Virtue's Last Reward - Review

Hello! I'm Jonny, and I will be reviewing games on this blog. Without further ado, lets jump into the first review.

Last year, in February, Virtue's Last Reward came out on the 3DS and PS Vita. Well, that was in Japan - us lot over in Europe didn't get it until November. Virtue's Last Reward is a visual novel, which are quite popular in Japan, but haven't really received much attention in the west. It was the sequel to a DS called 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors, which is also a visual novel. Strangely enough, it was a success for Aksys games to localize the game, despite being released over in the west. It received critical acclaim and sold quite decently, even if the plot was a bit bonkers for western tastes.

So, Rising Star (known for publishing games in Europe such a the Harvest Moon and Rune Factory series) decided to port the game over to Europe. Was it worth it? That's a yes. The game was released, earning great reviews (8.5s, 9s, and even some 9.5s), and managed to scoop up some game of the year awards as well while it was at it.



Erm... Okay

I recently purchased a 3DS, and the first game I bought for my new system - and I'm happy I made that choice. VLR is frankly one of the best handheld titles I've played, second only to the Monster Hunter, and Pokemon franchises. I just want to warn you, this game is addictive. Obviously, you could just do one playthrough, which could take anywhere from 3-6 hours, depending on which route you take, but the game wasn't  made with that style of play in mind. The purpose of the game is to get every ending and complete every route, and that is the only way you will get your answers. The actual ending leaves some questions unanswered, but the plot gets quite complex so there will often be questions left unanswered in a game like this. I'm not saying the ending isn't bad - in fact it explains a lot of things. Well, I suppose that's enough about the endings. So - what is Virtue's Last Reward? I am here to tell you that.

Story: Definitely the strongest aspect of this game. The setup is that 9 people have been captured, and placed into a mysterious facility, with one of the prisoners being you. Everyone has a watch on their wrist with the number 3 on it - to escape through the large number 9 door, you need 9 points. How do you get the extra 6 then? You have to play the Nonary Game - Ambidex Edition. You are pit against one or two of the other eight characters, and you are given the option to ally or betray. They are given this option too. If you both pick ally, you both get two points. If you pick ally and your opponent picks betray, you lose two points and your opponent gains three - this works the other way around as well. However, if you both pick betray, both participants neither gain or lose points. This does a really good job of making you feel paranoid - who can I trust? Is this person who I think they are? Should I betray them for extra points? The game is tense from the beginning to the conclusion, and you will always be compelled to know more. Dragging myself away from this game was difficult - I had to know the answers - and did I forget? All of the eight characters have their own back-stories and are unique in their own way. As you play the game and get different paths and endings, you find out more about these characters. There is a large variety here. From Temyouji, the old man who seems to have a mysterious bond to a child, Quark, another player in the nonary game, to K, a man in a robot suit who has lost his memory, to Phi, a woman with silver hair who seems to know more than she lets on. You will make the decision on who your favourite and least favourite characters are - and there are some characters in the game who are meant to be hated, and the writers have done this incredibly well. Thumbs-up to the story.

Graphics: While not as advanced as some other handheld games, I really loved the character models. Their range of expressions suited their character and there are certainly a variety in the appearances of these characters. Speaking of the expressions, they are fantastic. The movements the models make are really fluid and seem natural, almost like the game was motion captured. Unlike 999, this game is fully 3D. The graphics in the escape sections (more in the gameplay section of this review) aren't groundbreaking, but they are pretty good for what they are. Overall, this game looks pretty good, but the spotlight here is the character models. However, the game could have done with a few more of the fully rendered sections, and in the few of these sections there were the character models looks a tad weird.

Gameplay: As expected with a visual novel, most of the game is reading through text. A lifesaver here is the skip mode - if you've already read a section of dialogue, it will fast forward so you don't have to re-read it, but in other routes a few lines may change, so it will slow down again for the few new lines in that section, so you do not have to worry about missing anything. It will not let you skip any dialogue you haven't read. For getting all the endings, this is a very useful feature. If you prefer more action in your games and don't like reading, don't buy this game, but most people who are reading this review probably like that style of gameplay, like me. Then there are the escape rooms - in these sections it is you with two (or in some special cases 1) other characters. You have to solve a series of puzzles to get the key-code which lets you escape. If you are into puzzle solving, these may tickle your fancy, as these escape rooms aren't skimped on and are quite developed (each one can take over 15 minutes to solve). However, if you just play the game for the story and are awful at puzzles (like me), you can turn the difficulty to easy, where your companions will give you hints if you can't solve it. The longer you get stuck, the more hints they will give, and in a lot of cases they will outright give you the answers. Its good that this is in the game and it also saves you the trouble of looking up a walkthrough. If you play on hard mode and want to solve the puzzles yourself, you will receive none of these hints, and if you do only slight ones. The only way to get the secret ending is to beat every puzzle room on hard, so it isn't like you aren't rewarded for your endeavors. 

Something I have to mention is the flow system - anywhere or anytime in the game you can jump back to any  section or choice you've made in the game (that you have got to, obviously. They can't just let you skip through the whole game!). This is incredibly useful. as to get all the answers in the true ending, you must complete all the paths. What do I mean by this? For example, you might be playing the game, you get to a section and... The game fades to black and says "to be continued". You might think this is a dick move at first, but what this actually means is that you need to get information from other routes to advance in another route. For example, in one section you have to log into a computer with a username and password. How do you get them? The game fades out to the "to be continued..." screen. The way to get past this part is by playing the other routes, as Luna in one route tells you the username while K in a third, different route tells you the password. If you are going to ask - how does this work in terms of the plot? I don't want to spoil anything so go and play the game to find out. The flow system is essential to getting every ending, unless if you want to start at the beginning again every time you want to try another route. Speaking of routes, there are plenty of different branches of the story. The game is advertised to have 24 endings  - not really, well, technically. There are only really 9 (or 10 including the secret one) proper endings which play the credits, and the others are all game over screens which aren't really developed that much. So to sum up - the flow system is great, and the puzzles are suited for everyone from hardcore puzzlers to the story-based gamers.

Presentation: When the game was localized for America, there were English voices added in. When I found out the European version didn't get these voices and only got the Japanese voice overs, at first, I was happy. Usually in this kind of Japanese game the English dub is piss-poor, but after doing my research I discovered, from what I'd seen, the voice-over work was actually quite decent. All the voices suited their characters and they were quite good quality - I still preferred the Japanese though. The soundtrack is alright - its not spectacular, but its not like its bad or anything of the sort. To my knowledge, each escape room has its own unique song, and there are 13 in the game. They suited the environment well and a couple of them were actually quite catchy, and on that note, the puzzle rooms are set in a variety of environments - from the Gaulem Bay, a dark room filled with mechanics and robots to the B. Garden, an artificial garden with light flooding in and lots of greenery. On the 3ds XL the game looks a little low-res, but that is to be expected. I didn't really mind this as I would take some jaggies over the tiny screen of the original 3DS model anyway.I have heard that it looks quite crisp on the Vita, obviously, as it is an HD console. If you want to know which version to buy - its better presentation quality, with HD graphics and crisper sound for the Vita, or better UI for the 3ds with the ability to take memos and jot down your thoughts, which really helps with the puzzles and the stylus. Its really down to personal preference. To control the game, on the 3ds you can play it only using the controls or only using the touch screen. Again, try them both - they are both good, it really comes down to personal preference. Finally, the 3D effect is actually better than I expected. I left it on for quite a bit of the game, so for all the 3ds users I recommend you try it with this game too.

Conclusion: Virtue's Last Reward is a fantastic and tense experience throughout. With 30 hours of gameplay (more if you want to get the secret ending), several endings and a intricate but amazing plot with some great puzzles to back it up on the way, for anyone that likes a great story who owns a 3DS and PS Vita, this is a must own. This game gets a very solid recommendation from me, and you can pick it up for £20 (or less) these days, and for that price you'd be silly not to try it. It has a few issues, but most of the time you will be too addicted and compelled to notice them. 

Final Score: 9/10

What did you think of the review? Its my first one, so feel free to leave feedback. Also, I'm hoping to review Project X Zone and Shin Megami Tensei 4 when they come out, as I am sticking to strictly Japanese games for this blog, because, you know, obviously its an anime blog. Thanks for reading!