turtlethetaffer reviewed Zero Escape: Virtue's Last Reward for the 3DS...

...and gave it a 8.5.

Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors was a rarity for the video game medium; it was a visual novel. In an era where games have become highly action oriented and focused on fulfilling power fantasies, 999 came along and became a sleeper hit, much to the surprise of both gamers and Aksys (the publishing company) alike. It was a story driven puzzle game that focused on replay to get the best possible ending so that eager players could solve its many mysteries. The original game was, by all accounts, great. The puzzles were all just tough enough without being obtuse, it featured a memorable cast of great characters and one of the most well written stories ever seen in a video game.

Of course, the game's ending didn't seem to leave much room for a sequel (I won't spoil anything in the event that you're reading this review and haven't played either game). It seemed to wrap up all of the pertinent plot points into a satisfying conclusion. That made me feel a bit skeptical about 999's sequel, Virtue's Last Reward. I didn't see how the writers could have possibly justified a follow up to the original, especially with an extremely similar set up.

Like 999, VLR is about nine people trapped in something known as the Nonary Game: Ambidex Edition, which is a life or death struggle to escape from wherever the players are. It opens with the main character, a young man named Sigma, waking up in an elevator. With him is a mysterious girl with white hair named Phi. A screen in the elevator suddenly shoots to life, and a colorful, insane digital rabbit informs the two of them that if they don't find a way out of the place, it will collapse down its shaft, killing them both.

After the solving the first puzzle, Phi and sigma escape, only to find they were never in an elevator at all; it was a giant industrial box, instead. Soon, they find that six other people have been put in the same situation as them. They all woke up in the room and needed to escape, otherwise they'd die.

These nine players initially seem much more over the top than the cast of 999. For instance, there's K, a hulking man inside a suit of robotic armor. There's Alice, who is dressed like an Egyptian hooker. And there's Dio, who is dressed like a cross between a circus ringleader and a pimp. It was off putting at first, but it wasn't long before the cast grew on me. Much like the first game, their appearances are very deceiving. Everyone has secrets they're hiding and stories to tell.

Anyways, they are all wearing bracelets with the number "3" on them, although the colors of the numbers are all different. This is because, unlike the first game, where everyone had an assigned number, the way to escape this edition of the Nonary game is by earning 9 bracelet points, or BP. Additionally, rather than numeric values determining who goes through what door, it's their color. Basically, the players need to mix and match their colors to form colors on the many doors in order to progress further into the game.

The newest mechanic added to the game is the "Ally" or "Betray" feature. Basically, after completing a puzzle room, the players must all vote against the other players they were with (although each team features to people in a pair and one solo, so it's a two against one ordeal). If both players choose to ally, they both get two points. However, if one player chooses betray and the other chooses ally, the betrayer gets three points and the ally loses two points. Additionally, if a player's BP falls below one (or they break the rules of the game somehow), they are first injected with an anesthetic that puts them to sleep, followed by a poison that shuts down their muscles, eventually stopping their lungs. The Ally and Betray sequences are some of the most intense moments in the story, since you never know who chooses what.

Additionally, each time you vote, or choose what colored door to go through, the game branches off into a different story thread. Like in the first game, there are multiple endings, totaling around twenty four as opposed to the original's six (although, most of the endings are merely game overs, with no answers). In the first, in order to choose differently, you needed to replay the entire game. In VLR, there is a handy flow chart that allows you to jump back to any point in the story to make a different choice. This alleviates the majority of the tedium from the first game, and it helps with the pacing a lot, plus it's explained as a plot device, which is cool.

The reason I say "most of" the tedium is because, up until the middle portion of each timeline, the story is incredibly similar between threads. You will still see the same events unfold multiple times, which is slightly disappointing, but sensible within the context of the story. I wish there was a fast forward button, simply because there are times where you'll be mashing the A button to get to a part that you haven't seen yet.

The game also uses the timeline hopping mechanic to cleverly guide you along the "right" story path. There are times where there will be a dilemma in one thread, and the only way to solve it is to go to another one, then come back later. This both makes sense in the story, and it's an extremely effective way to make sure the players aren't accidentally playing ahead and seeing things that answer questions they don't have yet.

Thankfully, there is no tedium with the puzzles. All told, there's somewhere around twenty five different puzzle rooms and there is never a point where you'll need to replay one, unless you feel a desire to. It's even further alleviated by the solutions to the rooms; after solving everything in a room, you get a password for a safe, which holds the key to get out of there. Additionally, there's always a second passcode to get (usually obtained by either completing a puzzle in a different way or just finding a hidden puzzle) that, when put into the safe, will net you Bonus files. These give you clues and extra info about the characters, events, and ideas in the game.

The catch to getting these secret files is the difficulty setting. In this game, you can play on Hard or Easy. On Easy, characters will give you hints about how to solve puzzles. On Hard, you are given basic information and more or less left on your own. The incentive for beating rooms on hard is that you won't get all the extra files if you beat the room on easy, and some of the files are absolutely needed to get a full grasp for what is going on.

The puzzles themselves tend to be a mixed bag. Some of them are reminiscent of the first game; that is, rather simple, but still requires some mental gymnastics to figure out. These are the most enjoyable, since you'll rarely feel stumped, but you'll still feel a sense of reward when you complete them. Other puzzles are really tough, sometimes bordering on obtuse. I won't give away anything here, but some of the late game puzzles are insane, and require an eye for detail that people with OCD may or may not have. Others seem to be more complex than they are, which is frustrating when you're playing on Hard, since the solution could be right in front of you and you may not even realize it.

The same goes for the Secret File puzzles. As I said, you obtain the codes usually by completing a puzzle in a different way than normal. Sometimes, the alternate way isn't too tough to figure out and other times it's nigh impossible to solve. Again, this can lead to some frustration.

The graphics and audio are also a bit of a mixed bag. The character models look good, even though they all have only a few poses, but environments tend to come across as too generic. There are a few puzzle rooms that are good looking, but most of them just look far too industrial. It makes sense, but it's still not a hugely pleasant game to look at. The same goes for the music. It's decent, and the main theme is pretty nice, but none of it is especially memorable. The voice acting, though, is top notch. None of the characters ever fall into the stereotypical "over the top"- ness that usually characterizes dubbed Japanese games, aside from one the crazy AI Rabbit, but that's how it was written. The actors actually help a lot in bringing the cast to life, and they add emotion to scenes that wouldn't have had the same effect if they were just written.

For all the puzzle driven gameplay has going for it, the reason to play this game is the story. As I mentioned in the beginning of the review, I didn't see how the writers could have justified a sequel to 999. I won't spoil anything here, but they did it, and did it with flying colors. The story is loaded with twists and turns that actually make sense within the confines of this universe, and it ties into the first game in some truly mind blowing ways. To top it off, this game manages to work in some humor among the proceedings, and it never comes off feeling forced or fake.

Speaking of, playing the first game should be a must if you plan on playing this. Granted, you could play VLR without playing 999; all the pertinent information from the first game is explained in this one, which means you won't be left in the dark about anything. But, having played the first, I must say that the plot of VLR wouldn't have been quite as mind blowing if I hadn't played 999. There are many references to the original, and there are several mysteries that will be immediately clear as soon as you start up the game, like the idea behind the Nonary Game and why Sigma can hop timelines. Think about it this way… Would you start reading The Hunger Games at book two? The same idea applies here.

The only issue I have with the story is that it lacks the "personal" feeling of the first game. 999 was a small scale sci- fi story. VLR ups the ante, a lot. Without giving anything away, I'll say that it expands the story in a huge way. If the first game was a sci- fi horror novella, VLR is a full blown five hundred page sci- fi novel. The conflict that is introduced is certainly interesting, but it doesn't feel as effective as the first game's plot. That's not to say it's bad by any means… On the contrary, the story is meticulously crafted, mind blowing, intelligent and awesome. It just doesn't quite "feel" as emotional as the first game, if that makes sense. It also ends on a cliffhanger, which is slightly disappointing, since it makes the entire game feel like a set up for the next one.

None of the game's flaws should stop you from playing VLR, though. Assuming you've played the original game, and you're of the proper age, this is a must play game for anyone who enjoys quality storytelling. The puzzles are what you play through, but the story is what you play for. Of course, if you don't like reading, this game is not for you. But, for everyone else, this is a game that must be played to be believed. If you haven't played either game yet, start at the start. Play 999 first, then this. You won't regret it. So long, and thanks for reading.

Get the full article at GameSpot

---