We've had a good chunk of undeniably spooky stuff featured recently on Weekday Escape: monsters in basements, ghosts flitting about haunted mansions, trap-laden cells to flee from... a whole collection of classic horror-movie standards. Compared to this week's offering, however, all the aforementioned are about as "scary" as a gaggle of baby bunnies, all in their Sunday best, enjoying a tea party.
Hotel 626, an advergame created to promote Doritos snacks, is an amazingly innovative, beautifully-produced nightmare of a game. After "checking in" (giving the website your name, email and creating a password), you are immediately whisked away into the opening movie: your awakening, in the middle of the night, in your room at this hellish hotel. Strange noises echo in the distance. Your breath quickens, your heart pounds, and some animal instinct screams that you need to get out. You throw on your shirt, dash into the hallway, and then the real game begins.
Although the game is available to play between the hours of 6PM and 6AM only, you can change your computer clock to let you in immediately.
The journey through the hotel is comprised of ten levels, each of which involves its own creepy, unique task or puzzle. Some are extremely simple: locating the correct door, for example. Others involve more complex undertakings, such as figuring out a code or snapping a picture of a ghost's face. None, to be honest, are objectively very difficult or intellectually taxing. What you're really playing against is your own adrenaline, and the knowledge that if you mess up/take too long you're bound to meet a rather unfortunate end. And that, really, can be far tougher to overcome than any MENSA riddle. Luckily, if you do fail and die, the hotel is magnanimous to offer you the chance to either try it again or move on to the next level.
One impressive measure of the game's creativity is the lengths that it goes to create a sense of immersion in the scenario. At the beginning, while registering, you are given the option to allow access to your computer's webcam and microphone; if you do so, both those elements will be used in later levels. Also, near the end of the game, players in the United States can enter their phone numbers and receive a kah-reepy call from a "friend." Finally, as the name of the game implies, the Hotel is only "open" (accessible) from 6 PM to 6 AM, the better to set the spooky stage. However, for those of us who are impatient (me) or too chicken to play the game in the dark (also me), you can easily cheat by changing the time on your computer.
Of all the unanswered questions posed by this enigmatic hotel, perhaps the greatest mystery of all is how any of this relates in the slightest to Doritos (least relevant piece of viral advertising ever?). Still...I don't really care. Hotel 626 is superb, with wonderful visuals and audio, and manages to approximate the fear of such a situation (so far as I can imagine) better than any other online game I've come across. Heck, if it'll encourage them to make more of these, I'll go out and buy a bag of fake-cheddar-cheese-flavored corn chips right now!
If you're brave enough, your room is ready...
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December 3, 2008 3:08 PM
Walkthrough Guide
HOTEL 626 WALKTHROUGH
Some general things... mic/webcam is not necessary. You may find one easier or harder, depending on your manual dexterity, quality of your mic, etc.
Playing with sound off is not an option because it's a vital clue in level 7.
Lastly Hotel 626 has skip level options, so if a level is driving you nuts, take advantage of that.
Level One is just a cinematic, basically. Nothing to do there.
LEVEL TWO
Walk down the hall and look at all the doors. You're looking for a door with a glowing sign, which you click on to exit. If you don't want to get scared, be quick about it and focus on the doors on the left.
LEVEL THREE
This is tricky. You have to take a picture of the ghost girl's face. Keep moving after her, try to stick close to her. You only get ten tries.
LEVEL FOUR
This one is about speed; do it fast or die. Go down the staircase and click the last door on the right as fast as possible.
LEVEL FIVE
This one is probably going to be the hardest for most people. You come in and aww it's a sweet little child! Well just KEEP IT ASLEEP okay. If you have a mic you do this by singing to it. Sing at the right volume... not too soft, not too loud.
If you don't have a mic, you have to move your mouse in a circle, not too fast, not too slow.
Then, you gotta get out of there without the kid waking up. Watch the little dot, and if it starts to go too far to the left, then put your mouse towards the right side of the screen, and vice versa.
Level Six is a cut scene, you can't do anything.
LEVEL SEVEN
You must have sound on for this level! Straightjacket dude's words relate to the pictures on the cell walls. Every word means a number. The solution is a three digit number. It's random for your game. As an example, maybe one word is "spider", and that would mean the number "8" because the spider has eight legs. Use the 3 digit number on the keypad to leave the room. Lead on, no-longer straightjacket dude, to freedom!
LEVEL EIGHT
If you are using a webcam, you're looking for a picture of your own face. Which is a pretty easy thing for most people to pick out.
If you're not using a webcam, you're looking for a picture of the hallway from level two.
You can click on other pictures without penalty, so don't worry about that. There is a timer, however, so be as fast as you can picking out your picture or the one of the hall.
LEVEL NINE
If you live in the US and you want to give them your phone number, you can listen to the directions on your phone, but it's really not needed. They'll give you the directions in game. Just turn left or right when they tell you to. (If you give them your phone number, however, you will get a creepy call later, so that might be fun for you.)
Level ten is another one that is basically a cinematic--there's nothing to do. Congratulations!
Sort of.
Posted by: joye
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April 13, 2009 5:57 PM