Murder on the Orient Express (PC)

...Istanbul to London, a nasty murder has occurred. The victim’s name was Mr Ratchett. Earlier Ratchett pleaded for Poirot’s help and that he felt he was in grave danger. Poirot coldly decline the request as he felt Ratchett was an evil man. Now Ratchett is dead and to make matters worse, an avalanche has block the rail track, forcing the train to stop in the middle of the Europe.

As Poirot has twisted his ankle during the plunge of the ...
...of the murder whilst Poirot rest his foot in bed. Everyone on the train is a suspect and the murder has to be solved before a plough comes to remove the snow in their line. They do not want the Yugoslavian police to be involved just yet either. Alone as Antoinette, with some wisdom advice from Poirot, she must embark on her investigation on the train to find who has murdered Ratchett and why. The famous actor David Suchet, is the voice of Poirot ... more

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SYNOPSIS
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You will enter the game playing as a blonde French lady called Antoinette Marceau, who is the chief manager for the ‘Orient Express’ train. It is her duty to be on the train and ensure everything is running smoothly and the clients are satisfied with the long journey. As a huge fan of the famous detective, Hercule Poirot, Antoinette was thrill to learn that he was going to join her train. Shortly into the game, she introduces herself to Mr Poirot.

During the train journey from Istanbul to London, a nasty murder has occurred. The victim’s name was Mr Ratchett. Earlier Ratchett pleaded for Poirot’s help and that he felt he was in grave danger. Poirot coldly decline the request as he felt Ratchett was an evil man. Now Ratchett is dead and to make matters worse, an avalanche has block the rail track, forcing the train to stop in the middle of the Europe.

As Poirot has twisted his ankle during the plunge of the avalanche, the game leaves with Antoinette to solve the crime of the murder whilst Poirot rest his foot in bed. Everyone on the train is a suspect and the murder has to be solved before a plough comes to remove the snow in their line. They do not want the Yugoslavian police to be involved just yet either. Alone as Antoinette, with some wisdom advice from Poirot, she must embark on her investigation on the train to find who has murdered Ratchett and why. The famous actor David Suchet, is the voice of Poirot for the game. Antoinette gets to interact with over 20 different characters to collect clues and to solve the crime.

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ABOUT THE GAME AND BOOK
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Based on the famous book by Agatha Christie, the game has changed some area of the plot but still able to keep majority the important tags. For a start, the game introduces Antoinette, which is not in the book. Her role allows you to interact with all the characters that are in the book. However, by introducing this new character, there are some discrepancies. The rooming of which characters in which train cabinets have been altered in the game.

One thing that I can’t figure out was why Antoinette was introduced to the game? Why did the player have no control over Poirot and why was he stuck in the bed for the entire game? Why not just have Poirot and play him?

The biggest difference between the book and the game is the ending. The game has decided to change one of the character’s backgrounds to create a different version of the ending. Once again, I do wonder why not stick to the original storyline from the book? I guess the game allows younger audience to play, whereas the original story would have been a tad too inappropriate.

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ANOTHER ADVENTURE GAME?
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Murder on the Orient Express offers the traditional point-and-click adventure game. The game acknowledges the typical format of collecting and combing the items you have come across, with puzzles to solve that may not always make sense in real life! As Antoinette, you have to talk with all the characters, making sure you exhaust all the conversation to make sure you have covered all the clues.

One of the downfalls I found in this adventure game was the amount of dialogues you have to take part in. This is understandable as it has some respect to the book and there is a linear storyline that needs to be revealing slowly. However, the long dialogues meant you are almost watching a film. A lot of sitting in front of the computer and listening to the information, which can be tiresome at times.

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THE GRAPHICS
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Well, with the long dialogues, you hope that the visual side will engage you instead. I have to admit that considering it is a 2006 game, I was not too impress with the graphics. Although it does look good, it did not blow me away compare to the older games such as ‘Syberia’ (see my review). I find the graphics on the characters were slightly robotic and plain in terms of facial expression and textures. Antoinette is badly made, as she is supposed to be about 25 years old. Although I am bearing in mind with the clothing and hairstyle of the era, I still find her looking a lot older than she should be. A good decade older.

What I found surprising with this game was the lack of location to explore compared to other adventure games. Obviously it can be a bit repetitive going from cabinet to cabinet on the train, but I was expecting a little bit more on the outside. I guess they are trying to fulfil the same elements as the book. But if they could change the story by adding Antoinette in, then why not more locations to explore? The cinematography is what I loved about these adventure games. I guess some would argue that you would appreciate the scenery more, as you have to revisit the same few locations throughout the game and to become familiarise with it.

I’m not saying that the graphic is not good, but I expected more considering it is a recent game. The animation proves to be a bit jerky at times. I do give some admiration to the forest scene, when Antoinette embark. It’s not the most detailed by far, but you can feel the cold as you see her breathing against the cold air.

There are also some cut scenes. This is usually a good sign as it informs you that the game is moving forward and you have gone past the loop of finding a certain clues for the time being. But, it was rather bland that the cut scene tends to show your train in the snow for the majority of the game.

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VOICES AND SOUND
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As I have mentioned earlier, David Suchet supplies the voice of Poirot. This is a good choice as we relate the actor as Poirot for the television series. It can’t go wrong there. Suchet has done an outstanding job as always. As for the rest of the cast, I don’t know who the actors are, but I am just as impressed with the standard.

Details were considered when selecting the voice actor, as there was a variety of accents and different speech pattern. As the characters are from different country, the accents matched the background of these people well. The different accents include Russian, Italian, American, British, Swedish and French. This is quite impressive and true to the characters. As much as I praised the accents, it is however, Antoinette that I questioned about. She has a rather clear British accent for the majority of the game. The character is supposed to be French, although did some studying in London. Her accent does not convince me that she is French in nature.

As for the music, it is what is expected in an adventure game. It is carefully orchestrated that enhanced the mood and the era. A little more of it during the game would have been nice, at it can be quite at times.

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GAMEPLAY
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What I am surprised with this game is that as Antoinette, you cannot make her run as some other adventure games do. Yet, I can see it was unnecessary, as there is no part in the game where it pressures you to. Wouldn’t it take her forever to walk around then? Well, no. The game maker was clever on this aspect. All you have to do it double click on where you want Antoinette needs to go, and the screen will quickly fade down and fade up to the new location. You do not have to see her taking about 6 seconds to walk across the screen.

Second, whilst on the train, there is the carriage blue print on the top of the screen. This enables you to click on which carriage you would like to go to and voila! All of this is a plus, as it is less tedious and more to the point.

The journey may not be repetitive, but some of the task Antoinette requires to do is, unfortunately very. As a player, you are pretty much stuck in the train carriages for 9-10 hours with no new graphics or characters; obviously boredom can strike. But with respect to what I have said earlier – it’s relevant to the book. The tedious jobs you will encounter will be when looking for evidence. You will have to search in suitcases that are situated above the bed (not for people with bad backs). When you are stuck, you will struggle to remember which carriage you have searched properly and which ones you haven’t yet. It might mean repeating the whole process again! You will also collect all passports and fingerprints. That was easy, but just monotonous with the amount of collecting you have to do.

There is a lot of walking up and down the carriages, collecting clues and information from the suspects. You have to report back to Poirot every now and then, though it is not always clear as to ‘when’ you were supposed to do that, therefore it can be pointless. He will inform you that the collecting is not complete, though no extra hint as to what items you are missing. You cannot advance until you have collected all clues.

Due to some logic puzzles not making sense in real life, you may struggle to keep your motivated when you are stuck. I have to check on the walkthrough a few times unfortunately.

In terms of the precise control over pointer and objects, it was overall accurate. If you have missed the correct area, you will be told either by Antoinette or Poirot. The mouse is the only controller you will need for the game, apart from the ESC button to save, load or quit game. You use the left button of the mouse to operate all the necessary functions, with a click of the right button to open your inventory. Easy peasy? Well, the inventory doesn’t have the same function as most adventure game. With others, say you can drag a hot water bottle from one box, onto a white rabbit bottle cover in another box and voila. Murder on the Orient Express requires you to do more work. You have to click on the water bottle, go to the tab on top, and place the bottle there. Then you have to go to inventory, click the white rabbit, go to the tab above and put the rabbit down in a box next to the bottle. Then you have to click on a clog gear button for it to combine…yawn, yawn, and yawn. I guess it is something extra to do to compensate the slow moving game.

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WOULD I PLAY IT AGAIN?
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Very unlikely. As you have to solve everything before you can move on and to finish the game, there will be no more surprises if I was to play it again. The fact the game is so tedious, it is more of a chore than playing for pleasure. I guess most of the adventure games follows a similar dilemma, however, they are enjoyable to play, with unpredictable storyline and stunning visual. Sort of got shot in the foot by knowing the story of Murder on the Orient Express before hand. No real surprises apart for the adaptation at the end of the game.

In terms of puzzles, there is as little as three. The challenge is the finding of items. I am also not seduced by the graphics at all. For this reason, I doubt I will play it again.

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CHARACTERS
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As I have mentioned earlier, I was impressed with the voice actors, but not so much of the graphics. What I found hard with the game was the amount of characters you have to interact with. Yes, I know, it’s relevant to the book. However, soon I have forgotten which character was who and who they spent time with. Or simply, which nationality they were or which character is wearing what. What would have been ideal is if they could highlight the name of the character if you put your cursor over them.

1 = Mr Ratchett: The victim who is unpleasant and with dark secrets.
2 = Hector MacQueen: 27 American who is a secretary for Mr Ratchett. Speaks a few languages. Has a major crush on Antoinette.
3 = Edward Masterman: A British man, valet to Mr Ratchett.
4 = Pierre Michel: French conductor for the Calais coach. He also hides a secret that will be revealed at the end of the game.
5 = Mary Debenham: A governess who is working in Baghdad at the moment.
6 = Colonel Arbuthnot: Tall British army Officer. Working in India.
7 = Princess Natalia Dragomiff: Old lady, Russian (very scary looking in game, resemblance to a vampire!).
8 = Hildegarde Schmidt: German lady, maid of Princess Dragomiff
9= Count Rudolf Andreyi: Hungarian diplomat, 37 years old.
10= Countess Elena Andrenyi: 22 years old, wife of Rudolf.
11 = Greta Ohlsson: Swedish lady, sharing cabinet with Antoinette. A missionary.
12= Caroline Hubbard: Amercian, teaches in Baghdad. Complains a lot.
13= Antonio Foscarelli: Italian businessman.
14= Cyrus Hardman: American Typewriter ribbon salesman. Or so he said he was!
15= Dr. Constantine: A nice gentleman who helped Antoinette solved the case.
16= Matteo Bouc: Conductor for the Athen carriage.

You will also come across a vicious chef, an untalkative waiter, the engineer and a fireman. I think I have pretty much cover all the characters. This supports the fact that you have to go through relentless conversation with all these people in order to solve the murder.

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VERDICT
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I’m still in mixed thought about this game. No it is not the best adventure game I have ever played. But still, I don’t regret playing it, as I do love the classic point-and-click. Many avid adventure game players will be as disappointed as I am. It is perhaps, designed for those who doesn’t know the book and the film. My excitement wasn’t there, as I know the murderer was before I started the game.

I am still confused as to why Antoinette was create and not used good old Poirot to be the character the player control. Girl power? I can here the Spice Girls in my head. The cut scenes were boring and the detail on the characters was bland and robotic. The worst of it was the repetition throughout the game, where you have little help as to whether you have done all the things you need to.

Some many character, yet you cannot attach to them much as they are all suspects. I guess this was a shame, as I would have like to see Antoinette taking a break and have a meal date with MacQueen. They all managed to have some food apart from her!

I understood why the ending was changed as I have mention earlier. I sort of like it as I knew the story and it added some extra interest to my attention. I just remember that there were some nice WCs on the carriages. I wish I explored it more as I was convinced there was going to be a puzzle in one of them. Never did, so never been able to get back to have a look at the lovely decoration.

So, the final verdict? I wouldn’t pay £19.99 (as I did) for it. Maybe when it’s on offer or half price, then I would say give it a try.

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MY RATING
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Difficulty - 6/10
Gameplay - 3/10
Graphic - 4/10
Sound - 8/10
Value - 2/10 (GAMES for £19.99)

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INFO=
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Developer – The Adventure Company
Genre - Adventure / Point and Click
Year – 2006
OS: Windows® 2000/XP CPU: 1.4 GHz Pentium® 3 Processor
RAM: 256 MB
Disk Space: 1.5 GB
CD/DVD-ROM: 16x
Video Card: 64 MB DirectX® 9 Compatible Video Card
Sound: 16-bit DirectX® Compatible
Input: Mouse, Keyboard and Speakers 

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