It has been a while since a game adaptation of her novels has been published, but Microids‘/Artefacts Studio‘s Agatha Christie – The ABC Murders might just hit the right notes as an investigation adventure game.
If you know a bit of adventure game history, then the Agatha Christie games weren’t the most accomplished titles. While they did a good job of staying mostly true to the source material with characters and atmosphere, it was in the puzzles they failed, usually cluttering the inventory with useless items and giving the player not enough clues. If you do a bit more research you’ll even find out that there actually was Agatha Christie – The ABC Murders for the Nintendo DS, developed by AWE Games and Black Lantern Studios, and published by DreamCatcher Interactive. However, this looks to be something quite different.
The visual style is eye-catchingly beautiful with its cel-shaded graphics. While lip sync seems to be off unfortunately, the backgrounds and characters look great, while voice acting sounds good as well. What’s most important though is the gameplay, and this could turn out to be a very linear experience, as evidence has to be found on crime scenes, witnesses and suspects interviewed (with a bit of L.A. Noire reading faces feature thrown in), and other leads followed in a certain order. Still, as could be seen with a game like The Testament of Sherlock Holmes, this could be engaging enough if the story holds up well. There is enough potential in the original about a killer who gives the date and location of the next murder to Hercule Poirot after all.
The game is now available on PC with a 20% discount until February 12, 5:59 PM GMT (at least the GOG version). The console versions as well as the PC retail box will be in stores soon with the mobile versions coming along if ready.
Buy the digital version on
GOG
Steam
Pre-order the retail version for PC on
Amazon Germany
Amazon UK
Amazon USA
Pre-order the game for Xbox One on
Amazon Germany
Amazon UK
Amazon USA
Pre.order the game for PS4 on
Amazon Germany
Amazon UK
Amazon USA
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this is neat..an Agatha Christie game? Very cool. I would love to play this, being a huge mystery and adventure fan. When I was a kid I wanted to be a detective…okay, I still do! 😀 I’m seriously considering looking into getting this, thanks for sharing. It looks MUCH better than the Raiders of the Lost Ark I used to play on the Atari (Haha). Yep showing my age again, but being an 80s kid EVERY computer game makes me think of the ones I played as a kid (in case you’re wondering, my favourite game back then was Bump n’ Jump…it was cheesy but kept me entertained for countless hours/days) 😀
There are actually many Agatha Christie games. I have “And then there were none” and “Murder on the Orient Express”, but they’re not that good, to be honest ;). If I find the time (and a review copy), I’ll write about this title. Check out the “Gabriel Knight” games, as they’re great, especially with the sense of place/traveling. Reviews are on this site ;). Ah, I’ve got to review the Indy adventures as well. There are lots of detective games actually and I’ll try to cover more!
Hehe, “Bump n’ Jump” is an amazing title. I’ll try to do some arcade-style gaming, old and new, in the near future, I promise :).
That’s too bad, they sure sound good. But then again there are so many great games these days, I guess they can’t all be good. Sometimes the theme and mechanics sound like it’ll be terrific but it doesn’t measure up I guess. I’ll look into the Gabriel Knight games, thanks! Looking forward to your detective game coverage and arcade-style games for that bit o’ Nostalgia for us older (aka 80s kids) readers 😀
Yes, there are way too many great games worth playing than the terrible ones wasting time (and money) on ;). Yes, I think you’d like the Gabriel Knight games, as these always feel as if one is at those places, New Orleans, Neuschwanstein, Rennes-le-chateau. You really get a sense of history of these places as well. Check out the reviews on my site :).
There will definitely be some shmup and other arcade-style action. Ah yes, the 80ies, will have more of that era as well with movies :).
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