Morphogenetic field theory, Nonary Games, consciousness shifting and the many-worlds interpretation – the cult-favourite Zero Escape series has never been averse to slinging hard maths and complex science ideas at its players, but Zero Time Dilemma takes things one step further. Not only do the trademark quantum mechanics spiels and the brain-twisting, timestreamhopping shenanigans continue to pile up, but this trilogy-closer also asks a big question of all its players: vast swathes of prior knowledge.
Ironically, this visual novel’s premise is actually rather simple. Nine people are locked inside an underground facility – forced to complete escape room style puzzles and kill each other off through modal Decision Games until six of them are slaughtered and the exit is unlocked. But here’s the rub: unless you’re already intimately familiar with the original two games (the Nintendo DS adventure 999: Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors, which never even received a full UK release, and PS Vita’s sublime Virtue’s Last Reward), you’re going to come unstuck very early on. Those bafflingly obtuse phrases that opened this review? You’re supposed to understand what they all mean before you begin playing.
And if you don’t? Well, it is possible to pick up the basic outline of these ideas while you play, but you’re bang out of luck when it comes to knowing who half the cast is, the meaning behind their actions, or their discussions about similar tests in ship-like facilities or futuristic moon bases. There’s not even a brief “Previously On” montage to help you find your feet. Tough luck, newbie.
The Kill Behaviour
In one history of this mag’s creation, I then spend the rest of this review pointing out how this narrow and unwelcoming approach to Zero Time Dilemma really harms its appeal. I highlight how some repeated escape room puzzle ideas make the point-andclick aspect of this entry the weakest in the series. Then Don’t get too attached. There will be blood. Lots and lots of blood. I underline my issues with the central Decision Game mechanic (it’s not as interesting as the original’s Nonary Game or its Ambidex variant from VLR), some rather obscure progression points (prepare to struggle as you unpick the path forwards), and the frustration of a few random choice outcomes that force me to replay identical scenes three times over in order to trigger a different outcome by pure luck.
In another version of history, I instead opt to dedicate the rest of this review to the masterful narrative woven through the entire series. I point out that if there was any justice in this world, director Kotaro Uchikoshi’s story would be just as widely revered as Kojima’s Metal Gear oeuvre. How the meticulously crafted tale not only deals with themes and ideas few other games dare approach, but how its execution is a jawdropping example of non-linear storytelling at its finest. As for it being unwelcoming? Totally understandable, given that this was a cancelled game resurrected purely to placate a rabid fanbase desperate to see the end of the trilogy.
Mighty no. 999
But during this history of OPM126’s production, I instead leverage morphogenetic resonance to appreciate all these points, good and bad. That this is a brave spin on the visual novel format with an experimentally nonlinear pick-and-choose scene mechanic that simply couldn’t be digested in any medium other than a videogame, and for that, it should be celebrated. That it’s also a game with an imperfect global story flowchart UI that can impede progress through lack of clarity, a diary function that doesn’t really account for PS Vita’s touchscreen limitations, and a couple of dangling plot threads that, if tugged too hard, unravel the trilogy’s neat conclusion, making me question whether Uchikoshi’s sown hopeful seeds to tee up a fourth game.
A game of contrasts and challenges, the greatest irony of all is that there’s no dilemma to be had here. Your own Decision Game is simple: Virtue’s Last Reward fans must buy it, no question. Everyone else? Dive into Virtue’s, then surrender to this madness afterwards.
The post Zero Time Dilemma – Noughts And Double Crosses appeared first on Gamers Unite!.
from
http://www.accessibilityforum.org/zero-time-dilemma-noughts-double-crosses/
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