle Hyde would always be welcome.