Agatha Christie – ABC Murders – Review

The ABC Murders is an adventure and investigation game adapted from the classic Agatha Christie novel. The player embodies the famous Hercule Poirot in a 3rd person perspective adventure game packed with mysteries. Once again, the private detective will find himself up against a mysterious opponent who goes by the name of “ABC”.

My first impression of this game was a mixture of Broken Sword and Borderlands, Borderlands for the visuals and Broken Sword for the gameplay. It is a slow game don’t get me wrong but it is really interesting, each case has puzzles and hidden clues which help you uncover the case.

Artefacts studio have done really well capturing the authenticity of Poirot and his whole manner is near perfect, his relationship with Hastings and the way he just portrays himself is quality. They also managed to get his voice spot on, i chuckle every now and then when he says certain words in his posh french accent. I grew up watching this show on a sunday with my nan so i had a brief understanding of what he was about.

The game is set in 1939 and is part of the novel released in 1936 where Hercule Poirot is challenged by the A.B.C Killer. Each scene is bigger than the last and really challenges you which is rare these days in these types of games. The more you explore at the crime scene the quicker you uncover the clues.

The controls are slightly slow and can be frustrating when doing some of the puzzles, but unlike the PC version you can move him with the sticks and interact with the A, Y & X Buttons, the d-pad brings up the thinking pad and also the notepad for Poirot to rethink his strategy. There is a help option in the pause menu but this defeats the purpose for the game for me really.

The visual look is really easy on the eye and has that comic feel that Borderlands has, from a trailer impression you would think you were playing a Telltale game but it has more exploration involved which is a really good input. I did watch a mini preview of gameplay on youtube before i played it and noticed that there were loads of delays with the game to control and also in the cutscenes, but thankfully i didn’t notice any of these in my run through.

“i’ve never seen Poirot running after a culprit so why would he in this game”

 

I was contemplating commenting on the speed of the game but the way they have captured him in the game is so precise it would be silly as i’ve never seen Poirot running after a culprit so why would he in this game.

My first crime scene was in a tobacco shop with three suspects which was a helpful intro to the game, you have to observe the suspects to identify their traits like you had to on LA Noire, this has a black circle that zooms in when you’re hot and zooms out when you’re cold…simple. Then once you have enough evidence you start to question the suspects which brings up a similar dialogue option to most games press X to say this and Y to say that, each option will effect the conversation so beware.

The game from the off isn’t hard it is challenging but as you progress it does get slightly harder and bigger.