Kyle Hyde doesn’t feel like a video game character he feels like a movie star, and there’s a grand irony in a game that is the antithesis of the big budget, cinematic release feeling so filmic. Sure, lots of games have pretty cool effects or gameplay elements, but a human sense of cool that makes you think ‘I wish I could be like him’? That is a very rare treat us gamers have almost forgotten we should see more often. The kind of cool more commonly seen in a black-and-white film about gangsters the kind of cool Quentin Tarantino can magic up in a moment. When Hotel Dusk really surprises though, is not through its drawings or dialogue or eccentricities, but when you get it in your hands and realise what the sum of these parts is namely cool. The character art may only on occasion shimmer with the odd flash of pastel colour, but the substance, quality and technique of each drawing drips with the kind of panache normally reserved for the better comics. The cutscenes and backgrounds for the text sections consist of stylish, muted hand paintings, and the characters that appear in front are made up of incredibly well drawn pencil sketches, that are part-animated in a similar way to the more garish illustrations of Phoenix Wright. Gaming stance aside, the other unusual aspect of Hotel Dusk is the visuals. This is a novel twist on the standard DS position, but in reality does little to the experience of playing, other than to prove how ergonomic Nintendo’s handheld is, whichever way you look at it. Quite literally, you hold it like a book, with the twin screens running portrait rather than landscape. The more obvious comparison with the bound pages of a novel is the way you hold the DS to play. As you play you are constantly bemused by countless loose ends, and the compulsion to read on and discover more is irresistible. Fear not though, as the dialogue and plot is so witty and well paced, playing never feels anything like a chore.įrom the outset a lot of details are fairly murky, from the double purpose of your sales company who also track down missing objects, to the opening cut-scene that suggests you are not only looking for your partner, but are the man who put a bullet in him. Firstly, Cing’s adventure is largely text-based, meaning lots of reading. The clear literary inspirations that Hotel Dusk draws on are not the only similarities the game shares with the ancient analogue format that is the book. The plot, which sees you struggling to juggle the monotony of a salesman’s life with the burning desire to uncover the whereabouts of Kyle’s ex-partner, is straight from the pages of a Graham Greene novel, and the protagonist’s snarling arrogance and apparent ice-cold heart make him a classic noir anti-hero. As his wonderfully clichéd name suggests, Hotel Dusk is a game heavily inspired by film noir and pulp crime novels. You assume the role of Kyle Hyde, a hard-boiled ex-cop turned door-to-door salesman. It oozes cool, character and unique style, yet while all these are important, the substance of the puzzles will determine the success of Hotel Dusk. Rather than wasting time begrudging LucasArts for their ongoing lack of point ‘n’ click output, finally fans of adventure puzzle games can while away their hours in the fantastically stylish world of Hotel Dusk. One developer who recognises this is Cing, the team behind Another Code: Twin Memories, and now Hotel Dusk: Room 215. Given the fact that the DS features twin screens and stylus interactivity, it’s a real surprise that more point ‘n’ click adventures haven’t graced the popular handheld.
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