Platform:  Nintendo DS
Genre: Adventure/Visual Novel

999: Nine Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors was a surprisingly good game that I picked up at a Gamestop years ago while on the road for work.  I had never heard of it, but the covers looked interesting enough.  I don’t think I slept much the first night I started playing it because it sucked me in.

In this game, you play as a young Japanese man who suddenly awakens to find himself in a room on a ship.  He has no idea how he got there and it’s your job to help him figure out what is going on.  Once you find your way out of your room, you find that there are 8 other people in the same situation.  Your goal is to find a way off the ship.

This game is similar in concept to that of the movie Saw, but it’s not gory or even scary. However, I still wouldn’t let the little ones play it (12 or under maybe?). There are tense moments and it also feels like a whodunnit at times.  This game has EXCELLENT writing and some may call it a visual novel.  This was my intro to such games and I was blown away.

The decisions you make throughout the game greatly affect the ending.  In fact, there are 9 different endings, so replay-ability is very high.  I have discovered 3 of the endings thus far.  Nintendo DS games are starting to get pricey, but if you can find this one on the cheap, check it out!