Agatha Christie - Murder On The Orient Express Review: There Has Been A Murder

Any reputable detective will take into account all evidence before making their conclusions, so, here’s another Agatha Christie – Murder on the Orient Express review to help with your deductions on whether it’s good or not.

Fresh off the heels of Agatha Christie – Hercule Poirot: The London Case, also published by Microids, one has to wonder why these were released within such a short space of time. Though they are thematically the same, investigating crimes by talking it out, Orient Express nullifies the other with the same execution as one of Poirot’s accusations.

Reviews are subjective, and like every other article on here, they’re from my perspective, so take that into account when I say I loved this game. Just take a look at all the reviews I’ve published in the past couple of weeks, and you can see that there have been a lot of titles. Agatha Christie – Murder on the Orient Express (and Ghostwire: Tokyo) is the game I’ve been playing the most.

Agatha Christie – Murder on the Orient Express Review: There’s Been A Murder

This is a third-person crime adventure with first-person elements for clue hunting and puzzle-solving, and not like the other Poirot game with an isometric perspective. First impressions were how stunning the visuals are. Played on a laptop with the best settings, I was genuinely blown away at how good this looked.

Looks aren’t everything, ask my wife, so get past the crispiness of blemished skin and enviable handlebar moustaches Agatha Christie – Murder on the Orient Express is an engaging whodunnit with an emphasis on character-led storytelling. It’s essential, as aside from the items you’ll find, the NPCs are paramount to your investigation.

Without any spoilers (presumably, you know there will be a murder), I have to say that the ‘perp’ was obvious to me almost immediately. Not that I’m showing off, but I’ve studied too many films. It’s not dumbed down like a Dan Brown film, but when you’ve fingered a suspect(!), you’ll be awkwardly jumping through the hoops to support your belief.

Clue…Doh!

Mindmaps are a thing (Sherlock Holmes arguably did this better), and Poirot will make his deductions by rearranging clues in order or going with their gut feeling. There isn’t much in the way of challenge in these sections, as even if you cock it up, you can make repeat attempts to get it right.

The only problem with the solution is the reward of a condescending ‘well done’ animation. It’s clear Poirot is an obnoxious guy, but this makes him all the more alluring. Having this happen constantly throughout the game is irritating. For a tutorial? Great. Throughout the entire playthrough of Agatha Christie – Murder on the Orient Express? Nope.

Still, Poirot is a captivating character, and I found his quirks entertaining. He’s nothing like the Poirot I remember (David Suchet’s interpretation on the telly), but a great protagonist nevertheless. The same can’t be said about the playable character, Locke, whom I found pretty much flat.

There’s A Time And A Place

That’s a common occurrence in Agatha Christie – Murder on the Orient Express – the juxtaposition between great and mediocre. While the voice talent for the best detective since Basil is wonderful, the multi-national cast is hit and miss. The Japanese voice acting was atrocious and methinks the casting applied a generic Asian tone for that one, the same for one of the British characters who sounded like he was from the 1930s. 

While we’re addressing time, the story is set in 2023, not in the 1930s. On the train, you wouldn’t notice the difference aside from the odd mobile phone use and internet reference. Locke’s character is the first to bring us into the present day, and it lacked the charm of the Orient Express’ timeless feel.

Irrespective of timelines, one thing you can’t do here is switch off. You’re constantly listening out for people to contradict themselves, be acutely observant, and remember some of the clues you’ve already uncovered – sometimes without having a prompt to look at. On this part, I found Agatha Christie – Murder on the Orient Express fantastic; hanging on every word, not trusting people by default, and constantly – constantly – admiring all the graphical nuances, skin creases and reflections.

Accusation

You’ll recall that there are no spoilers here, yet I’ve still waffled on. There are a fair amount of puzzles in addition to the clues – some aren’t intuitive whatsoever, while others are disguised fetch quests that feel like filler but add to the variety. Yes, Poirot is condescending and smug, some of the voice acting is dreadful, and the modern-day setting unusual, but the overall experience was brilliant and, therefore, gets the recommendation.