"It's got its share of flaws, but its strong points are VERY good."

Hotel Dusk is a point-and-click adventure game that takes place in real time. (think 24, for those who have seen the show before.) HD has a unique graphical style, some excellent characterization and an atmosphere that's captivating and mysterious from beginning to end.

The graphics in Hotel Dusk are pretty neat. For one, you turn your DS on its side and play it like a book. It has options for which hand you want to use, too, so this won't be a problem for lefties. The graphical style in this game is difficult to describe in words - the characters are hand-drawn (or at least, they look that way) and characters look like sketches. The animations are rough and they're really neat to watch. I love watching the characters change poses. The music in this game is also really good, and a lot of the awesome atmosphere can be attributed to the feel that it gives off. Overall, the aesthetic qualities of Hotel Dusk are really good and really enhance one's enjoyment of the game.

The gameplay is fairly simple - point and click. You walk around inspecting objects, writing in your journal, and of course, talking to people. While questioning characters, you'll often get to choose between two questions. Usually, neither question is "wrong", but there are times when choosing the wrong thing will lead to a Game Over.

The touchscreen plays a pretty large role in the game, too. There's a bunch of small minigames where you'll have to connect the dots, or sharpen a pencil, or shake a box, or a bunch of other things. At times it feels like it's forcing you to use the touchscreen unnecessarily, but it usually only lasts for a minute or two and then you're back to good old text boxes.

Talking to characters is the highlight of the game. Hotel Dusk has a very tight story and has some excellent dialogue. There aren't a lot of characters, but throughout the game you'll get to know each one pretty well. They're fairly deep characters, too. Each one of them has a past that I think is really interesting. Hotel Dusk knows how to come to a climax, and the climactic parts of the game are absolutely fantastic. They're enthralling.

Unfortunately, trying to figure out what to do can be a real hassle. Hotel Dusk is painfully linear, to the point that you can't progress in the story until you do one small thing. To make things worse, some of the descriptions while investigating objects are pathetically bland. "This is a table." Thanks, Kyle. Glad you could help me out there. All the doors in the game will conveniently be locked and no one will answer their doors until it's time for a scene with said character. The trigger points aren't always intuitive, either. In most games I would persevere until I found out what to do, but with Hotel Dusk I often just gave up and checked a FAQ. The downtime between big plot events can get a little bothersome, but fortunately the game makes up for it in spades when something big happens.

Thankfully, the story pulls the game out of its lulls with all kinds of twists and a plot that just builds and builds until you feel like the whole thing is going to explode. That's what makes Hotel Dusk so good - the gameplay is pretty mediocre, but the game just drags you in and will not let you go until you're done with the game. It's a short 10-15 hour romp and there isn't much in the way of replay value, but you get a deeper experience than you would with most quick action games. This is certainly a game to check out if you enjoy deep, convoluted storylines with thick atmospheres. If you're the type that prefers gameplay over all other elements by far then this game probably isn't for you, but for those who really enjoy aesthetics and atmosphere, this is a great little niche title.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 07/16/07