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Review
The
ABC Murders
| Developer: |
Black
Lantern Studios |
| Publisher: |
Dreamcatcher
Interactive |
| Genre: |
Detective/Mystery |
| Release
Date: |
November 2009 |
| Platform: |
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Review by Randy Sluganski
December 08, 2009 |
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 Originally
published in 1936, Agatha Christie’s The ABC Murders
features Hercule Poirot on the hunt for a serial killer who is murdering
people in the alphabetical order of their names and locations: Alice
Ascher of Andover, Bettty Barnard of Bexhill-on-Sea, Carmichael Clarke
of Churston. Before each murder, Poirot receives a letter from the
killer signed ‘ABC’ containing information on the location
and date of the next murder, but he and the police always arrive too
late. Next to each victim’s body is an ABC Railway Guide (ie,
train schedule). The story is narrated in both the first and third
person by Poirot’s best friend Captain Arthur Hastings.
 Impressively,
as far as I can discern, the DS version of The ABC Murders
follows the original mystery to a fault most likely due to the involvement
of Chorion, an entertainment company that possesses the rights to
the literary estate of Agatha Christie. The original characters and
victim’s names have been retained as has the twist ending (c’mon,
you knew there was going to be a twist ending) and the narrative process.
So how does such a complex crime novel compress into the Nintendo
DS? Quite nicely thank you.
The developer, Black
Lantern Studios, have quite an extensive background with DS games
and are adept at keeping the story flowing smoothly without the player
ever feeling as though he is being led down a predetermined path.
Interestingly, there has been one major concession made to modern
day sensibilities and that is the inclusion of
Professor Layton-type puzzles.
 Throughout
the game as Poirot questions suspects and searches for clues, he will
be challenged to prove his reputation as an esteemed sleuth by solving
puzzles that fall into the categories of Money, Logic, Riddles, Time,
Multiple Choice & Travel along with Letter & Number Recognition
and Matching Games. When these puzzles, and their solutions, fit into
the overall plot of the game they are a welcome addition. When they
don’t, they are an embarrassment. There are situations when
the only reason for the inclusion of such a puzzle is that a suspect
or witness will refuse to provide information unless Poirot first
proves he is ‘worthy’ by first solving a puzzle that is
totally unrelated to the mystery. Puh-leaze, what a slap in the face
to the reputation of one of the world’s greatest literary detectives.
Other than this one shortcoming,
there is much to recommend. ‘Agatha’s Notes’ are
clickable notes scattered across different screens that provide trivia
on the author’s life and ‘Poirot’s Lost Puzzle’
which is a collection of clues needed to solve a logic puzzle unrelated
to the main story. The graphics are minimal but effective and the
inclusion of occasional voice acting was a mild surprise.
 Each
screen always has options to either question suspects, examine the
location with a magnifying glass or to read Poirot’s notes and
Hasting’s personal observations for additional evidence (for
if you ultimately accuse the wrong suspect, then the real murderer
will escape and the game will be over!). Probably the best feature
overall though is the ability to choose between playing in ‘Classic
Story Mode’ which remains faithful to the novel or in ‘Free
Story Mode’ which has the same story and characters, but changes
their testimony and motives so that every game can have a new murderer.
While The ABC Murders
does not possess the depth of plot or crisp dialogue of the full-length
Christie mysteries published by The Adventure Company (Murder
on the Orient Express, Evil
Under the Sun, And
Then There Were None), it is an impressive opening salvo
in what one hopes will be an ongoing series of games on the DS.
System Requirements:
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