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Not for the reading impaired.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: September 17, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I LOVED this game. It pulled me in and made me finish it. When I got to the end (little bit of a spoiler: it wasn't a "happy" ending but it did come to a resolution, sorta)I was still thinking about it days later. Why the three stars on fun and the title I gave this review?

This game is basically a novel, you read a LOT. Now for someone like me who can sit down and read a good book all day, someone who appreciates good character development (little spoiler: which is crucial because virtually all of the characters are inter-related in the plot of the story), someone who thoroughly enjoys reading this game is a perfect score all across the board. Don't, however, expect any fast-paced action (there's only one section where "time" is crucial.

In short, this is an excellent game if and only if you enjoy reading.

Sounded better than it Played

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: November 28, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I'm no stranger to point-and-click games- harking back from the PC days of Myst and the like so I had high hopes for Hotel Dusk, however I was disappointed. After many hours of gameplay and a few chapters in, I simply got bored and frusterated. The visuals are very film-noir which matches with the "feel" of a detective novel, but they aren't appealing to me (flat, dark, sparse) and the characters weren't interesting enough for me to care about what happened to them. The music was repetitive and annoying. Some puzzles were easy, others were impossible (requring me to cheat once or twice just to keep moving forward because some of the triggers were impossible to locate). Some puzzles were just plain strange. At times the character simply had to walk around or sit and wait until a certain time (i.e. 6:00 pm) for something to happen or someone to come by to talk to. And heaven forbid you asked or said the wrong thing, because then it's game over. Overall the story and gameplay didn't hook me enough to keep me interested, and I ended up returning it unfinished. I've since picked up Trace Memory and am enjoying it much better, even though it came out before Hotel Dusk. The amount of reading didn't bother me, but I'd say this game is only good for hardcore detective or mystery fans who like plodding through this stuff because the rest will find it lacking.

Not as good as I expected

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 0 / 1
Date: June 05, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I read some great reviews on this game; one even came from my favorite (non-biased) electronic gaming magazine. Played it from start to finish and, well... I just expected so much more. My biggest beef was the extremely long dialogues. Play this game if you like the idea of walking around in a small hotel, talking to people over, and over, and over, and over...

Unique... But Not For Everyone

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: June 18, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I really enjoyed this game. I thought it was a very unique game - I've never seen another game like this. As other reviews have said, there is a lot of dialogue, but it didn't really bother me. The dialogue heaviness made it almost like a novel you could just get lost in, learning about each character and interacting with the Hotel Dusk world. Kyle Hyde, the main character, also gets to solve some puzzles throughout the game - some of which are pretty difficult! - and I loved that aspect of the game. It was so much more than what I had expected when I thought of what a "detective game" would be like. There are also various endings you can get, depending on your gameplay. It's very addictive, and I know I lost myself in the game each time I played - wanting to know what happened, and wanting to know what came next!

I do wish there were voices to the characters, though. It was only dialogue, and I think the game could have been improved if there had been some variation. Another downside is that it was pretty short, for me. I finished the entire game in about a week, give or take a few days. Also, it seems like one of those games you only really play once. With other games, you can always go back and replay certain things, find hidden worlds, yada yada... but once I finished this game, I just kind of felt like I really didn't want to have to sit through ALL that dialogue again. The dialogue didn't bug me the first time around, but doing it all over again would be a bit much for me.

Overall, I liked the game a lot and it got a lot of bonus points for creativity and uniqueness. I would recommend it!

Great Game!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 05, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game was different than I imagined but still really good. You go around talking to people and exploring the hotel using items, ect, Over time you get each character to open up and reveal their reasons for being at Hotel Dusk or some other very personal facts. You make conversation choices and the wrong one could end up leading to events where you lose the game. You get to try again immediatly from where the scene begain so it's not to bad as you might think. There is a main walking screen where if applicable you can zoom in and examine different sections of the hotel more closely, you use it to pick up items and talk to people, ect. Then when speaking to someone another screen comes up showing you on one ds screen and the person you're talking to on the other. You also play with the DS vertically which is pretty unique. You get used to it pretty quick. The art work is also unique for the characters. If you like rpg or mystery games this is a good choice.

good story, but gameplay suffers

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 09, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The premise behind Hotel Dusk is an excellent return to puzzle and mystery gaming in the tradition of Myst. The story is both engaging and clever, with enough plot twists and shady dealings to scratch ones sherlock itch right through until the end of the game.
The game does however, suffer from a few gameplay design decisions. First, the story is painfully linear, not in that you should be able to find out certain things out of order, but there are instances where for example you have promised to do two things at a particular hour, and the game refuses to let you advance to one of the two concurrent things before you have done the "first" thing. This lack of flexibilty breaks the suspention of disbelief and pulls the player away from the story.
Second, the game tends to assume that you'll always finish it in one go, meaning that if you have to reload, you'll have to sit through all of the converstaions again at thier full, unaccelerated length, which quickly becomes boring and distracting from the story, since you really just want to get back to where you were when you failed.
Last, there are a number of doors that no matter how many times you visit them you must manually view the door and open it via the handle. I don't understand this decision, because there are several doors that once accessed this way simply open when you push the door button, skipping the superflous handle bit. Why this was done with some doors and not with others I do not understand, and the game suffers from feeling unnessisarily slowed down due to this design choice, which detracts form the storys rythm. the doors in reference are hallway doors that you woul dnever have to knock on, and there should be no need to fiddle with the handle once you have unlocked and opened the door for the first time.
Though the story is flawless and brilliant, the game suffers from one problem here as well. The american player will consistently wonder about the anachronisms in Hydes dialogue, as he is a 1970's ex-cop who talks like a 30's or 40's era character, using words like 'dame' wich although a classic part of the story style, don't quite match up with the 1970s. The writers may have wanted to consider moving the story back thirty years and replacing the pager with a front desk clerk or other system of message alerting, since the pager seems to be the only thing that requres the 70's era. I believe that the pager was included to speed along the story, and that this design choice should have been omitted to keep the suspention of disbelief.
Having said that however, the game is a masterpiece of both innovation in control scheme, art direction, ressurection of film noir into a videogame, and a brilliant mystery that you won't be able to guess until the final revalation comes to you. My rating reflects the brilliant innovation of the game and the excellent story along with the awkward design choices that were made.

Interactive Story...sort of

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: July 19, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This game is a interesting game if your into stuff like this. It kind of follows the concept of those interactive novels you use to read when you were kids. "Mr. Smith comes outside the library and decides to go, A: Left, B: Right, or C: Gets into a taxi." You pick an option. The storyline is not entirely open ended. Actually, the storyline is pretty linear. It pushes you to pick the correct option or else you'll quickly get a "Game Over" screen. Hotel Dusk has a lot of open ended RPG elements but it only goes half way. Those select elements are at time too obvious and not well developed.
The puzzles and mini-game are actually pretty good. There fun and challenging. You really do have to pay attention to the storyline which is extensive. It consist of you (Kyle Hyde) investigating and solving four separate mysteries inside the Hotel Dusk. The characters are multi-demensional and well developed. Kyle Hyde, a former New York City police detective, has his own problems and short-coming that he's dealing with and subsequently gets saddle with the problems of the other guest.
The story lines are interesting and will hold your attention. I wanted to know what will happen. If they make a second one, there is a lot about the game play that could be improved and some voices could be added, which I know the DS doesn't do.

Worth getting!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: August 20, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I thought I would get this game with a little extra money I had, I wasn't too thrilled until I started playing. This game is fantastic! great plot and characters. If you get this game you will be satisfied.

Great adventure game

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: March 09, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This was a fun adventure game, it really reminded me of the old point-and-click games. The art style is cool too, I'm sure a lot of people will mention Take On Me. There *is* a lot of reading involved, I'd describe this as an interactive detective novel more than anything. But I like reading so it's no biggie.

Most of the puzzles make sense, although there were a couple of times it took me a while to find a "trigger spot" that makes an event happen.

Replay value is maybe not that great. There are 3 different endings as far as I know, but the game was about 15 hours gameplay for me and I don't know that I'd do that all over again to get the different endings.

Overall fun game, I hope developers make more of these!

Slow at first but really picks up

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 24, 2007
Author: Amazon User

This is a really great game. When I first got it I didn't get into it straight away, I was a little put off by the format of the game (holding it sideways and how you walk around).

However, when I picked up the game again and got further into it, I got sucked in. The story is wonderful, it plays like a film Noir or a mystery novel. Some people found this game and it's story to be boring, but if you enjoy a good mystery and classic movies, I think this might be your game. I also highly recommend this game if you enjoy novel/text-based games.

The puzzles and gameplay take a backseat to the story, but the stuff that is there is fun. The graphics are typical DS fare for the most part, although I found the way the characters were portrayed was really cool and unique. The gameplay is fairly simple, but can be frustrating at first. Some puzzles are difficult and hard to figure out.

The music is good, but it tends to be rather repetative. There aren't a lot of music tracks, so a few get played a lot. The good thing is that once you're into the game, you hardly notice the music at all.

Overall, I found this an engrossing and fun game. My only gripe about it is that I finished it so quickly, I really wish it was longer!

Pros:
-Great story and character development
-Good graphics, characters especially neat
-Good music
-Fun puzzles

Cons:
-A bit slow at first
-Music a bit repetative
-Gameplay is frustrating at first
-A bit short

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