Agatha Christie: Murder On The Orient Express - Reception

Reception

Since its release, Murder on the Orient Express has received widely differing reviews. According to Metacritic, reviews of the game have fallen between 27% and 91%, representing a large range of opinions. Metacritic averaged the scores of 22 reviews of Murder on the Orient Express to give an overall result of 60%.

An aspect of gameplay in Murder on the Orient Express which received largely negative reactions was the repetitive nature of many tasks the player must complete. 2404 accused the game of reducing Christie's novel, and the game, into a series of repetitive and secretarial tasks, such as collecting fingerprints, passports, and other random items. The site further went on to say that the player is made to feel "like a secretary for Poirot." GameOver agreed with this view, saying that much of the game consisted of "goofy little errands" such as completing tasks for characters and mindlessly searching for objects. EuroGamer provides an example of this, by saying that at one point in the game the player is required to go through each cabin checking the shoe sizes of the various passengers' shoes to check if one matches shoe prints outside the train. The inventory system featured in Murder on the Orient Express has also received significant criticism. IGN complained that instead of being able to find item combinations through trial and error in the main screen, the player is forced to drag items to a separate screen, leading to tedious gameplay. Some reviewers, in contrast, praised the inventory system, with Quandary calling it intuitive, and easy for players to organize. The puzzles in Murder on the Orient Express received positive responses from some reviewers. GameSpot commented favourably on the relatively small number of puzzles in the game, saying that they are integrated fairly well within the plot, and are not excessively difficult. The review went on to say that later puzzles in the game often rely more heavily on inventory combinations, but are still reasonably satisfying to solve. GameOver, in comparison, accused the game of giving the player too little information to solve puzzles, and also called the puzzles convoluted. The choice of the developers of Murder on the Orient Express to use Antoinette Marceau, rather than Poirot, as the protagonist and player character was criticized by some. 2404 disapproved of the choice, accusing the developers of not fully utilizing the talent of David Suchet, arguably the most famous and successful portrayer of Poirot. The reviewer even went so far as to tell AWE Productions to "make use of talent like David Suchet when you've got it." Like its predecessor, Murder on the Orient Express was criticized for diverging from Christie's original ending. Adventure Gamers called the new ending "a little too contrived for the game's good." 2404 also disapproved of the ending, commenting that it goes off in too much of a Hollywood direction, and that the original ending is much better and a far more satisfying conclusion.

Murder on the Orient Express received some praise for graphical improvements over its predecessor. Among the aspects of the game which received positive reactions were the game's environments. Just Adventure called the game environments "head and shoulders above And Then There Were None," describing the train's carriages on the Orient Express as oozing with elegance, and a faithful and accurate recreation of the 1930s. Just Adventure criticized the game for suffering graphically in later stages, but praised it overall for improving on the graphics of And Then There Were None. Game Chronicles was less enthusiastic, calling the graphics above average, but standard fare for a current adventure game. Character models were another aspect of Murder on the Orient Express which received positive attention. Quandary described the character modelling as much improved from And Then There Were None, and while still a tinge woody, "all the characters feel as if they just stepped out of the book." Adventure Gamers called the characters "some of the best seen in recent adventure games," saying that each character has a unique design and costume perfect for the game's setting. The reviewer also pointed out several small touches added to the characters, such as the main character shivering when she is outside the train in the cold weather, and also brushing lint off her clothing while waiting for the player to decide what to do next. Adventure Gamers also complimented AWE Productions for lighting effects in the game, and for creating a "very soft glow to the scenes, which give a much more life-like look to the characters." IGN agreed that the interior of the Orient Express is quite sharp, but complained that character models lack detail and are animated awkwardly. Another complaint from IGN was that the compression used for cutscenes causes the animations to look "washed out and blocky," and that this problem continues as the cutscenes are noticeably pixelated throughout Murder on the Orient Express.

An aspect of Murder on the Orient Express which many reviewers praised was the game's audio. The voice acting in particular gained widespread positive reviews. GameSpot called the voice acting excellent, with the voice actors bringing the characters to life, thanks largely to David Suchet as Poirot. IGN also called the voice acting well done, despite a few characters sounding artificial. Music in the game was positively reviewed by 2404, who said that it was tense at moments, but probably could have been played more frequently throughout the game. 2404 also praised the game for providing realistic sound effects, such as noises coming from the Orient Express itself, and other environmental noises such as howling wind. IGN, in contrast, heavily criticized the game for a lack of background music, and simplistic and monotonous sound effects.