If you've been living under a rock, which means you've been outside, and probably not playing video games, you might not know that to play this game, you hold the DS sideways, like a book. And that's really what this title is, a book, that happens to require you to move around from place to place and solve occasional puzzles to advance the stories.
The puzzles aren't that hard, although you can "lose" the game (by getting tossed out of the hotel) with a wrong move here or there, so it's a good idea to save your progress periodically. I would have liked a feature in the game to detect when you're wandering aimlessly and offer you a little more help. Sometimes the game takes patience.
Actually it often takes lots of patients. It's more of an interactive book than a game. If you enjoy story, characters and reading, you will definitely find this title a breath of fresh air. If you're not a reader you won't make it through the first chapter. I have friends who hated this game because it was too slow, yet would happily spend hours developing a character in an RPG. To each his own.
I find the characters really enjoyable. The repetitive music is really grating. Also the knocking on doors effect by tapping is cool, but after awhile that gets too slow. I think they could have used a few more ideas. I personally really enjoyed the "squiggle vision" pencil art but some people may not like it.
I think if you're a reader, or you like really original games, you need to pick this up. Maybe wait until you can find one used. If lots of words bore you, look elsewhere.
2008 ben langberg, all rights reserved.