Agatha Christie - The ABC Murders

Interesting, differently developed to play mystery game. I really liked the various puzzle boxes one encountered.

If you enjoy casual point and click such as Beneath a Steel you would probably like this game, just don't expect too much. The perpetrator is easily guessed in the middle, so there is no element of surprise in the end. But it's still quite enjoyable. Disclaimer: I received the game for free

This game is rather charming and has a captivating story. However, it is very much focused on the narrative and not really on the gameplay. The game is based on a few inventory puzzles, many mini-puzzles and many interrogations. The last ones are the core of the game, and you are supposed to select the answers/questions that Poirot would likely give. It is impossible, or at least very difficult, to fail, but the game mechanics consists in gathering as many points as possible. This means that the game is super easy and flows like a graphic novel. Moreover, there are deduction puzzles that consist in selecting the right clues for the right questions, but again they are really really easy and at the end they become a series of trials and errors. On the plus side, the point system gives an incentive to replay the game, trying to emulate Poirot and obtain a higher score. Overall, it is a game worth playing for a nice story, but do not expect any challenge.

I really liked the narrative and story-telling of this game. It definitely surprised me. Many of the puzzles were truly quite challenging for me, and I enjoyed that. There were a few puzzles that did get a bit repetitive but, overall, they were really good and made me think. (There is a "Clue" system, but I mostly avoided it.) The most annoying aspect of this game were actually the controls, though. I tried playing with both a mouse and a controller. With the controller, it was actually difficult to do some of the puzzles which require you to drag stuff around. On the other hand, the mouse didn't always work as expected and gave me a bit of trouble from time to time.

Watching David Suchet as the quintessential Poirot in the 90's television series, I developed a personal archetype for the self-satisfied yet sympathetic detective with the curly mustache. As much as my wife and I enjoy getting drawn in together in a mystery or exploration game, this was a cozy little piece of the past for us to share. It feels like the guys at Microids and Artefact were CBS fans themselves, because while the art style is deliberately comic-book, the game itself plays like an interactive version of an old "Mystery" miniseries. The only thing that could have improved on it would have been to get David Suchet and Hugh Fraser to reprise their roles as Poirot and Hastings, respectively. Gameplay-wise, it's done in a standard point and click, and it's easy to use and works well. The game mechanisms don't get in the way of play or story. Putting facts together is a fun element as well. All told, it's a delightful presentation of a genuine Poirot mystery.