Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors

1. TheJoseph

   Jun 30, 2015

   10

   This game starts off as a simple "try to escape this place and find out who the evil captor is", but it gets very complicated, very fast. YouThis game starts off as a simple "try to escape this place and find out who the evil captor is", but it gets very complicated, very fast. You play as a guy in college named Junpei. Once you get to the ship you're being held on you must attempt to escape by finding the number nine door and going through what follows it alive. I won't go into much more detail then that because the story is something you must experience yourself. 999 can be split into four parts, which will tell you if this game is for you or not
   
   1. Story- The story is the main part of the game and is shown by dialogue and your characters thoughts, there is no voice acting so if hate reading, this won't be for you. If you like or at the very least don't mind reading, you'll love this.
   
   2. Gameplay/puzzle solving- The puzzle solving is the very large majority of gameplay in this game. The puzzle style is escape the room, it is really challenging but takes a back-seat to the story which you will want to get to while playing the puzzle's.
   
   3. Choices- The smallest part of the game, but also the most important. The choices you make will decide whether you get one of two bad endings, a very bloody and confusing ending, a sad ending, a fake ending, and the true end. All of these endings will lead to what is the final part of this game...
   
   4. Mindf*cks- Yup, the game will be very complicated, many plot twists, and some things you really got to think about. Just because the game gets confusing, doesn't mean that the logic is flat out wrong, or starts to contradicting itself. Everything has a reason for happening, and nothing should be left not noted.
   
   In the end this is a wonderful, solid 9.6 game that's only beaten by its sequel (ps vita version to be specific.) You are doing a disservice to yourself not playing it, so go on amazon and buy it!… Expand

   • 0 of 0 users found this helpful
2. henry_csf

   Nov 12, 2012

   10

   Do not care about people telling you there are resemblances between this and Saw movies or even the review from Eurogamer comparing it to theDo not care about people telling you there are resemblances between this and Saw movies or even the review from Eurogamer comparing it to the poorly executed Lux-Pain. This is visual novel at its best and where it belongs, the meant-to-play-them DS. The puzzles are somewhat challenging, in a healthy way, but the plot is so good and scary I was astonished for about a week after completing the real ending, and that is what matters the most. If you want a visual novel to play (and if you're adult), play it.… Expand

   • 2 of 2 users found this helpful
4. tantei

   Dec 7, 2010

   10

   Very fun, very well done story, neat trick to the real ending. this is a game that should not be missed be fans of puzzle games, phoenixVery fun, very well done story, neat trick to the real ending. this is a game that should not be missed be fans of puzzle games, phoenix wright, or great story telling. Warning it is rated Mature for a reason… Expand

   • 15 of 17 users found this helpful
5. Twirkkhu

   Jun 20, 2014

   9

   This game made me experience feelings I've never experienced in a video game before. The soundtrack is so shockingly good, that it actuallyThis game made me experience feelings I've never experienced in a video game before. The soundtrack is so shockingly good, that it actually gave me nightmares. This game can also be truly depressing, but I still recommend you pick it up.… Expand

   • 0 of 0 users found this helpful
6. bergcamp101

   Mar 24, 2021

   8

   The plot just makes it. Though escape rooms are not pretty challenging, but still entertaining, the plot is just great, and storytelling is wonderful.

   • 0 of 0 users found this helpful
7. duckypwns

   Nov 24, 2012

   7

   This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The choices in this game are very limited and poorly structured. The game seems to assume that the player wants to be a "good guy". I think there should have been more options. For example, there is a part where the team finds a gun. They will say things like "it's obviously a trap" and "it's to get them to turn on one another". So the game forces you to leave the gun there. Well obviously now that people know it's there they can go back and pick it up (ultimately this does happen by the way and the gun is used against the player and the other good team mates), so it doesn't really make sense that the game absolutely FORCES the player to leave it behind against their will. If I were in that situation, I would have picked it up in fear that someone else may go back and get it. Of course, this is just one example but there are situations like this throughout almost the entire game. Another thing that I don't like is that there is no real line of logic that the player can apply to their choices in order to yield a good ending. In other words, if you get the good ending, you probably just got lucky. You have to choose between doors 4 and 5, then 3, 7, and 8, and finally 1, 2, or 6. After that point, your ending has already been determined through your course of action. In my first playthrough, I tried to play logically. I left people behind if necessary, and I did whatever I thought it would take to get the good ending. Obviously, that didn't work. So I figured, well maybe the game is trying to make me act selflessly, so I tried this. Still no luck. My next playthrough, I just picked some random ass combination of doors with no real logic as to which one I would choose. Still no luck. By this time, I had been playing the game for at least 15 hours. At least the game lets you skip what you've already done, but rather than just selecting "skip scene", you have to hold right on the d-pad to quickly scroll through text. Not a huge inconvenience, but it can still take a while, and it's a pain in a game like this that the player needs to go through multiple times in order to get everything. Anyway, back to my original point - So are you telling me that if I pick doors 4, 8, and 2 (this would yield a bad ending), that clearly I suck at the game and I should have to do the whole thing over? Yet if I pick doors 4, 7, and 1, clearly I'm awesome and I deserve a good ending? Each door is as much of a mystery as the others, and there is no real logic behind which one you should pick. In other words, the game doesn't reward players for thinking critically and carefully planning their course of action. You'll might as well just pick random combinations of doors until you happen to get lucky and get the good ending. Now I want to cover my hugest problem with the game's structure. In order to get the good ending, there is a very specific bad ending that you need to get, often referred to as the "safe ending". To get this ending, you need to go through doors 5, 8, and 6. But you also need to check a safe in room 5 before you leave the room, but AFTER unlocking the door. This is very cryptic. On one playthrough, I actually did this, because I was curious about the safe. However, I didn't know that after that I would have to go through door 8 and then 6. How was I supposed to know? Even if you DO check the safe after unlocking the door, you have to take two 1/3 chances consecutively after that by picking the correct doors. So once again, I would have to do the whole game over again. There is also a "coffin ending" (which I got). In the coffin ending, you have to make all of the choices that would normally yield the good ending, which is basically the same exact thing as the good ending but you don't know the password to the coffin in the coffin ending. So obviously, nobody wants or needs to see the coffin ending. However, if the player happened to get the safe ending, and then you got the good ending, it gives you credit for completing the coffin ending. This may confuse players and cause them to erase all of their save data in order to see what this ending was that they now couldn't get, not knowing that it was just a shortened version of the good ending. After all of this complaining, you might be wondering why I gave the game a 7 out of 10. It's simple - In spite of all of these problems, and the relatively easy puzzles throughout the game (By the way, the final puzzle in the game is an easy sodoku puzzle. That should put things in to perspective as far as the game's difficulty), the story still kept me entertained and wanting to see what would happen next. If the thought of a story involving curses, ESP, unsolved ancient mysteries, and a game of life and death appeals to you, then you should try this game out. But remember, don't bother taking the game seriously at all and trying to plan a detailed course of action, as the game's poor structure makes it too luck based. Perhaps it's better to view it as a story, not a game.… Expand

   • 3 of 5 users found this helpful
8. Grospoliner

   Aug 23, 2012

   0

   This game is awful. Let me preface that right off the bat. This is not a game.
   
   What this is, is a visual novel. For those unfamiliar withThis game is awful. Let me preface that right off the bat. This is not a game.
   
   What this is, is a visual novel. For those unfamiliar with the term, visual novels are quite literally, novels with visual elements, which can include pictures, videos, and the occasional interactive element. They are a mainstay of Japanese "gaming" and hold a special place in the hearts of lonely individuals with poor person skills and social anxiety disorders. What visual novels aren't, are fun.
   
   The typical 'VN' as they are called, involves hours of text and left mouse clicks. You do not play a VN, merely slog through mind numbing monologues and so called character interaction. This proves to be a fatal flaw in gaming design, because games are supposed to be interactive and ENJOYABLE. There is nothing enjoyable about reading hours of text, staring and two dimensional cell shaded characters. The VN 'problem' stems from the Japanese culture itself. In Japanese gaming, the 'player' is relegated to the role of passive observer. You the player are never allowed to make real choices in a VN, and that same mix of culture and poor design crash head on in 999, rending it a bloody horrid, abortion of game design.
   
   At it's heart, 999 is supposed to be a puzzle-solving adventure game where nine individuals are thrown together by sinister circumstances and are forced to come face to face with their pasts and the deadly traps set before them by an unknown antagonist; promising to be an exciting and enthralling tale of treachery, intrigue, and murder. Unfortunately you're forced to wade through miles of feces before you can get to eat your cake, and no you don't get to shower before it either.
   
   Here's the problem. It's a point and click adventure game that locks you into limited, individual set piece rooms to explore. You will not get to explore anything but what have been chosen for you to enter. Nor will you get to even choose which rooms to enter. Sure, you might be presented with a choice of enter door number 1 or door number 2, but you will never be allowed to visit door number 2 should you choose door number 1. Sadly, this heavily restricts a game that could have had a great potential as you will never find multi-room puzzles, puzzles that span the length of the game, or be able to enjoy exploring the environment around you. You are locked in a linear rail ride from one predetermined set piece to another with no chance to affect any subtle changes to the plot or events that can transpire.
   
   The game uses the archaic programming method common in VNs where specific plot events trigger specific plot lines via the few text 'choices' you are given. This means that the only effect you will ever have on the game's progression, is picking one text option over another. Everything you do in solving the puzzles is instantly rendered meaningless, as the plot is always locked into one of 6 predetermined outcomes. For a game based on intrigue, treachery, survival, and psychological horror, this proves to be a great detriment for the game, as a single "bad choice" will result in outcomes you can see coming from a mile away, simply because you the player are not allowed the option of picking up an item. That's right. This is a terrible game, because it won't let you pick up a plot critical item. Forcing you replay the game over and over hunting down "right choices". In a genre where every good player knows to loot the very last insignificant nail off a wall, the game binds your hands and prevents you from ever being able to interact with items that simply picking them up would alter the course of the game because it does not allow you to explore, and that is why it is not a good game. Hell, it's not even a game.… Expand

   • 5 of 55 users found this helpful

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