The Adventure Company has brought Agatha Christie's Murder On The Orient Express to adventure games. Bringing such a world-famous and well-loved murder mystery by one of "the best-selling writers of books of all time" to life as a video game is a tricky endeavor. Anytime you reinterpret a classic you risk alienating die-hard fans. And, anyone who has read the book knows how the story ends; how can the game hold anything new for Christie fans?Well, I can't provide the answer to that question in this post, but I can say that the developers have added some interesting new twists to the game. You play as Antoinette Marceau, Istanbul representative for the Compagnie Internationale des Wagon-Lits. One of her first tasks is to take care of Monsieur Hercule Poirot, making sure that he finds a seat on the strangely crowded Istanbul-Calais coach of the Orient Express.
You play the game in the third person, and the set pieces are beautifully rendered. I'm no expert in the technology behind video game graphics, but I find the cut scenes to be atmospheric and perfectly suited to the 1930s feel of the story. The voice acting is terrific, with David Suchet playing the part of Poirot. Suchet plays Poirot in the British TV series, Agatha Christie's Poirot. He plays the part in the game with the same semi-foppish panache that is attributed to the character in the books. Here is a man who doesn't need to get down and dirty because he relies upon his "little grey cells."
There is an overly complicated inventory interface in the game but moving around is fairly simple with context-specific cursor indicating when you can travel somewhere or use or pick up an object. I do like how, once you board the train, there is a clever train coach indicator to let you know which coach you are currently in. One problem that many adventure games have is an unwieldy (when there is one at all) map system.
Is Antoinette up to the challenge? We'll see how she handles the various train passengers who try to "escape from the facts."
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