999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, 9 Doors (DS)

Finally, got my hand on the first game in the series

So I finished of the trilogy, just like in the series ending at the beginning. This one I had to import since it was never released in Europe, but thank god for the region free DS and a American copy. As with the other games you start trapped in a room and have to escape and from there you learn that a bomb is within in you and you have 9 hours to find the 9th door that will let you escape. Together on this adventure is nine other people, June, your former classmate/girlfriend. Ace, the cool collected old man. Snake, the blind know it all. Santa, the white haired pretty boy. Clover, the sister of Snake and the girl from the second game. Seven, the amnesiac African-American (I think). Lotus, the walking fan-service and the ninth man... who gets blown up the moment he appears pretty much. You yourself is Jumpei, the only character that have appeared in all three games. And June is Akane that he kept looking for in the sequel and then tried to propose to at the end of the third game. And since playing these out of order I know she was the one responsible for the whole game. I didn't know why until this game though.

So basically it began 9 years prior when Akane, Santa (her brother named Aoi) and Snake had been kidnapped by a pharmaceutical company for illegal experiment in order to find those that could transmorph information between people. Seven was a detective that was able to track them down and trying to save them while Ace was the CEO of the company together with the 9th man who created the experiment. Akane was captured again and by communicating with Jumpei across time and space was able to escape so Aoi and Akane recreated the experiment to get revenge as well as save Akane. Besides these people two other is on the ship as well. Ace right-hand man and the companies financier. Both who met gruesome ends. 

Now, had I gone in blind and went from game to game I might have enjoyed it much more since they really perfected the gameplay. I felt it at times unplayable. You can't jump between scenes, you have to go from the start to the end (you can of course restart any time, but you have to redo the puzzles nevertheless). You can't write down codes or such in game and not a single document is saved in playthroughs. In the end I sat with a walkthrough to redo the rooms I've done the quickest possible way. At least there isn' any game breaking bugs like in the second game. The story works though, although it confuses me a bit in things they hinted in this game and completely dropped in later instalment. For example Alice (the character from the second game) appears here first as hinted to be a mummified woman locked in ice that de-thaws and releases her. And then as stated an important character in the second game and then she is dropped, even though she was a huge deal for two games. And I don't get Lotus character. She really doesn't have any important story element to her and she is the only one that isn't connected or know the other people in the game. I can't help but feel she's there for eye candy.

Looks good for a 40 year old

Apparently she was a mother to two daughters and they were used in the episode 9 years ago. I don't recall the game mentioning that? And she is also born in 1987... that hurts since every other character describe her as an old lady, but she is the same age as I will be when the game takes place in 2027. Well, at least that gives her a connection to the rest of the characters. Another thing that bothers me is that the abilities seems to shift in the other games. In those games the ability you possess enables you to jump between alternate timelines, but it seems more focused on shared information in this game. Certain characters store information in some kind of all-encompassing life force that other people can tap into anywhere and use it to their advantage or being mislead by the people send the information. It could be hinted that the ending with Jumpei saving Akane in the past hints on the larger scope, but it feels like the idea was evolving a bit. And now that is over. Now I got a real itch for a fourth game.