999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors

Overview:
That person there is Zero. Zero is an enigmatic being in 999. The game begins when Zero kidnaps 9 people and traps them aboard a sinking ship where Zero hosts the event known as the "Nonary Game", which literally means "9's game". The game starts out simple enough, 9 people are trapped and they have 9 hours to escape the sinking ship and they must get past doors each marked 1-9. Each person has a bracelet stuck to them with a number. The bracelet is a detonator which activates a bomb located within the guts of the 9 individuals. The game has a few rules associated with it. Only 3-5 people can pass a numbered door and you must escape through the door with a 9 on it before the ship sinks. To get past a door, those who go through must have a digital root equal to the number of the door. A digital root is a single digit created by adding all numbers together and digits together until you are left with one. eg: 5+8+6=17--1+7=8, so the digital root is 8. Likewise the digital root of say 34 would be 7.

Synapses:
You play as Junpei who has the "5" bracelet. At the beginning of the game are are trapped inside a locked room and you must escape after a window breaks and the room starts getting flooded by water. The game is a "graphic adventure" game, you could also call it a visual novel. There are many puzzle scenes where you are trapped inside a room and you need to escape by interacting with objects to find hints and items needed to escape. They are pretty clever and often pretty funny when you interact with an object because they'll trigger dialogue sequences with the other members of the game. However although there are many you can only do a few of them in one playthrough. The game is about 9 hours long on the first playthrough and only about 2 hours of that is actual gameplay, the rest is dialogue where you often get the chance to decide what you want to say and do game changing decisions.

Characters:
The game has an amazing cast of characters, other than Zero and some "others" there are 8 characters that are with you throughout most of the game but will split up when going through doors (as 3-5 must pass through a door). Although at first their names are not revealed to you save 1. For suspicions of being monitored by zero and keeping their identities safe they decide to use Codenames, each of which is relevant to their number. As I said each character has a bracelet with a number on it, you are number 5. Person 1 is named "Ace", Person 2 is Snake, then it's Santa, Clover, you (Junpei or "Jumpy"), June, Seven (that guy put a lot of thought into that one), and Lotus, Person 9 does not get a code name. They each have their own back stories and a reason for being in the Nonary game which you will uncover as you play through the different events and alternate endings. Each bracelet is a detonator which is linked to a bomb in their guts. When opening a numbered door they must first get the digital root by registering at a RED (registration device I think that's what it was they always just called it the RED). Once the door opens it will automatically shut in 9 seconds, upon entrance the detonator activates and the bomb will explode in 81 seconds unless the bracelets are scanned at a DEAD (deactivation device). They way it's constructed is hard to explain but are made so that they can't be cheated by the people there. Essentially, if say, 5, 7, 8, and 1 register at the RED they must ALL register at the DEAD too or else they'll be killed by the bomb inside their bodies. In addition one who does not register at the red but passes the door anyways will be killed as the DEAD will not deactivate a bracelet that was not scanned by the RED. The bomb countdown starts once one passes a numbered door, not when it's scanned by the red.

Story:
This game's story is AMAZING. It is downright incredible, there are so many twists that even M. Night Shyamalan would be mindfucked. There is a ton of depth to this game. Each character has their own backstory and there is a lot of shit going on. The game has 5 endings too, it technically has 6, but one of those is just an incomplete version of the "true ending". The ending you get is based on the decisions you do and what doors you enter. You can't enter all the doors in one playthrough. For example, if you enter door 5 you cannot enter door 4 in the same playthrough. It is not too hard to find the different endings, although I did look up a flowchart to find the last 2 endings after I failed to get either of the remaining ones in my fourth playthrough. The game is chock full of wild theories and conspiracies and is one big mindfuck while at times being humorous, grim, and emotional. It's a very moving game that I've completed 6 times, I would stay up playing this game from midnight to 10 in the morning and then took a break, only to begin playing it again.

This game has the best story line of any video game ever created.

Soundtrack:
A good game can't be a good game without good music, but 999 has a very good soundtrack. It does not contain any metal or electronic music and stuff like that which is only there because it sounds cool. The music is always in the right spot. It gets an ominous tune when something mysterious is happening, or an emotional tune when something tragic has happened. They help build a powerful atmosphere. The soundtrack while not the largest is very good and I have a lot of respect for the composer. Here are some examples, just don't read the top comments, they have spoilers.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qe9ypFAG_ek&feature=related -- very creepy song
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjNi14fKSow&NR=1 -- love this song, very sad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qD5fBpqOSj8&feature=related -- if it's not the theme song, this is the anthem

Conclusion: Although most of 999 is not your typical action gameplay, it's a very unique experience and has arguable the best plot in any video game. It gets very confusing sometimes but keeps you thinking and gives you goosebumbs. The cast of characters are very good good. The game has a very good pacing and feels very grim at times while being hilarious at others. Especially June, she's kinda dumb but most of her scenes are really funny. It has 5 different endings some of which end really badly, and I mean that as in it's a very good ending that mindfucks the shit out of you. Although there's a lot of mystery you do get some closure but there are still some things that are never quite cleared up. But perhaps it's for the best.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, this game has the best plot of any video game ever made and it's not become my favorite game for the DS.

Since people like scores: 10.0/10
This game is as perfect as humanly possible.

I still need to get this game.

And I hope Aksys (The guys who published this game) localize Ever17 (Made by the same people).

Great review! I will definitely try this game out.

This game's plot and story sounds like a movie :/....(Which is good)

Sounds very original, now if only I had any interest in handheld videogames!

Sounds interesting and creepy.

RamboOnRedbull wrote:

This game's plot and story sounds like a movie :/....(Which is good)

I guess you could say that, but it's more of a novel than a movie.

Double post doesn't count btw, day apart.

Stoney wrote:

Sounds very original, now if only I had any interest in handheld videogames!

Have you ever played handheld games before?