From zero to nine

Whether or not you've been through the Nintendo DS era, there's a good chance that your favorite titles aren't 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors.

From zero to nine

Knowing the author of that game, or Kotaro Uchikoshi, is then an even more rare eventuality, but not because of the quality of the title in question but because of its very particular nature: Uchikoshi's works are mergers between classic graphic adventures and Visual Japanese novels, with very strong roots in science fiction and in the works of authors such as Vonnegut and Asimov; from a purely narrative point of view we speak of frighteningly complex works, whose notoriety within a small niche is a half miracle (and does not correspond to an equal commercial success). Yet someone 999 bought it, leading the developers of Spike Chunsoft to the production of two sequels despite the fact that the series had not taken root on Japanese soil. The result? A cornucopia of unexpected twists, puzzles, complex characters and tangled events known as the Zero Escape Series, consisting of three games spread across different platforms (DS, 3DS, PlayStation Vita and PC), which a select few have had the opportunity to fully enjoy over the years. Perhaps for its historical importance - it is believed that Uchikoshi is the initiator of series like the Danganronpa, and the influence is noticeable - or perhaps for the simple desire to relaunch a saga that deserves more notoriety than the one it achieved, now comes against all expectations in the homes of owners of PC, PlayStation 4 and Playstation Vita a remastered collection of the first two titles of the trilogy, 999 and Virtue's Last Reward, called The Nonary Games. We obviously tried it.




Two notable and little known Japanese titles are back with The Nonary Games: here is our review!


Mathematics is a question of life or death

Opinions on the quality of the three Zero Series games differ enormously from person to person. The first is almost unanimously considered the one with the best plot, but the improvements to the gameplay of the following chapters have been appreciated by many, not to mention that the many connections resolved in the last title, Zero Time Dilemma, make it difficult to understand all the elements. Virtue's Last Reward due to its extreme complexity.

From zero to nine

999, simpler and more self-conclusive, is therefore the one most usable by the general public, and this re-edition only improves its already remarkable characteristics. Let's go into a little more detail: in 999 you play the young Junpei, who wakes up trapped in the cabin of a ship with a strange numbered watch on his wrist and soon discovers that he has been involved in a sort of sadistic game along with nine others. people, called Nonary Game. The identity of the other individuals is not known, apart from a childhood friend of the protagonist, nor is it known why they are on the ship; on the other hand the final aim is to escape trying to gather as much information as possible and to understand what gave life to that strange situation. Many of you, at this point, will inevitably think of Saw, but in 999 the horror influences are very few and the plot delves into science fiction themes that then explode in the following chapters. We are faced with a frighteningly branched game, which in its original form had to be completed several times to reach the various endings and get all the pieces of the puzzle, with all due respect to those who cannot stand repetition. In this new version, however, 999 is practically reborn thanks to the inclusion of elements that were part of its sequel, Virtue's Last Reward: the interface has changed to better marry the new platforms after the abandonment of the double screen of the Nintendo DS, not to mention that a very comfortable narrative scheme has been inserted that allows you to play the chapters individually in order to delve into the various crossroads of the story . Add a sensitive speeding up of the texts (with a lot of possibility to scroll them quickly) and you will get a much more enjoyable experience than its basic form.



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It must be said that the scheme in 999 works significantly worse than the one present in Virtue, since structurally the first game was not designed to support it, but its addition is still very important and goes alongside significant technical improvements, including a redesign of almost all the still screens of the game, of the characters (they are drawn and animated in a rather basic way), and the inclusion of the complete dubbing in English and Japanese that was missing only from this chapter.

From zero to nine

Lots of nice touches, which clash when you notice the unchanged three-dimensional models of certain objects from the Nintendo DS era, but certainly cannot be criticized as a whole. Understandably, Virtue's Last Reward has undergone less significant changes as it is a 3D graphics game, and its limitations are apparent ... yet the Spikes have done a passable job anyway, capable of not distracting the player too much from the remarkable quality of the plot and not distorting the functional gameplay (always divided between "escape" phases full of puzzles and purely narrative moments with multiple choices ). Having said that, offering these two games without the third chapter, Dilemma, does not seem to us a very sensible choice for the relaunch of the brand: as already specified, from the second chapter onwards, the narrative of the series takes unexpected and very complicated paths, which would certainly create less friction if instantly reconnected to the third child of Uchikoshi. Offering only the first two pieces has the flavor of a "gift in half", despite the fact that these are titles deserving to be played by all lovers of good stories and adventures. On the other hand, it is difficult to be particularly critical of the other elements: the price is not very low, but we are talking about video games capable of offering many hours of entertainment thanks to their complexity, and the only annoying technical flaw we have found concerns the precision of the cursor in the selection of the objects, obviously far from that of the stylus. Once these problems are easily ignored, we are talking about an excellent collection, which has been able to amaze us with its overall quality.



Comment

Tested version PlayStation 4 Price 40 € Resources4Gaming.com

8.5

Readers (2)

9.1

Your vote

The Nonary Games is a nice surprise, not only for the quality of the titles involved - which still deserve to be played by fans of Visual Novel and similar, and are superior to many of their "successors" - but also for the quality of the work. fact, which makes the 999 enormously more enjoyable and updates Virtue's Last Reward just enough not to disfigure. The lack of the third piece of the puzzle, or Zero Time Dilemma, is quite serious in a product that should relaunch this deserving series, but if you love the genre we can only recommend the purchase. To date there are few adventures of this quality

PRO

  • Both titles in the collection deserve to be played for their sublime narrative
  • Big improvements to 999, not only on a technical level
AGAINST
  • Manca Zero Time Dilemma
  • Minor interface and accuracy issues, and no Spanish language
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