By Kevin Shirley
Follow @KevintheShirley
Anyone here remember Nintendo Power? It was a magazine that was
in print for over two decades. If you’re wondering what a magazine is, it’s
basically a website made out of paper.
A couple years back, in an issue of that historic publication, I
read an interview with a designer by the name of Kotaro Uchikoshi. He was
talking about a piece of software for the Nintendo DS that he designed, called 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors.
He also made a couple of jokes poking fun at his wife. Usually, I would just
read these interviews to extract facts about the games discussed and the design
process. But, not only did I find solid information about this new game. I also
found the interview in itself to be pretty entertaining.
Last summer, I finally decided to order 999 off of Amazon. I put the game into my 3DS. I found myself
reading loads and loads of text punctuated by occasional puzzle segments, but
mostly a bunch of text.
I absolutely loved it.
Reading my description, you might think, “Well, that doesn’t
sound like much of a video game.” According to Uchikoshi himself, you would be
correct.
In that Nintendo Power interview I read years back, Uchikoshi
describe 999 as a “visual novel,” a
virtual combination of text and images used to tell a narrative, with some
gameplay components mixed in.
That narrative is one of Junpei, an average college student, who
awakens on a sinking boat after being kidnapped by a man in a gas mask. On the
ship, he finds himself united with eight other people. All of these individuals
are strangers to Junpei, with one exception.
That exception is Akane Kurashiki, a girl with whom Junpei held a
strong bond with in childhood, but has not seen in many years. Their
relationship drives the plot in ways the player won’t see coming.
The nine lost souls that hear an unknown voice coming from the
loudspeaker. This is the voice of Zero, the enigmatic figure who captured the
nine individuals and placed them on the ship. At this point, Zero explains the
purpose of the mysterious watches that are on every person’s wrist.
Zero will allow the nine people to escape under one condition:
they must play his game, the “Nonary Game.” Splitting into groups, the players
will use combinations of their watch numbers to enter certain doors. Once they
reach the number nine door at the end, they'll be able to escape from the
ship. They don’t have forever, though; the ship is doomed to sink in nine
hours.
The game proves to be easier said than done. The escape from
Zero’s ship is complicated by the conflict of personalities between the
players. Without revealing too much, let’s just say that the story is not a
predictable one. Certain characters betray your trust, characters with dubious
intentions reveal unexpected depth, and it becomes clear that Zero’s game is
more than just an act of sadism.
The visual novel has six different endings based on the choices
of the player. Only one of them, the so-called “true” ending, can be called
happy, and even that one is bittersweet. The suspenseful narrative and the
other endings are what will make you want to play over and over again until you
achieve that true ending. The other endings of the game leave you in a state of
fear and uncertainty that will trigger you to look for a happy conclusion to
this dark and often twisted tale.
While it is sparing, there is a gameplay component to the visual
novel. This comes in the form of sequences where you are trapped in a room and
need to find your way out. These sections resemble classic point-and-click
adventure games with puzzles that you solve by observing the entire area and
taking advantage of objects laying around. A good brain exercise, but it does
become tedious when you have to play the same room multiple times on different
playthroughs.
999 allows you to avoid
repetitive reading by fast forwarding through text that you read on previous
playthroughs. This feature takes you straight to the new story segments that
you unlock by making different choices from your last run.
Some people might look at 999
and think, “That’s boring. Screw this. I ain’t playing no book!” To these
people, I say: “I understand how you feel, and I respect your opinion, but I
also think that opinion is shallow and uninformed.”
999 is more than just
scrolling through text on a screen. It is a gripping narrative about
philosophy, vengeance, the darkest depths of the human soul, and the death of
innocence.
The expectation-defying characterizations are what make the story
worth experiencing. I was shocked by one character’s malice, another’s heroism,
and one’s tragic corruption.
At no point did 999
lose my interest. As someone with a tendency to remove the cartridge out of the
system as soon as he sees the credits roll, I was impressed with how the game
pushed me back into my chair and shouted, “KEVIN! DON’T YOU GO ANYWHERE! YOU
ARE SITTING HERE UNTIL YOU FINISH EACH OF MY DAMN ENDINGS! YOU GOT THAT?!”
999 was a narrative
experience like no other. And three months after I played it, the sequel would
take the form to new heights.
- Stay tuned for Kevin's review of the sequel, Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward.
(Cover Art from NintendoLife.com)
(Screenshots from IGN.com)
No comments:
Post a Comment