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999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors (Nintendo DS)

This game does a great job of turning an "escape the room" game into a deep thinking thriller. Although the meat and potatoes of the game is working your way through various rooms and their puzzles, there are some serious dark elements at play. At heart, it is an adventure puzzle game.

Brief Character Overview
Junpei is just an average high school student, which is why he is shocked to awaken on a sinking ship in a locked room. Forced to find a way out, he learns that he has been chosen as a participant in a nonary game where the penalty is death. Because of the environment, it is challenging to determine which characters aren't just using you, and adds depth to everyone. All of the characters are interesting and hard to figure out, causing trust issues to transpire.

Aspects I Enjoyed
Each room is unique with very different solutions. One thing that stood out to me was that none of the puzzles felt unfair or artificially difficult. The game as a whole changes depending on the path chosen, which you will choose differently based on your playthroughs. The character dialogue is written well, which is all text. Each character also has their own way they speak (the attitude of the words). Finally, the plot is not only intriguing, but includes some major unexpected twists.

Negatives
First off, if you do not enjoy puzzles the game isn't for you. Although when replaying the game it allows you to speed past text already ready in prior playthroughs, you are forced to redo rooms. Unfortunately, it can easily get tedious to try to attain all endings.

My Score: 8/10

Cost: $20 from Amazon

Side Note: If this game interests you, but you do not own an Nintendo DS or desire using an emulator there is a sequel that is not completely dependent on this game. It is called Virtue's Last Reward and is available on Nintendo 3DS or Playstation Vita (Review should be coming shortly)