• 30Apr 07

  Review: Hotel Dusk: Room 215

  In reading a preview article about Hotel Dusk: Room 215, two aspects of the game caught my attention. One: the stunning mix of 3D computer generated backgrounds and pencil-drawn character animations as seen in graphic novel pencil sketches; two: the game is played by holding the DS sideways like a book. It was definitely love at first sight.
  
  Sure, you should not judge a book by its cover, but Hotel Dusk: Room 215 really does play as well as it looks – it’s captivating. The game is a mystery adventure that can be played entirely using just the stylus. (But you can also control your character’s movement using the direction keypad.) The simplicity of the controls allows you to immerse yourself into the game like reading a great novel. In fact, I played Hotel Dusk: Room 215 mostly before bedtime, only to find myself still playing 3 a.m. in the morning.
  
  An adventure game can look beautiful, but it is only as good as its story. Hotel Dusk: Room 215 features an intriguing mystery filled with well-written characters and a decent variety of puzzles. You unravel the mystery thread by thread as you explore the hotel, and talk and question the characters you encounter. The pacing of the story is perfect for a mystery adventure. New clues are uncovered in each chapter, slowly shedding light on each character’s background and motivation, as well as the history of Hotel Dusk.
  
  The characters’ personalities really shine in this game. Each character is distinct and their dialogues are written sufficiently well enough that you feel as though you have gotten to know them by the end of the 20-plus hours of gameplay. But the dialogues are also the game’s weakness. In fact, you read A LOT in Hotel Dusk: Room 215. In one or two instances, it is difficult to figure out if the dialogue expresses sincerity, insult or sarcasm, especially when you are given choices of responses in a conversation. Misinterpretation of the text can lead to other characters reacting poorly to your actions and deciding to withhold crucial information. Thankfully, these quirks are rare.
  
  There are plenty of puzzles in Hotel Dusk: Room 215. The puzzles make good use of the touch screen and stylus interface. For example, you’ll find yourself using your stylus as a lock pick, a pen to jot down notes, and so on. The game also requires you to open and close the DS like a book to solve a few puzzles. These innovative uses of the DS technology and design really make the puzzles unique. It also helps that the puzzles are not overly difficult, since they are logically designed and your objectives are made clear throughout the game.
  
  Like most adventure games, Hotel Dusk: Room 215’s storyline is linear, but it is the linearity that allows the game’s story to be tight and well-told. Although this design limits replayability, I need to point out that Hotel Dusk: Room 215 should be treated like an interactive book. You do not replay the game or re-read a book because you want to discover new plotlines, you do it because you enjoy the story or want look for the nuances that you have missed the first time. This game may not be for everyone, but it would be a shame if you do not at least try the game and see if you would enjoy unraveling the mystery at Hotel Dusk.
  • Posted Apr 30, 2007 10:36 pm PT
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• 5Apr 07

  Review: Elite Beat Agents

  One of the first two games that I bought for my DS Lite was New Super Mario Bros. (It is pretty much a given that anybody who buys a Nintendo system must have at least one Mario game for it.) While most people would choose commercially recognizable games such as Mario Kart DS or Metroid Prime Hunters for their DS game collection, I opted for Elite Beat Agents.
  
  For people who are unfamiliar with Elite Beat Agents, the game can be described as a music rhythm game like Dance Dance Revolution, but played with a stylus instead with your feet. Still, even this description does not do Elite Beat Agents’ unique and highly addictive gameplay justice.
  
  Unlike other music rhythm games where you are limited to hitting controller or floor pad buttons, Elite Beat Agents requires you to use your stylus to touch markers, move across sliders and spin wheels on the touch screen. This interface provides a sense of openness in rhythm gameplay that other titles lack. As you progress through the difficulty levels, your tapping, sliding and spinning need to be more precise and be faster. However, the level-to-level difficulty scales nicely and you would usually find yourself well trained to take on higher difficulty levels.
  
  In the game, you play a trio of agents assigned to boost other people’s spirits through song and dance. The game presents itself as a series of individual missions with silly yet fun storylines, presented in the exaggerated visual styles of anime. But the real appeal of the game is the way the gameplay is tightly meshed with each piece of music. The music selection in Elite Beat Agents consists of cover versions of pop and rock tunes from the 70s to the contemporary. The eclectic selection includes David Bowie’s Let’s Dance, Village People’s YMCA, Stereogram’s Walkie Talkie Man, Stray Cat’s Rock This Town, Jamiroquai’s Canned Heat and Sum 41’s Makes No Difference. The cover artists who performed these songs did a more-than-competent job. In fact for some songs, I like the cover version more than the original.
  
  Elite Beat Agents’ multiplayer gaming modes are extremely fun to play and add to the game’s already high replay value. You can play against your friend or play cooperatively against the computer. You can also save your performance from single-player missions and challenge yourself in the multiplayer mode. The multiplayer modes have their own unique storylines, but they are just limited to a few compared to the larger variety offered in the single-player mode. Still, the multiplayer aspect of the game is solid.
  
  Any music enthusiast would enjoy Elite Beat Agents. You will enjoy it even more if you are goal-driven gamer who enjoys unlocking every single secret, bonus missions and characters because there are plenty of those in the game. There are 3 bonus missions in single-player mode as well as new characters to unlock for both single and multiplayer modes as you move up the ranks. If you good and ambitious enough, you may be able to open up a new difficulty level, too. Trying to unlock all of them and trying to best your previous high scores will certainly keep you glued to the game.
  
  I would love to see a sequel to Elite Beat Agents that features a wider genre of music. It would be pretty wild to play the game to classical music, reggae, rap and hip-hop. (Imagine “dancing” to old school hits by MC Hammer or Vanilla Ice and to recognizable ballets like Tchaikovsky’s The Nutcracker. Wouldn’t that be something?) But until that happens, you can count on me revisiting Elite Beat Agents whenever I need a break from play New Super Mario Bros.
  • Posted Apr 5, 2007 10:53 am PT
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• 20Mar 07

  No, I didn't vanish from the face of the earth.

  It has been almost four months since my last blog post. I have been meaning to write, but more pressing matter had to be taken care of first. Anyway, gaming-wise, much as happened since October. No, I still do not have a new PC gaming rig, but I am now a proud owner of a Nintendo DS Lite. Not that I got much chance to play with it because of problems with dead pixels within the first month of use, delayed return shipping by Purolator and recently, a colleague cracking the touchscreen. That's right, my DS Lite is the shop again. Still, I managed to finish Elite Beat Agents and alternate between New Super Mario Bros. and the fantastic Hotel Dusk: Room 215 in the short time that I got to spend with it.
  
  I have not been neglecting PC gaming though. After abandoning Halo: Combat Evolved after numerous frustrating attempts to progress beyond the level Truth and Reconciliation, I decided to move on to Civilization IV. Oh, the numerous nights that were spent on conquering the world! I have not had marathon gaming sessions since I last played Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic. It took some effort, but I've been managing to stay away from playing the game for the past three weeks or so after realizing how it had dramatically decreased my productivity. Despite its addictiveness, Civilization IV has since become a permanent fixture in my computer hard drive.
  
  In truth, I had help with weaning from Civilization IV. I found Tomb Raider: Legend to be a fine distraction when I need a quick gaming fix. Lately, I've been engrossed in Jade Empire: Special Edition. I am still in early parts of the game, but I like what I have seen so far. BioWare has done a great job introducing Chinese mythology and legends to a genre that has been traditionally filled with orcs, goblins and elves. Once I get the chance, I will write up reviews for the games I had finished since October. I just hope I can get to them before I get sucked back into world domination in Civilization IV.
  • Posted Mar 20, 2007 1:48 pm PT
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