Zero Escape: The Nonary Games on PC

Zero Time Dilemma was the first game inside Zero Escape series to create its PC debut, so it is no real shock that the first 2 games would eventually make that platform jump too. Zero Escape: The Nonary Games is often a two-pack which includes the critically acclaimed 9 Hours 9 Persons 9 Doors and Virtue’s Last Reward.

If you’re a newcomer to the series, the only thing you need to know is that the Nonary Game is actually a game that you will put your life jeopardized. In 999, nine participants are trapped over a sinking ship with only nine hours to find a door using a ‘9’ into it so as to escape. Though Virtue’s Last Reward is often a sequel to 999, the stories are pretty detached from 1 another, which game has nine new participants engaged in the identical game. In the two cases, we’re facing an evil mastermind named Zero, and several crazy sci-fi things happen.

The critical thing to note about Zero Escape so is this can be a visual novel series, sprinkled with escape room puzzles. Gameplay sections are cracked into chunks of voiced text and intense puzzles with lovely music playing phone. These games feature multiple endings and it’s impossible to achieve their true endings while having first run. Because of this you must score at the least a number of bad endings prior to finally unlock the genuine path which leads one to all of the story and experience this series is offering. It is all worth it, though; I’ve often?declared that the Zero Escape series tells a superbly engaging plot that can basically conveyed throughout the computer game medium. When you are fine with going through copious amounts of text and banging your head against the wall while aiming to solve some deceptively challenging escape room puzzles, Zero Escape need to be right up your alley.

Nothing ever adds up within this series, Sigma.

That said, how can The Nonary Games endure as being a port of the initial couple of entries? My expertise in Virtue’s Last Reward has remained largely much like when i played it around the Vita. The voice acting remains solid, in both English and Japanese, this also game still features a number of the toughest puzzles the series has to offer. All in all, it’s really a pretty barebones port of Virtue’s Last Reward. However, everyone knows that it is not the highlight with the Nonary Games. The true meat lies in the 999 port, which features voice acting, new reading modes, as well as a Flowchart function just like the ones we ended up in Virtue’s Last Reward and Zero Time Dilemma.

The best addition for 999 is a opportunity to swap between Novel and Adventure mode. Novel mode provides a similar reading experience within the DS release. The lovable character sprites and backgrounds replenish your screen, while lines of white text overlay that presentation. You’ll be able to investigate the dialogue lines (now fully voiced during this mode), along with the more ‘novel’ bits where game describes Junpei’s thoughts and emotions, the brevity of what’s taking place inside story, as well as elaborate descriptions to your surroundings. It’s basically the original DS experience in places you feel like you’re reading the proper book amongst character dialogue.

Adventure mode removes that excess writing and only presents you with voiced lines. Because of this you’ll not really need to discover the grotesque remains from the Ninth Man since he breaks the laws from the Nonary Game along at the start of your story. Instead, things are presented in modern visual novel dialogue boxes, just as the ones we come across in Virtue’s Last Reward and various games in the genre like Danganronpa. It’s actually a pretty thoughtful feature, specifically if you simply want to quickly enter their strengths within the story and not having to see the extra information. In spite of this, the action will force you into Novel mode during key points inside the story. I thought this was likely done this that you simply wouldn’t miss vital information which would aid in making certain choices in deciding how the story proceeds, or important descriptions offering you with useful clues about other characters.

I recommend playing in Adventure mode, as which provides a most important and condensed 999 experience without much compromise. When using the way that the video game switches you into Novel mode, which makes certain that that you do not miss any important clues.

Character art looks pretty spiffy in 999’s port.

The Flowchart feature is one other cool addition to 999, this is a wonderful manner of permitting you to track your in-game progress, together with the amount of endings you’ve unlocked. It worked well in Virtue’s Last Reward and Zero Time Dilemma by allowing you jump to precise events you want to replay, and it’s handy in 999 in the process. An original DS release was obviously a slightly chore to relax and play through due to the way you was required to feel the same fecal material dialogue regularly. Despite having a fast-forward function, it’s definitely a problem to need to sit through repeated dialogue (and quite often puzzles) to go to the newest stuff. The Flowchart may spoil the experience by revealing the game’s flow and just how many possible outcomes you can aquire at a decision, specifically newcomers, however it is an excellent problem when you don’t think of it until you beat the experience once.

999’s shiny new port also contains full voice acting, that may be slightly hit-or-miss. The English voices sound solid usually, but you will discover a good number of instances the spot that the performances just feel a little too ham-fisted or overacted. I guess a number on the problem also originates from having played the original 999 rather extensively, where character ‘voices’ were simply robotic blips and boops. You can form your own personal impression of the a personality should appear to be, of course, if the latest voice acting doesn’t quite jive using your initial impression, the skills can be somewhat jarring. The Nonary Games can give dual audio tracks though, so you could always swap to Japanese voices in order for you. It really seems to be a bit of an oversight not to give you the replacement for turn off voices completely and get back to the robotic blips for players who might prefer that.

The few in-game cutscenes and background animations definitely look a lttle bit dated in 999, and upping the resolution on PC certainly didn’t slow up the roughness in their looks. 999 is surely an old game, however, so that’s probably for being expected. The smoothness sprites and artwork are all gorgeous and crisp, just don’t go in expecting the full HD remake with redone backgrounds and animations.

Overall, Zero Escape: The Nonary Games is a really solid compilation which offers an incredible visual novel experience on PC (and also the PS4 and Vita, for that matter). For longtime fans who’re informed about the series, the HD facelift that 999 has gotten is probably worth an extra look too. 999 and Virtue’s Last Reward aren’t essentially the most graphically impressive games around, however the series still boasts the single most engaging and well-written stories we have seen in online games, and newcomers who didn’t have an opportunity to relax and play them around the DS or Vita can be remiss to give that now.

Score: 4/5 – Great