Hotel Dusk

[Ajay1986]

Just a quick post for now as ive not played very much of this so far.

First off the game oozes noir style and beauty. The characters all look fantastic in there hand drawn apperence, and they are nicely animated as well. Its not just looks either, the soundtrack is great as well and is by far the best ive heard on the DS so far.

As i say ive not played much so far but the story seems like its gonna be very good.

Feel free to fire off some questions, i'll post more detailed opinions probably tomorrow.

[taurusnipple]

Tell me more! How does it play? Is it like Beneath a Steal Sky in any way?

Wanna pick this up this Friday but need more impressions!

[babs]

That sounds awesome! Can't believe I didn't know about it before.

Is there plenty of exploring and clue work, or is it more like an 'escape the room' game?

[gingerj]

Is this out in the shops in England? Or are you playing a import version?

[Madjock]

The US release is out, an £19.99 on MovieTyme:

http://www.movietyme.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=35118

I fancy this but would like some more impressions...

[Ajay1986]

lol thats true.

Basically the game plays like this. When you talk to someone you get the character your talking to on the touchscreen, during certain bits of conversation an icon will appear which you can press that lets you choose a response to what the person has said. Now these responses arent mandidtory, meaning if you choose not to press the icon you'll miss the chance to say something.

Now the exploration part of the game, which i'll say has been brilliantly implemented. Basically when exploring a location the top screen is a 3D first person view of the location. The touch screen is a map of the location, you move around by dragging you little character icon on the touch screen. Now when you get to areas of intrest a button on the touch screen lights up, click it and the touch screen then becomes a close up detailed view of that area. You can then use the touchscreen to select and investigate all the items in that area.

Another great little feature is the notepad which actually lets you write your own notes.

[El Leone]

Not knowing the plot or wanting you to reviel it I kinda wonder if the story and everything gains pace as the game processes? The videos although showing it looking awesome, shows a somewhat slow pace.

[Spatial]

Numerous posts removed - please remember that first play threads are for impressions and not for telling everybody your copy has shipped etc.

[INSOMANiAC]

Been playing the game today, the graphical style is excellent. Yes the game is very slow paced and you will need a lot of patience to get through it but that was what I expected.

As I say, the graphics and sound really give the game atmosphere, the controls take some getting used to (the map you see on the screenshots, you press areas on that to move around the area shown on the other screen. Not very far into it yet, Ill add more when Ive played more but first impressions are very good

PS, one annoying thing is you cant look around in 3d when walking about. you can only move forward,back,up and down

[INSOMANiAC]

Played the game for a while and Ive changed my tune somewhat. The game is almost cripplingly linear. Go here, talk to him, go here, talk to her, meet someone in corridor, go to room, answer door, go to main desk, talk to him. No real sense of freedom at all.

The real killer is you cant pick up items you know you will need in the future, you have to wait until the situation arises and then go back and get the item you need. Basically you have to play the game as if you were following a trail of string. Quite infuriating. Also there isnt that many different choices when asking questions. To ask the important question you have to press the screen while the person is speaking. Only a complete fool wouldnt press the screen and ask these questions so basically the game is telling you what all the important bits of info are, leaving nothing for you to figure out. (In case you're still a bit dim the important text is also highlighted)

You have to look at the minimap when moving about so you dont really look at the graphics of the hotel (which arent that great anyway). Youll mostly be looking at the map or apparently hand drawn characters with about 5 different animations each. This is ok for the first couple of hours but for me the animations are starting to get boring.

You cant search anywhere you like, you cant look up or down. You have to get to an area where your magnifying glass glows, the the game moves into a preset view of that area where you just touch things that you cant do anything with because you're not up to that bit of the plot yet.

The main character is sometimes unlikable, which is a pretty risky move.

The plot goes that you have come to this hotel to retrieve a package, despite this you feel the urge to interrogate everyone you meet and stick your nose in their business (being a bit of an arse along the way).

I have to wonder if Im enjoying the game when, after stepping out my hotel room and instantly being taken to yet another cut scene with someone wittering on, I just think "oh ffs".

I can only hope the game starts to open up a lot more in terms of freedom later on or I fear Ill be throwing this one on the pile and going back to advance wars.

[fuse]

There's a lot of praise for this over at 4CR, both from the editors and the commenters;

http://www.4colorrebellion.com/archives/2007/01/25/hotel-dusk-first-impressions/

I was interested in this since it first showed up at E3 (even if it did remind me of the 'Take on Me' video ), and then promptly forgot about it's release until just recently. It's going to be a few days before my copy ships, but I'm looking forwards to it. Hopefully it'll fill the void until the next Gyakuten Saiban localisation.

[El Leone]

http://gamevideos.com/video/id/8760

They are seem really impressed.

[INSOMANiAC]

just be wary that it might not be as good as you think

[Tig]

Insomaniac, how does this game shape up against, say, the Pheonix Wright series?
Because it looks like a lot of your criticisms could also be levelled at most other games in this genre (linearity and so on)

[El Leone]

just be wary that it might not be as good as you think

Or maybe I will? I am aware of the criticism of the game (which as said above, can be leveled at any adventure type games) and the majority of people on GAF seem to be impressed. I think I'll be pretty pleased with this.