The music has been good, but forgettable. Same with the translation, nothing particularly bad, but nothing that stands out like Hotel Dusk.

The gameplay is pretty much just spot the differences between pages and pages of text, but the biggest problem I have is that sometimes there are differences that don't count and cause you to lose health anyway. After awhile, you have to be particular about which difference you pick so you're not penalized. At least the game doesn't punish you too much for a game over. You just restart your last checkpoint with a full health bar.

The story is intriguing but it's a bit predictable right now. I have no clue on how it's going to end though, and the game uses the predictability to deepen the mystery, which is keeping me playing.

It might sound like I'm not enjoying it, but I truly am. The story is unique and I can't wait to see the outcome. So far, it just doesn't hold up to Cing's previous games IMO.

I played more tonight... Um.............. Yeah, about that ......

Folks, you may want to reconsider your pre-orders/future purchases. Please read on and hear me out.

If you are going into this expecting a worthy follow-up to Hotel Dusk (I'm assuming 99 percent of you are), well, it is time to alter those expectations. Dramatically.

Faye_Faye was totally right in saying that there is very little gameplay here. Let me put it to you this way: the initial gameplay/investigation sequence when the game first started lasted under 5 minutes. Over an hour later (according to the gameplay clock), and I still had not engaged into another gameplay sequence. Seriously. Whereas in Hotel Dusk, you manually navigate the hotel and initiate people at your leisure, this game ushers you along from sequence to sequence. Yes, there is a "move" button, but you simply choose the location you wish to go and immediate enter another dialogue sequence.

This game is billed as an "interactive crime novel." I take issue with the interactive part of that statement, when 95 percent of what you are doing is simply tapping the bottom right corner of the touch screen to go to the next line. Let's think back to Hotel Dusk. Yes, some of the conversations were long-winded, but you were constantly solving all kinds of neat puzzles, exploring your 3d environment, and overall finding yourself ACTIVELY involved with the story unfolding.

Here, you are pretty much just clicking the screen for very long stretches of time between so-far SHORT investigation scenes. I hope and pray that this is only a beginning-of-the-game kind of deal, but the more I play, the less I like.

Part of the problem is, the story is really, truly, not at all interesting to me. Yes, I need to give it more time, but don't you think that by two hours in there should be some kind of hook making me want to find out what happens next? I'm only moving forward in expectation that the game will get better!

I mean, wow. "J" is dull and bland. So is your partner, Kate Hathaway. No unique personality quirks... Actually, no real personality whatsoever. That goes for the entire cast that I've met so far. What the hell happened, Cing??

SO many lines of dialogue are needlessly short. Example (paraphrased):

J: "Boss."

Boss: "Yeah."

J: "I've got an idea."

Boss: "What?"

J: "Let us re-open the case."

Boss: "Why?"

Keep in mind you are manually having to click through EACH ONE OF THOSE LINES to get to the next page. Seriously! I think part of the issue here is the localization. Or, rather, I think this is closer to straight up translation. There is no flair or life to anything being said. I imagine every word coming out of these character's mouths to be dull, monotone ramblings. In other words, the most crucial element to a game that is 95 percent dialogue so far has failed miserably. At least according to my standards, and the standards that I feel were set by games like the original Phoenix Wright and Hotel Dusk.

Remember how I said the graphics weren't all that bad? Well, I keep seeing the same cheesy-as-hell facial expressions repeatedly... Like, every minute. And every once in a while they'll throw in some poorly acted FMV that in some way reminds me of the live action in the original Resident Evil game.

I hope I didn't crush anyone's dreams. I wanted to love this game probably more than anyone here. Hotel Dusk is easily one of my favorite DS games ever, and my expectations were set pretty high.

I will try to keep trudging through, but if it doesn't pick up within the next 2 hours of gameplay, I won't subject myself to any more torture.

I am posting this information so that fans of Hotel Dusk may be cautioned about what to expect before they throw down the 30 dollars for this.