Rooms: The Main Building Review for Nintendo Wii

System: Wii, DS	Review Rating Legend
Dev: Hudson Soft	1.0 - 1.9 = Avoid	4.0 - 4.4 = Great
Pub: Hudson Soft	2.0 - 2.4 = Poor	4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy
Release: March 23, 2010	2.5 - 2.9 = Average	5.0 = The Best
Players: 1-2	3.0 - 3.4 = Fair
ESRB Rating: Everyone	3.5 - 3.9 = Good

As a particular map (which is what the bulk of Rooms is broken up into) wears on, these new mechanics are put into place more frequently, and the result is that the game has some surprisingly challenging puzzles that can admittedly be fun to best. But, even if there were a lot of harder puzzles-which there aren't-the game's touted 100 puzzles just feel like so much filler, since a good bit of them can be beaten in less than a minute.

Rooms: The Main Building screenshot

Making matters worse, the dev team also decided to break up the 'action' with some light elements ripped from a point-and-click adventure game. This doesn't really involve more than going to various places and using items to stop whatever obstacle happens to be keeping you from progressing, but at least it's not too much of a chore. You're also forced to sit through the story between these sections, which I won't waste your time by explaining any more than I already have; I'll just say it involves a talking book and has production values that look ripped straight from a made-for-television Harry Potter knock-off. Not that it matters much, because just about anyone who plays Rooms for more than ten minutes (if that) will probably be ready to put the controller down and do something else.

Hudson hasn't been doing too well as a brand (particularly one that's owned by Konami) since their early days of arcade shooters, and games like Rooms or the truly awful Dreamcast-esque horror title Calling aren't helping things.

Is going for the budget rack really the best idea if they want to keep making disc release games? I would say no. In any case, almost no one wants to play a game based on slide-puzzles, regardless. Maybe this would've worked as a downloadable, budget-priced distraction, but as it stands, there's very little reason to bother with this one.

By Steve Haske
CCC Freelance Writer

RATING OUT OF 5

RATING DESCRIPTION

2.0

Graphics
Rooms' graphics do two things well: dated and ugly.

4.0

Control
Navigating the rooms is easy, but the other commands can be a bit finicky.

2.0

Music / Sound FX / Voice Acting
The music is ok, if a bit like generic elevator Muzak. Thankfully, there are no voices to bring life to the execrable script.

2.3

Play Value
You might have a little bit of fun with Rooms' more challenging levels, if you like brain-teasers. Too bad there aren't more of them and the rest of the game is such a slog.

2.4

Overall Rating - Poor
Not an average. See Rating legend above for a final score breakdown.

Game Features:

100 puzzles to solve.

Two-player mode challenges your speed and puzzle skills.

Unlockable challenge mode.