Trilby's Notes is the third in the series of Chzo games, unless you count them chronologically, in which case it's the second. In it, you reprise the role of Trilby, the gentleman thief, after learning that John DeFoe, the big baddie from the first two games isn't quite as dead as you'd hoped. And thus you're cast off into the world again to rid the planet of his malevolent influence, at least until the next game magically revives him.

This game marks something of a departure for Yahtzee, from the tried and true formula of clicking on an object and praying that it's the right one from a pile of near indistinguishable objects, into the text entry arena. This takes the form of Trilby's diaries, which you are writing whilst you play the game. In theory, it's a plausible idea, but often the game is let down by the strictness of the text reader, and you'll spend ten minutes attempting to pick up the blobby orange thing on the counter in the bathroom before eventually giving up and finding out that it's an envelope (WHY).

This leads me nicely onto my next point, the graphics. As the series progresses, the graphics are getting better and better, but Yahtzee's ability to write a story is far outpacing his graphics, and as a result he's a little overambitious in his storytelling, and the gameplay suffers as a result.

That's not to say that the art direction is bad. The two different hotels are amazing in their contrasts and their similarities, and there's a very strong horror vibe running through the whole thing, making something as simple as moving from room to room an adventure in uneasiness.

This isn't helped by the constant, Silent Hill-esque changes between the two sides of the hotel. Every time you enter a room or leave a room, there's a chance that you're going to be tossed into an alternate dimension where things are inevitably seriously messed up. This is a great way to make the player terrified the first few times, but dear GOD, they can get annoying after a while.

Musically, the game follows its heritage with some truly creepy ambient sound, and some piercing screeches for those moments where everything just goes horribly, horribly wrong.

All up, a worthy contributor to the Trilby series, and worth a look for anyone with an interest in horror or adventure games.