Zero Escape: The Nonary Games is a fresh out of the box new remaster of the two unique Zero Escape games, Virtue’s Last Reward and Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors – otherwise called 999. Initially these games were discharged for the 3DS/PS Vita and Nintendo DS individually and since they are a piece of a set of three, it is incredible to see them all being playable on a solitary stage now, which is the PS Vita and PC. The last Zero Escape game, Zero Time Dilemma, still can’t seem to advance toward the PS4.
On the off chance that you aren’t acquainted with the Zero Escape arrangement, it is a blend of visual novel with some extreme as nail baffles that make you consider the current circumstance. These riddles for the most part include getting away from a room and use cunning mechanics that are as baffling as they are enjoyable to fathom. The composing is additionally strong as a visual novel bringing about some vital characters all through the arrangement and the feeling of puzzle encompassing the game ought to satisfy the individuals who are searching out a not too bad spine chiller.
The most interesting game included in this remastered package is 999, which was originally released as an exclusive to the Nintendo DS. One of the main reason why it achieved its cult status is because of its smart utilization of the dual screens of the Nintendo DS. This also made a straight port of the game difficult for a single screen device even though the game was later ported to the Smartphones, it still lacked the charm of the DS version.
The latest remaster of 999 manages to tackle this issue in detail by trying to give the player a choice between two different gameplay modes. The first is ‘Adventure mode’ that basically works as a visual novel from the perspective of the main character. The other is ‘Novel mode’ that basically reads like a Novel detailing the background, the thoughts of the character as well as the dialogue spoken by them. It works in establishing the general story but still requires a lot of reading, more than the Adventure mode.
The visuals have been reworked to support HD resolution for 999 and the controls have been tweaked. Since I was able to test out both the PS4 and PS Vita version of the game, I could check out the difference between both versions. In the case of the PS Vita version, touch controls are fully supported which makes it much easier to navigate as well as explore the items. I didn’t really like using the Analog Stick to look around so touch controls were a welcome addition here. The Nintendo DS version of the game was unique in that sense that it presented both the gameplay modes on its two separate scenes, which is not the case here. We are stuck with either of these modes and this seems to have an impact on how a scene plays out in the end. Still, it is not a bad effort at all and the game plays as intended.
The backgrounds in 999 are now rendered in a higher resolution on the PS4 and PS Vita while the artwork looks crisp and clear and animates beautifully on the screen. This is a welcome upgrade our the Nintendo DS version of the game and together with the choice of two different reading modes, this makes The Nonary Games, the definitive way to experience 999. This is supplemented further by the addition of a Flow Chart system that makes it easier to go back to an earlier scenario to select a different outcome. This feature was originally introduced in Virtue’s Last Reward so it is nice to see the implementation here in 999 as well.
The other game included in the package is Virtue’s Last Reward, which was already available on the PS Vita. The port here appears to be mostly the same on the PS Vita although the visuals have now been tweaked to support HD resolution. It looks better than 999 since it was already running at a higher resolution than the Nintendo DS. Aesthetically, I found 999 much more pleasing to look at than Virtue’s Last Reward because of the art style and setting.
If you are on the fence over the version to get here, I recommend to pick this on the PS Vita if you prefer a handheld experience. The touch controls work well and feel like an expansion of the DS version of 999 here with the ability to swap between the two different gameplay modes. The game plays well on the PS4 but some of the UI elements feel like they are upscaled and not rendered in native HD resolution, which looks odd next to the crisp clear artwork. This is not a problem on the PS Vita since the visuals scale well there, which is why my recommendation is the PS Vita version here.
