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Hotel Dusk: Room 215 is a lot like this really old game I used to play on NES. Don’t remember what it was called, but if any of you have played it, you will know the second you select Hotel Dusk on the DS title screen. So, what is enticing about a DS game that reads like an e-book? And who really wants to read a game anyway? You do! Yes! You!
You are Kyle Hyde, an ex-cop with a hell of a lot of baggage. Kyle and his partner, Brian Bradley, used to rule to roost in New York City. However, a few years ago Brian decided to hand over some top secret information to the bad guys. So what did Kyle do? He hunted him down and shot him like the dirty two-faced dog he really was. Brian fell into the river and was never found. Kyle turned in his badge to become a door-to-door salesman with a secret: every once in awhile his boss sends him on a search for people who don’t really want to be found… Kyle wants to find out what happened to Brian, and so he is led to Hotel Dusk. The rest of the mystery-solving is left in your hands.
The story is set in 1979, but besides the dates in your notebook, you’d never know it. Kyle has several tools at his disposal for exposing clues: a notebook, a few miscellanious items (like keys, paper clips, puzzle pieces), a Hotel Dusk map, a list of contacts (from his door-to-door selling job), and a few other things depending on where you are in the game. Your job is to use these tools, your social skills, and your Homo Sapien brain to solve the mystery of Brian Bradley and what actually happened to two strangers in room 215 (the “wish” room).
I’ve never played a game like Hotel Dusk on the DS, or on any other system for that matter. You hold the DS like a book (sorta like Brain Age) and watch the story progress on both screens. When moving Kyle around, the left screen (if you’re right handed, opposite if you’re not) shows a first-person view of the action, and the touch screen on the right is where you access your tools, move Kyle around, and look over maps. The use of the touch screen is really ingenious; before Hotel Dusk I had never played a game that has relied on the touch screen so heavily for gameplay. Conversations are quick and easy to understand as one character is presented on the left screen and the other on the right. The dialogue flashes back and forth effortlessly and your eyes can be just as quick to read the story.
I mentioned earlier that Hotel Dusk is a lot like Choose Your Own Adventure. During dialogue, Kyle is sometimes presented with two choices that he can use to continue the conversation. The story depends on which direction you choose to take. Unfortunately, the game is programmed to be biased depending on your choice. Choose the wrong conversation starter and you could end up getting kicked out of the hotel or going back to your room. If either of these scenarios happens, you must retry from your latest save point. I wish the game were a little more open, but as long as you don’t choose the outrageously rude option you’re going to be okay most of the time.
Holding the DS like a book is odd when watching animations that were made for the full screen. For some reason my eyes just can’t put the two separate screens together to create one solid picture. That stupid white bar is just always in the way. It’s like hooking up two monitors, you know, the really old ones with the tiny screen encased in the huge white plastic casing? Then watch a car drive from one monitor to the other… that’s what it is like on the DS. There is a lag time between when the car leaves one side and appears on the other. You get over it, but still, it’s a minor annoyance.
Kyle’s notebook is a treasure trove of information. Often just looking in the notebook is enough to figure out what your next course of action should be. Between looking at maps, using your contact list, holding objects that may be clues, and reading over your notes, this notebook is an advanced PDA for 1979. The notebook even has room for you to take notes, up to three whole pages! You do this by writing directly on the screen and then erasing the notes later. The stylus did a great job of catching my unique (read: sloppy) writing style and portraying it on the screen.
The story of Hotel Dusk is good. In fact, it is really good. The player must pay attention to the actions and words of the characters to understand what the next move should be. Miss it, and you’ll be relying on a walkthrough to get through the game. There are only a few actions that Kyle can take at once, and when those are exhausted the next move becomes somewhat obvious. Speaking to characters, walking into a different room, and trying numbers of objects are the keys to progressing in this game. Sometimes Kyle is presented with a puzzle to solve (literally and figuratively), and paying attention to the clues in the game are important for being able to solve them.
The story is good, but it is also quite long. The word “long” should be understood as: lots of reading is required. Some people don’t like to have to read their video games, and if this is the case, Hotel Dusk is not for you. But for those who enjoy being taking part in a great mystery story, the reading isn’t a big deal. Get over it and get engrossed in your next move!
Kyle also progresses through the story by saving a bank of loose ends or “questions” that he needs answered. There are three types of questions: those that a specific person can answer, those that you don’t know whom to ask, and those that are needed to solve a specific problem. Each has their own color, yellow, white, and red respectively. Using these conversation starters also helps Kyle make progress towards solving the case.
Although the layout and design of Hotel Dusk is intuitive and ingenious, the graphics are just a bit funky. It is hard to portray a detailed environment really well on the DS, so most of the time I was playing this game I looked on the map to move around rather than using my first-person eyesight. Objects look great when seen up close, but from far away they look like those horrible pop-ups in Cruisin’ USA. (Or “jaggies” for those who aren’t as retro as me.)
Another odd thing about the graphics is that the characters go between being in black and white and being partially colored. The regular environment has standard graphics, but the characters look hand drawn and pencil shaded. Putting these two graphics on top of each other looks a bit weird. As for the partial coloring; sometimes Kyle will be all black and white, but sometimes he’ll have brown hair. I’m not exactly sure what the designers were going for, but I would have chosen either one or the other, as both designs together look off.
The character detail and animations are great up close though. Judging facial expressions for guilt, surprise, anger, and sadness is an important conversation starter and can give you clues as to which direction the conversation should take. Many of the character animations are re-used, but the monotony is hardly noticeable when you are intent on reading the dialogue.
There is no voice acting in Hotel Dusk, but the background music is quite interesting. You can’t tell that this music fits the year 1979, as much of it is piano bar solos or slow jazz tunes. The music is definitely background, but when I took the time to focus in on it I was pleasantly surprised. The music actually sounded authentic. Actually I suppose it just sounded like glorified elevator muzak, but it was still better than most of the crap I’ve heard on DS games lately.
Hotel Dusk: Room 215 is a good game for those of us who want a dose of thinking mixed in with our gameplay. Holding the DS like a book gets easier over time, and playing this game makes the hours melt away. Curling up on the couch and diving into a great, interactive mystery story for the afternoon sounds perfect to me.
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