Last Window (nds)
Categories:
[blog]
Tags:
[review],
[video games],
[nds]
Release Date: Sep 2010 Time to complete: ~13hrs
Hotel Dusk was an adventure/puzzle game on the DS that I greatly enjoyed, but frankly can't remember a lot about. Last Window is a sequel, not so much in story in particular, but in characters. It would be absolutely possible to play the scenario without having played Hotel Dusk, but a couple of characters would be missing introductions which would be a bit odd.
While Last Window is again an adventure/puzzle game, the puzzles aren't common or difficult (although the last puzzle is quite a jump up - interestingly enough there's a physically sealed classified section in the manual that looks to provide hints on solving it), leading to a pretty linear feeling - the game leans much harder to the adventure side of the equation. If you're after real brain teasers then this is unlikely to satisfy.
The style and atmosphere are much more what this game is about, trying to find various secrets about the apartment complex in which you reside. The 1980s setting makes for some quaint activities, like receiving pager messages and having to go to a phone to call back (I can't imagine many younger players understanding this concept!).
The characters are fairly interesting, some being more or less involved in the secrets of the apartments, but each having some backstory to learn along the way, or a method of helping you. Their stylised, animated portrayals are the signature style of this game series, and are still very nice looking. The protagonist, Kyle, seems to have a little less personality and quirks than I remember from Hotel Dusk. He briefly got me into drinking Bourbon from the first game!
Music was adequate but not particularly catchy or listenable outside the game environment, unfortunately. Characters tend to have their own themes, so you get the good old experience of hearing a theme and rolling your eyes, saying "Oh great, what does this one want now?".
If you like adventure/puzzle games, my recommendation would be to play Hotel Dusk for sure, and if you really enjoyed that, then play Last Window as well, but otherwise you're not missing anything mindblowing here.