Hotel Dusk

Hotel Dusk is set around the 1970’s where you play Kyle Hyde, an ex-cop, who’s searching for a friend who betrayed him and the force. You want to find answers about why he betrayed you and this search leads you to Hotel Dusk. The whole point of the game seems to be about figuring out the secrets that the hotel patrons (and employees) are hiding – and almost everyone has

The style of Hotel dusk pleasantly surprised me when I started playing. The first thing you notice is you have to use the DS sideways like reading a book. On the left screen you get a 3D view of where you are and on the right screen (touch screen) you get a 2D map that you can move around in by using the stylus. Initially I found this layout a little hard to use since I have been used to games like Phoenix Wright where you move around by selecting an area to go from a list but it takes no time before you end up mastering movement around the hotel. The investigation parts of the game, where you investigate a character, are intuitive to play. You talk to a person and when something seems odd, a question mark comes up indicating a question you want to ask them. After talking to them, you then get to pick, from a list, the question you want to ask.

The graphics used in the game reminds me of old black and white detective films, which I really liked, but the characters seemed to look a little out of place amongst their 3D environments. You really do get into the game after a while and the characters in the game really do show some depth – especially when you unravel each of their stories.

Hotel dusk has a whole bunch of puzzles to solve that really use the capabilities of the DS touch screen well. You will be tapping away furiously with the stylus to try to solve each different puzzle that you come across in the game. One thing about this game is that the puzzles vary a lot and sometimes it’s a little hard to figure out what you have to do exactly in the puzzle since it doesn’t really give instructions on what to do with the stylus but this is just a minor problem.

The story is done quite well and you generally don’t know what is going to happen till you get to the end of the game. I quite enjoyed finding out what each characters secret was and was quite surprised at what you find out in the end if the game…but I won’t tell you, you will have to play it yourself to find out. One thing to note is that there are different endings to the game, which change according to the amount of times you get a game over in game and have to retry. So, if you want the best ending (with a bonus ending video) then you will have to complete the game without any game overs.

The in-game music was done particularly well and there were quite a few different tunes depending on where you where in the hotel or what you were doing (interrogating, finding a secret etc). You only realise how many different tunes there are when you get the use of the jukebox. The music is quite simple but I felt that it suited the time the game was set in and the mood of the down on his luck ex-cop looking for the friend who betrayed him.

Overall, I think Hotel Dusk is one of the best, if not the best, detective game out on the DS so far. This is aided by the fact that it is entirely designed for the DS system, unlike some games that have been ported from GBA. The film noir story line and graphics go well with the detective aspect of the game and give you a sense of the 1970’s America. If an intriguing, well thought out detective game for the DS is what you are looking for, Hotel Dusk is the one for you.

By Ashman