Hotel Dusk: Room 215

"Corran450's Review Series Vol. 7: Hotel Dusk: Room 215"

The bargain bin can be a treacherous gamble. Either you get a great game at a fantastic price, or you get a lousy game that you're happy you only spent $20 on instead of $50. Hotel Dusk: Room 215 is a game now currently residing in that renowned haven of five year old games and crapware. Developed by CING, the guys who brought you Trace Memory, this is a point-and-click mystery featuring a large cast of characters and intriguing twists. Game reviewers and gamers alike have sung praises to its name, so when I saw this ‘interactive mystery novel' for $20 bucks, I snatched it up, expecting good things. Sadly my experience has shown that this ‘game' doesn't really live up to the hype, for many reasons.

Gameplay:
Hotel Dusk is a point-and-click adventure, in the vein of the Broken Sword series. Before you assume that I rate this game lower because I don't have patience for point-and-click, let me assure you that I love adventure games, usually because of their story. The one major problem with Hotel Dusk's gameplay is its extremely slow pacing. I've played adventure games that were exciting to play, but this isn't one of them.

For those of you who have no idea what point-and-click means, know that this game is based primarily around exploration, gathering items for your inventory, commiserating with other characters for clues, and using all of the above to solve puzzles and mysteries. CING calls this game an ‘interactive mystery novel,' and the description fits. Actually playing the game is easy, it's where the thinking comes in that makes it difficult. The controls are pretty simple, although the touch screen is kind of inaccurate in some puzzles.

One neat thing that increases the comparison to a novel is the orientation of the DS. You hold it on its side, like Brain Age, suggesting a book.

Story:
The most important part of any game, in my opinion, is the story, especially in games where the gameplay is lacking. Hotel Dusk revolves around disgraced NYPD detective, Kyle Hyde. Hyde is searching for his missing partner Brian Bradley, whom Hyde shot three years prior, after discovering that Bradley was a dirty cop. Now employed by an office supplies company called Red Crown as a traveling salesman, he makes a little extra on the side acting as a sort of detective, locating missing items for various clients while he searches for his missing partner. The course of Hyde's journey leads to a hotel in L.A. called Hotel Dusk, a dive filled with secrets, not to mention a veritable bounty of characters, each with their own secrets. A textbook, hard-boiled detective story.

The story gets off to an extremely slow start. At first, all Hyde does is catch people in little white lies, without making any real progress on the Bradley case. The story picks up, though, in the last couple of chapters. I've got to hand it to the writers though. The script is natural, and genuinely funny in some places. They also managed to create a large cast of interesting and well-developed characters. And the payoff for your patience is pretty good, coming as late as it does. The first two-thirds of the game is pretty painful though, mainly due to the fact that the environment never changes. I loved the Broken Sword games because you visit all kinds of different and varied locales. In Hotel Dusk, there's only the game's eponymous hotel, and the environments are dull to begin with. But then, that's the next section.

Graphics:
For the most part, the graphics of the game are unique. While the environments are pretty bland (predominately brown and white, not a lot of color or variety), the character models more than make up for it. Each character is uniquely designed and original, represented by hand-drawn avatars. The drawings have tons of character, and animations and gestures are realistic and believable.

Sound:
The music of Hotel Dusk serves to accent the noir-style atmosphere the game is shooting for. Several tracks are haunting and memorable. I liked the soundtrack okay, but after a while, some of the tracks get a little annoying and repetitive. A couple of tracks sound like elevator music, but since the setting of the story is a run-down hotel, it serves to create the right mood for the environment.

Sound effects are appropriate for the genre. Doors creak as they open, furniture slides across wooden floors with the proper sound. No voice acting, but I think it would actually detract from this game, as there are some really dramatic scenes, which, as everyone knows, can lead only to heartbreakingly overwrought voice acting, especially in the noir atmosphere the game is shooting for. Think Max Payne.

Play Time/Replayability:
Well, this game is not that long, about 15 hours give-or-take, but it feels longer, because the story moves so slow in the beginning. I would say that this game feels a little too long, merely because it takes so long to get to the point. As for replayability, I would say that once you've played it, you probably never need to play it again. Knowing all the answers kind of kills the fun of the mystery. But if you do play it again, there is a kind of side quest involving hidden star stickers in the hotel. I understand that unless certain tasks are completed properly, you miss part of the ending, but I didn't really see anything missing in my first play through, so I dunno. I would say replayability is pretty low.

Final Recommendation:
Well, this game is only $20 bucks. I've paid more for books that I enjoyed less. At the same time, this isn't really the amazing mystery story I was recommended by others. I think those expectations kind of ruined it for me. Then again, I never would've even heard of this game without those recommendations. If you're looking for a satisfactory mystery with a couple of surprises, you could do worse than Hotel Dusk: Room 215. It's not exactly a ringing endorsement, but it's the best I can give for this overhyped, average game.

Reviewer's Score: 5/10, Originally Posted: 10/20/08

Game Release: Hotel Dusk: Room 215 (US, 01/22/07)