The Last Express

The Last Express is one of the most innovative, immersive and ambitious games I've ever played. Highly highly recommended for it's witty dialogue, crisp writing and outstanding music - all of which results in the creation of an amazing atmosphere. More than just a game, the last express is a work of art that is immensely rewarding even if you don't focus on completing the objectives. Furthermore it has subtle [and sometimes not so subtle] political undertones, right from certain dialogues to the way the end credits are designed, which can force a perceptive player into re-thinking some of the political structures we take for certain!

I first played this game in, I think, 1999 -- and I find myself replaying ever since, just like you re-read a good book or watch a great film again. And the beauty of it is that it still measures up. Some things, of course, show their age, but even in the age of HD graphics, it still is a remarkably beautiful game. The gameplay is still unrivalled, and the sound is absolutely stunning. For example, the Russian characters speak wonderful 19th Century Russian, and a lady in Vienna train station speaks with Viennese accent. Really, very few contemporary games pay that much attention to details. Adventure games can do many things. They can make you laugh (many Lucasarts adventures are great in that regard), they can thrill you and excite you. But Last Express is just about the only game that moves you to tears. It is a difficult game, and there are so many ways how to do it wrong. But if you do everything right, there is no happy ending -- some wrong endings are even somewhat "happier". So you sit there and watch the credits roll -- and you feel that you understand some things about this life a bit better. How often can you say that about a computer game? Cannot recommend highly enough.

I have never played a game quite like this. Beyond its rough edges there exists a gem that is among the most immersive games I've played. The game produces an illusion of "Choose Your Own Adventure" due to the world acting without the player's presence - indeed, the player can be at the opposite end of the train, and events, even if scripted, are taking place, whether or not the player is there to see them. The game is railroaded in the way that when bad ends happen the game offers a clock which the player can roll back to re-live past events. This happens until the player finally manages to solve all the puzzles in the right order and reach the true end. Voice acting is fantastic. I don't speak any of the foreign languages, but it definitely sounded natural when I heard Serbians talking among themselves, the upper class French chatting with the Germans and the Austrian doing her best to speak English. Puzzles are minimal, and very easy. The game is mostly about doing things in the right order and later correcting your mistakes. A must play.

As many other reviewers mentioned, graphics are great. The rotoscoping is really great and the audio is great too (full Classic concert included ;). Only downside, although there is a built-in hint system: you might fail/die a lot and have to repeat until you know what is going on.

I had and loved this game as a kid. It was very inventive at the time, the style of animation over live action, the well-developed script, the mystery plot that used "real time" that allowed you to miss semi-crucial plot points, the works. It was great. The only problem was that it was a one-time play (or maybe once every other year, after you'd forgotten where everything was hidden or how it played out).