Metareview: Hotel Dusk: Room 215

While Phoenix Wright may never fail to rev our collective fanboy motors, when it comes to adventure games, Hotel Dusk: Room 215 has been garnering more and more excitement -- and even the reviewers who find fault with the title can't help but gush over the story.

GameSpot -- 82%: "One of the really neat things about Hotel Dusk is how the plot plays out. It's not often that you can praise fiction in games these days, but Hotel Dusk is a clever, stylish, well-spun detective novel hiding inside a DS cart ... It helps that the solutions for puzzles aren't often troublesome. All the puzzles are designed specifically with the realities of this hotel in mind, so you won't find yourself with any obscenely weird objectives or "tie the cell phone to the cat" moments, nor are you likely to find yourself glued to a walk-through for the bulk of the game ... [t]hat Hotel Dusk mostly manages to avoid falling back on ridiculous item hunts and completely illogical puzzle solutions to progress is a godsend, simply because it lets the storytelling drive the game, and the gameplay rarely distracts you from the mystery."

eToychest -- 90%: "Stylistically, Hotel Dusk marries pencil sketched characters and water colored backdrops with traditional polygonal environments in a manner that should be jarring, but instead feels both unique and altogether perfect. The characters themselves are distinct and very expressive, each displaying mannerisms reflecting their attitude regarding a particular line of questioning. Ask Louie about his past, and he'll clam up and try not to make eye contact, or sweet talk Iris to see her beam like a schoolgirl. Most every game has characters, Hotel Dusk has personalities."

GamePro --75%: "Hotel Dusk probably won't appeal to every DS gamer, as it requires a degree of patience and thoughtfulness that only the aged (and insane) are capable of. But anyone looking for a cerebral and deliberate challenge should definitely check out this cool and unique title; just be patient with it, and don't let its minor faults discourage you from plumbing its depths."