Why I buy this one ?
- Murder on the Orient Express builds upon the success of the first Agatha Christie adaptation And Then There Were None.
- The game introduces new twist-and-turns to an already popular and successful storyline.
- Moderate system requirements.
- Visually impressive graphics that exceed those of And Then There Were None.

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What our customer's say!

"No players tutorial and Gets Old FAST!", This game was fun, but there were significant downfalls to it's layout:

PROS:

Excellent mystery soundtrack

Good acting from 14 of the 15 characters (the american woman with the accent that drifts in and out of a southern twang was the only letdown)

Good LONG gameplay

Extremely original plot

CONS:

REDUNDANT BORING SCENERY: I am the sort that doesn't typically LIKE to play games all the way through with a walkthrough. However after a short beginning, the scenery remained the same through the ENTIRE length of the game. Your character is on a five-car train, (restaraunt car, baggage car, salon car, and two residing-compartment cars). Without a change of things to look at, you will find yourself endlessly searching and REsearching the same brown/gray rooms on the train, ALL of which look identical with the exception of the passengers' luggage atop the racks. Once you find your list of clues, there is a short cinematic break, and you start all over again, interviewing the same list of characters, and searching the same rooms again for the next list of clues that spawned themselves after the last round. If the same old repetitive sceneries and gameplay styles don't bother you, then this shouldn't be an issue. I myself, like variety.

NO TUTORIAL: There was no tutorial, so from the get-go, it took a while just to learn how to move the character, go in and out of the inventory, inspect things, etc., and it wasn't until about 15 minutes to the end of the game I finally discovered that if you quickly double-click a doorway or direction, it will skip past the slow "step, step, step, step, step, step, turn doorknob, swing door open, walk inside" thing, and just allow your character to appear in the next room. Information that certainly would have been handy in the BEGINNING of the game.

INVENTORY MENUS: Combining items is a pain, and without a tutorial or any leads whatsoever, you wouldn't even know HOW to combine items. There is NOTHING in the game from the very beginning to the very end that explains the use of your inventory menus. I was well into the game before I knew that combining items was even possible, and that goes for reading your documents, studying the passenger passports etc. Your character will say things like "I will save this in my scrapbook for later use", without any way of knowing what the scrapbook is, how to gain access to it, how to flip through it once you've found it, yada yada, list goes on...

GAME-MAKERS ASSUME YOUR'E A ROCKET SCIENTIST BY NATURE, (you know, as most PC gamers are...): There is an extreme lack of guidance in certain areas where the game expects you to do things that without any REAL LIFE knowledge of criminal investigations, you would never know to do... For instance, there is a part where you are supposed to make a radio work to contact the outside world. After looking it up on the internet, I discovered that you have to place the bowl on the table, fill it with orange juice, put a small statue in it, wrap the statue in some bent copper (which you yourself had to custom bend from a passenger's bracelet, which you don't know how to do, because of the lack of explanation in combining items, the inventory menu thing again), and connect that to the radio, and then custom bend a butter knife, and pound a nail into the end of it to make a makeshift SOS transmitter key, and then connect some wiring back to the radio. Ahh, remember the good old days in college under the guidance of all our criminal justice professors, when we learned how to fix a radio with a fish bowl, orange juice, statue, copper bracelet, electric wiring, butterknife, hammer and a nail? ALWAYS a useful technique in the detective business... I guess I wouldn't have been irritated with the unlikely radio-fixing peice of this story, if there had even been ONE HINT ANYWHERE IN THE GAME that this was the solution to fixing the radio, ex., A "When Technology Fails" book on the shelf with hints for fixing broken electronic appliances out of household items, or, a letter found from someone, to someone, about items that are useful in fixing things... Just assuming that the gamer knows enough about electronics to put THAT ridiculous combination together was only one of several crazy assumptions the game-makers made.

Overall, this game would be best played from the beginning with a printed-out walkthrough at the ready. Still worth playing I suppose, but only for the amount I paid for it, which was a little over a dollar. Even if the lack of guidance weren't an issue, the dialogue and SAME scenery throughout would not be enough to capture most people's interest long enough to figure out the mystery, which is sad, because the first fiteen minutes are a real hoot.

"A fun-filled Afternoon!", Actually, it was many fun-filled afternoons. This was my first exposure to Agatha Christie on PC and I enjoyed it tremendously. The graphics on the Orient Express are great! I love the interaction. The changing scenes were good. It's important to have a strategy guide or walkthrough to assist you over the "rough spots." If you get stuck ... a good walkthrough can save you hours of grief. I can't wait to try her next installment!!!

"This is a lot of fun!", This is the second Agatha Christie game I've purchased and it was even more fun then the first. The graphics are great. The story is fast paced, but is still involved enough to keep you interested and eager to figure out the ending. I was already a fan of the book, so even knowing the ending I still enjoyed getting there. Then there is the 2nd ending which is a great twist. If you like Agatha Christie novels you are going to enjoy playing this game. I can't wait to get another.

"Murder on the Orient Express", Murder on the Orient Express.Not having played a game like this before,I found it very inspiring.I loved the detailed graphics,and the clever way that the game was presented.It keeps you guessing to the very end.You do have to be careful to explore every little detail,so that you don't miss anything that will hold you up in the forward process of the game.The train is beautiful,and it is a great incentive to replay the game over again.
Margaret

"Good Game", I enjoyed playing detective in this game but I didn't like the game reloading all the time. You're on a roll and now you have to wait for the game to load for the chapter. You also have to have more that whats recommended to run this game.

Read this reviews before You buy...

"Great for linear gamers", If you like to play linear games or if you're just starting to play PC games and you don't want to wander around for ages, this game is PERFECT for you. In Murder on the Orient Express, you are playing as Antoinette Marceau, an employee of the eponymous train line who assists Hercule Poirot in solving a murder that takes place on the train.

Basically, the game walks you through every step and always points you to what you need to do next--for example, when you need to collect fingerprints from all the suspects, you automatically ask people for them as soon as you pick up the items you need (the first time it happened, I was startled). Sometimes I got frustrated by the illogical actions, but I never needed a walkthrough...and I am usually queen of the walkthroughs. The ending is like an interactive movie, where Poirot reveals the three solutions and prompts Antoinette (you) for her deductions.

I was somewhat disappointed in the graphics--movements were crude and I had a lot of trouble with bugs and crashes. On the other hand, David Suchet is the voice of Poirot, and that makes up for a lot.

Bottom line: the game is 1-2 stars if you like nonlinear games or really sophisticated gameplay. It's 4 stars if you like playing linear games and/or want a game that will keep you on track.

"Almost a great game", Although I have given this game 4 stars, in reality I would make it 3 1/2 if that was possible.

If you are undecided about buying the game based on the reviews then hopefully I can point out the good and not so good things to help you.

I should say at this point that I played the game as Poirot's assistant, which means that he will give you cryptic hints during the game. You can also choose to play without any help at all.

The Good
1. The graphics are really good, I played this on a laptop with an ATI Radeon 9600 video card and a 1.4ghz celeron processor and I was able to use all of the highest graphic settings. However, there aren't a huge amount of locations to explore to be honest, the 30 odd compartments are all identical apart from the colour of the upholstery in the 2 passenger coaches. I agree with the comments about poor lip-synching, but thats not a big deal really.

2. The plot develops in a natural, unforced manner. I knew the original story but if you haven't read the book you will find that things start to make sense with each additional piece of information you unearth.

3. Straightforward puzzles - I don't want to have to resort to a walkthrough to fathom out each and every puzzle in a game. There's nothing worse than getting bogged down for hours on one task when you completely lose the thread of the story. Having said that, getting the Ham Radio to work is one of those 'oh come on, how can anybody work that out?' moments :)

4. Related to the above, no timed puzzles and no possibiity of dying, I want my whodunnits to be an intellectual challenge, not a sweaty race against time or constant re-loads due to making a wrong move somewhere.

5. The voice acting - considering there are something like 26 discreet characters in this game, most of whom you talk to several times at length, there is nothing cringe-worthy about any of the performances and most are very good.


The Not So Good

1. This is a matter of preference, but if you prefer to actually do something rather than chat to game characters then you could be disappointed here. The thing is that you have to get them to reveal all pertinent information so that when you go back to Poirot to review the evidence he doesn't keep telling you to talk to the passengers again. It will take you at least half an hour of game time to simply collect all the passports and fingerprints.

2. As has been noted, the tedium of checking EVERY male pair of shoes is pretty bad, even after you have discovered the correct ones very early in your search.

3. When you review evidence with Poirot the dialogue tree sometimes assumes knowledge that you didn't know you had! Statements appear that are total leaps in the dark from the evidence you have accumulated.

4. The 'surprise' ending... this is so full of holes its hard to know where to start, but just one thing will suffice. The character who turns out to be 'not who they claim to be' would have been recognised as an imposter by any of the train staff immediately and would have to have learnt at least 2 languages in an implausibly short period of time to pull off their deception.


All in all though I really enjoyed this game and I only marked it down because of the repetitive nature of some of the tasks you have to perform, the melodramatic alternative ending and the shortness of the playing time.

I wouldn't pay full price for it but I got it in a 2 for 30 bucks deal and I reckon its worth it for that kind of money.

"Great Game, Especially For Poirot Fans", This was a fabulous game. It has great graphics, wonderful voice-overs, and of course, the famous plot. I didn't really expect it to meet my expectations, but I was happily surprised.

David Suchet, the star of the TV series, did Poirot in the game, which gave it an air of authenticity. The young woman who played the main character did a very good job.

The many puzzles were mostly challenging, but not hair-pullingly frustrating. One does considerable walking back and forth on the train, which could be quite irritating after awhile, but the programmers gave us car links at the top of the screen. These enable one to jump from any car (once it has been opened) to any other car, saving a lot of steps.

Overall, this was a very engaging game. I missed it when I had completed it, one of the hallmarks of a great adventure game.

"If You've Ever Read The Book, Be Prepared To Be Bored", Ok - I LOVE LOVE LOVE this book and the British movie with Sean Connery, et al. So I think - cool - I can play a game that will have some of the same beautiful settings as the book/movie. While this is true - the graphics are good and the overall look of the game is nice - the game play is HORRIBLE. Once I figured out all the characters are exactly the same as the book and the plot is exactly the same, I got a sinking feeling in my stomach about the $30 I had just spent...

Good Things -
* There is an alternate ending that the game makers have added in to at least add a little bit of interest to the finale.
* Some of the puzzles take a little bit of thought to figure them out.
* Pretty pictures and engaging play keeps you interested.
* You tell the gathered suspects how the murder happened at the end based upon your clues. Be sure to review all your clues before Poirot is carried into the Salon Car to reveal the murderer.

Bad Things -
* Game is very linear. There is no veering from the track that is set for you. There are several places where you HAVE TO solve certain puzzles before you are allowed to go on. However it is often hard to know if you are done investigating or not.
* Some of the puzzles are infantile in simplicity and 2 of the puzzles are SO HARD that there is no way to solve w/o downloading the cheat. I'm not kidding - one of the puzzles you will never get in a 1000 years. This seriously detracts from the game play.
* You play a game with Poirot (who is bedridden with a bruised ankle during much of the game play) to see if you can figure "IT" out with little or no help from him. This should be a positive. However, in many parts of the game you don't know if you are done until you come back to talk to him and if you aren't, he docks you. Not really fair. And at the end, the game doesn't give you any kind of score or whatever to gauge how well you did.
* If you know the book, you know the plot, who did it, and how it's solved. This fact makes the game play simply a job to get to the end.


I really wanted to like this game, but it's hard. 95% of the game play is just dull plugging and chugging and searching for clues or solving easy puzzles, while the other 5% is impossible - not a great combo. I doubt I'll by "And Then There Were None" either based upon the game play of this Christie game.

Unless you have NEVER, EVER read this book/seen the movie, look somewhere else.

"Game is Upstaged by the Book", First off, I'll say their marketing technique worked. Having never read Agatha Christie books previously, I found Murder on the Orient Express to be very cleverly written (5 stars on its own) and I am interested in reading more of Hercule Poirot in the future.

The book was written in 1934, but is still very easy to read more than 70 years later. I can see now what people used to do before the advent of video games.

Concerning the game itself I can say that I was not terribly impressed (2 stars), though it did enhance my reading of the book. While the graphics and voice acting (especially by David Suchet as Poirot) were very good, the interaction with the characters and various environments do not live up to what is advertised. Your main role in the game is uninspired: take any item that can be taken and figure out how they work together. The most challenging part of the game for me involved an hours-long search for one particular item.

However, the biggest letdown was in the mystery itself. The game is heavily scripted and offers very little opportunities for you to employ your own deductive reasoning concerning the murder. Notes are taken on your behalf when you talk to the suspects, but they often leave out details that are necessary to solving the case. Also, once you interview a suspect they do not talk again until the next act; so if you didn't pick up on something the first time, then too bad. In some instances, spoiler notes appear which reveal things before they are discovered by your character!

After a number of these spoilers, I decided to stop playing so that I could enjoy the book all the way through first. When I returned to the game it naturally progressed quickly. The "new" ending was original -- and I'll give the game makers a point there -- however the mystery pretty much solves itself.