Reviewed by: LightSaberEnvy Gamer’s Perspective

Anime meets Choose Your End Adventure Meets Video Games. That’s what this game is and you get that sense from the very beginning. Speaking of the beginning; talking about not knowing top from bottom. You start the game by finding yourself (the main character) with no recent memory and at a loss for words. You don’t know where you are or how you got there. It doesn’t take you long to figure out, though, that you HAVE to get out.

Thus the game and the story start. And when I say “game” I mean it literally. You’re in a game and the prize is your life, some may say your sanity. Throughout the game you’ll need to make decisions, find clues, and try to piece together the story behind the “Who done it” and “Why?”

Storyline:
The storyline is engaging, interesting, and a pretty hefty read for a video game, especially on the small screen of the DS. But if you can handle reading paragraphs of words at a time, you’ll have no problem with this game.

Like I mentioned earlier, you awaken to find yourself in a place you don’t recall how you got there or why. Seconds later you discover that you’re on a boat when you see a window shape that you recognize but then it cracks and the small room you’re standing in is quickly filling with water! In order to live you MUST escape. You’ll see the phrase “find a way out” throughout the game as well as “you found it” (assuming you don’t die!).

You’ll read the histories and accounts of the other people you meet on the ship. You have to decide who to trust and who not to. You’ll “meet” the “person” behind this game and discover that you have 9 Hours, 9 Persons, and 9 Doors with the prize being the escape off the boat and your life. Throughout the game you’ll have to pick which doors to go through and with whom. Will the door you just chose be the door you need to get out alive?

The frustrating part of the storyline/game is that the chances of you finding the happily-ever-after ending is close to zero so you’ll want to play this game over and over again until you do. Finding out who did it and why is what you’re striving for. There are several different endings to this game depending on the decisions you make and the doors you go through.

Graphics:
The Graphics in this game were pretty well done and thought out. There’s a real sense of “reading” a comic book without you moving the pages. Some scenes have motion but most of them are screen shots of the character, room, etc.

The texts are clear, which is a great thing since there’s a lot of reading involved.

Audio:
Although I couldn’t tell you exactly what the soundtrack was or that I would want to buy it, I can say that the sound effects made the game. Make sure you have it on while you’re playing, if at all possible. The background noises will make the game more surreal. They include sound effects that make the mood of the game and help to develop the atmosphere of the environment. You hear creaking of doors, footsteps, the clock clanging the time, and shuffling around as you look for items in rooms. The soundtrack does a good job of expressing whether or not the characters are mellow or in a frantic mindset.

Overall:
If you like horror games, if you like to read, and if you like to find out who did it then this game is right up your alley. I would highly recommend you have some patience for reading though because there is a lot of it. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen a game with this much reading throughout the storyline but it’s worth it. I love the “choose your own adventure” aspect of this game and find it refreshing that I can choose my own destiny, even if it’s not the conclusion I was hoping for and have to start over again…and again…and again.