Warning: If you love puzzles or mysteries, or both, you might not be able to put this game down.
I have never bought a graphic novel in my life, and very seldom play puzzle games, although I do love mysteries. In fact, I just bought the game for kicks so I can have something to play on my DSi while on a 12 hour international flight.
However, something magical happened. I became so hooked, that, once I started playing, I didn't even turn off my DS throughout the entire game, which should tell you something about this game( other than the fact I usually don't play puzzle games very often).
The game starts you off in a dark place, and then all of the sudden a mysterious character appears, gases you, and leaves you out cold. While dozens of possibilities start to fill your mind, you are left with very little clues as to where you are. I don't like to go too deep into the story as it is a mystery/puzzle game after all, but I will tell you that you will not be dissapointed.
One of the things that I liked about this game is that it constantly generates suspense, mystery, perceptions, deceptions, and emotions throughout the entire play through. The dialogue is very descriptive and metaphoric adding to the games suspense and eerieness. Another thing is that the character's weren't as "cookie cut" as I thought they'd be, which is a huge turn on for people like me, because I hate predicting all the characters and plots. The story's narrative is told in both third-person and first person.
Gameplay-
When I first started playing, the in-game description of the cat-and-mouse play almost had me very excited. While the puzzles can be hard at times, requiring lots of mental fortitude and logic.
This game goes through three phases: Story (hefty plot dialogue), Descision Making (making very throughtful decisions, altering the story and it's endings), and Escape (solving puzzles, looking for ways to escape). The story is unique just like any other good mystery novel with it's twists and turns, and the puzzles can be fun to solve as they are very cleverly crafted. The art is very crisp, and the animation has many frames to it (meaning the artist(s) weren't lazy about making a complete motion, which is another subtle eye pleaser.)
One of the few things that kept me from giving this game a 9 or higher is the fact that I felt cheated when it came to the Escape phases. For example, when you first a room, you have 81 seconds to find the DEAD(deactivation device) in a room before all of your party members die, only to find out that the DEAD is ALWAYS automatically found. This sort of ruined some of the tension and suspense for me. Others may find this thing kind of a breeze. Another thing was, while you have "9" hours to finish the game, this game practically chooses the time spent, regardless of how many real hours you've spent playing.
If this game would've had voice other than a few grunts and moans here and there, I think this would've been a better game. Sometimes hearing the emotions and thoughts of characters can flesh things out.
Other than some of it's minor suspense killers, this game is definitely worth playing for any puzzle/myster fanatic, and you won't be dissapointed as it has a good replay value with multiple endings.