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Review
Agatha
Christie: And Then There Were None
Review by
November 15, 2005 |
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 Agatha Christie needs
no introduction. As the best-selling detective/mystery writer in
history, she has been outsold only by Shakespeare and the
bible – and they both had a head start of a few centuries!
And Then There Were None (aka
Ten Little Indians) is her most well-known and popular
thriller and has
been enjoyed by millions (coincidentally, it’s also my personal favorite!).
The Christie oeuvre has always been fertile ground for an adventure game, but
for unknown reasons – with the exception of Sierra’s exceptional
Colonel’s Bequest – for over two decades the adventure genre seems
to have been bereft of Christie-style detective mysteries. But finally, The Adventure
Company and AWE Games have shouldered the monumental responsibility of creating
an adventure game that must not only do honor to Lady Agatha’s name, but
also introduce both a new generation of readers and a large contingent of her
life-long fans to a new and different way of visualizing her classic works.
 I suspect that most who
are reading this review have already read the book and are familiar
with its plot. But for those who have not
yet read it or who need their memory refreshed, the story goes as
follows: ten people receive invitations to spend a weekend in a mansion
on a secluded island. Their host – some Mr. U.N. Owen – has
guaranteed attendance by personalizing each invitees invitation with
an offer
that cannot be refused, be it a job offer or a promise of an idyllic
weekend. So on the afternoon of Friday, August 8th, this diverse
group find themselves huddled together on the boat to Shipwreck Island.
But right after an eloquent dinner on their first night on the island,
they soon realize that their visit is meant to see them to
their deaths! For every single one of them had committed some crime
in the past for which they were never punished, and Mr. Owen has
decided to correct this oversight! He doesn’t plan simply to
kill them in brute fashion though, but will carry out their deaths
in a poetic manner, following the lyrics of a rhyme called Ten
Little Sailor Boys – a title that is being changed for the second
time since Lady Agatha wrote the book. [I would like to comment here
that I believe this political correctness thing has gone too far,
to not be able to even use the alternative rhyme Ten Little Indians.
So what’s next? Ten Little Unidentified Humans?]
 AWE Games has made a small
alteration to the story. Since the book was written in third person,
there needed to be somebody outside
the group of ten, someone who can be the main character and from
whose eyes the story will be witnessed. For that, they recruited
the boatman who ferries the group to the island, Patrick Narracott.
After dropping everyone off, Patrick will return to his boat, only
to find it scuttled. Now he is also stranded on the island, and the
upcoming storm gives no hope for any other boats to arrive before
the end of the weekend. Patrick soon finds himself smack in the middle
of Mr. Owen’s killing spree, and you will have to help him
untangle the mystery behind the murders. Who is Mr. Owen? Is he hiding
somewhere on the island? Or could he be one of the guests?
 Opening the box presented
a pleasant surprise. The book And Then There Were None was included!
Although the whole box does not come
close to the beautiful boxes of the past, it certainly is an oasis
in the desert of empty cartons with a couple of CDs thrown in along
with a 4 page leaflet that some call a manual. The small booklet
that accompanies the game also proves very useful in the beginning,
since it includes a map of the mansion and aids in getting accustomed
to all the rooms and who sleeps where. The game itself installs fully
on the hard drive and then requires no CDs to be present in the drive
while playing. Lots of brownie points for that! All this applies
to the Adventure Company’s North American version of the game.
If the game follows the ridiculous DVD-case system popular in Europe,
I doubt that the book will be included, unless its shrink-wrapped
on the outside, or, as a JA Forum member suggested, the “masterminds” of
marketing decide it’s a good idea to put the book on the CDs
in .pdf format. (What is this world coming to?)
 And Then There
Were None (ATTWN) is a third person point ‘n’ click
adventure. Patrick can walk around by clicking on the screen and
can run by double-clicking - more brownie points for that! The cursor
will change on certain hotspots to a “look”, “take”, “enter”, “eavesdrop”, “peek
through keyhole” or “talk” cursor, according to
what can be done. And here comes the second major pleasant surprise
that this game offered me! There is no apparent “use” cursor!
Yes ladies and gentlemen! In the era of total simplicity, where adventures
seem to be heading to hotspots with big neon signs glowing “Click
Here”, ATTWN will have you thinking on what object can be used
where. When the correct object is held over the correct area, which
can be either an initially different hotspot or no hotspot at all,
then the cursor will turn into the “use” cursor. This
eliminates entirely the I-will-click-everything-on-every-hotspot-and-I-will-”solve”-the-game
method that is so popular among the most recent adventures. Along
the same lines, combining objects in the inventory has to be done
in a separate area of the inventory window, so you need to have an
idea of what you’re trying to do. Clicking every object on
each other in case something pops up doesn’t work in this game!
Hey, more brownie points here!
 Immediately after starting
the game, it was inevitable that I suspect the character that I
already knew as the killer from the book. This
is something that really bugged me throughout the game and at some
points made me wish I hadn’t read the book! For that reason
I don’t know if it’s best to have read the book before
playing the game, or waiting to do so afterwards. Of course this
doesn’t mean that the killer is the same in the game as in
the book. It could be, or it couldn’t be. That is for you to
find out in one of the four different endings that ATTWN has to offer.
But, although it would have added immensely to replay value to have
different killers, the killer does remain the same in all four endings. “So
what are the differences between those four endings?”, I hear
you ask. Well, that is also for you to find out! Oh, and there’s
a special surprise waiting for you when you finish the game!
 The puzzles are almost
entirely inventory based, based on using the correct item/combination
of items on the right place. And if
you like inventory, you will find bliss in ATTWN. Patrick seems to
be carrying Sport Billy’s magic bag, since he can pick up and
stash dozens of items, regardless of their size. At one point I was
carrying a full blown raft, with the oars, among several other things!
The vast inventory days are back, and that is more than fine by me.
Patrick needs to comb every corner of the mansion and the island
in order to find items as well as documents, some of which essential
to solve the mystery, others just plain useless. Be aware though,
that searching an area once may not be enough, as characters move
from place to place and sometimes they may drop or misplace objects – Mr.
Owen may have some surprises up his sleeve too. My only gripe with
this is that the inventory window is too small for the amount of
items that can be carried, so it is necessary to constantly scroll
back and forth. A big window, like in Discworld, would have been
very welcome.
 ATTWN is
divided in 10 chapters, one for each verse of Ten Little Sailor
Boys. The game
is slightly non-linear. Several puzzles can
be solved at any time, while there are also puzzles that don’t
need to be solved at all, and unfortunately, some of the best puzzles
of the game fall under this category. Actually, if you try playing
the game doing only what is absolutely necessary, you will probably
have done only half of what is actually available! Doing the non-mandatory
puzzles helps provide more insight into the story, as well as some
side-stories, as more is revealed about each person’s secrets
and dark pasts. Talking to everyone about everything is also essential
for the story to progress, as well as for Patrick to acquire information
that will help him solve the mystery. The dialog trees are simple,
without branching and without needing to reenter a dialog. It would
have been a welcome feature to skip dialogs and descriptions – just
like cut-scenes can be skipped with esc – as there are things
that you will listen to again and again without being able to do
anything (I'll be haunted by radiators for the rest of my life!).
This doesn’t
detract from the overall enjoyment, but it does eventually become
annoying.
 The difficulty level of
the puzzles is not set very high, although it does not reach the
childishly easy levels of - for example - Syberia or Nibiru. The way implemented to combine items along with the fact
that there are no obvious hotspots for using items raise the difficulty
bar higher, and newer adventurers that have started with games that
offer everything on a silver platter may feel uncomfortable in the
beginning. More experienced adventurers will not encounter any serious
problems. Of course, as mentioned above, not everything needs to
be done in order to finish the game, so those who just want to finish
it will have an easier job than those who want to suck its juice
dry and experience every single aspect – i.e. those who are
like me!
 The length of the game is within current expectations, i.e. much
shorter than past adventure games. Although it starts off as if it
would be a slightly long game, the pace quickens about halfway through,
with the last 5 chapters flying by. Coincidentally, as the story
begins to build to a climax, gameplay suffers from a huge anti-climax.
While you will be doing a lot of amateur sleuth work early on - eavesdropping,
fingerprinting and reading documents in an attempt to identify the
culprit - after a certain point you just seem to be running around
discovering bodies. That was a huge let-down and it seemed as if
all the sleuthing in the beginning was there just to artificially
lengthen the game.
 Unfortunately, ATTWN does
not come without its share of problems. The major problem encountered
was during Chapter 5, when at some
point I could see a certain character in perfect health, but could
also see their dead body on their bed! This was confusing and made
me almost restart the game, but it turned out to not negatively affect
anything. So if you run across this paradox, try to ignore it and
continue playing. Apart from that, there are several minor negligences
and mistakes - especially towards the end of the game - that do not
affect gameplay, but could have been corrected with better beta testing.
For example, at some point you cannot get into a character’s
room from the front bedroom door. They tell you to go away. But if
you go around and enter from the balcony, you’ll find no one
there! Then you can exit the room from the front door and turn around
and try and re-enter and the character will tell you again to go
away! Poor or insufficient beta testing seems to be becoming a trend
lately and the most feasible explanation seems to be publishers rushing
to get their product to market. It’s become obvious that beta
testing is done sloppily and aided with walkthroughs, as even very
apparent things are missed. (We have since been informed that these
issues have been corrected in version 2.0 of the game which is now
shipping.)
 The game is presented
in 2.5D, which means that 3D characters are presented on 2D
backgrounds. The settings are just beautiful,
punctuated by nicely colored exteriors, an amazing sea with some
impressive water effects and splendid interiors that perfectly
recreate the era. The characters
are nicely designed, with detailed facial expressions during close-ups,
but could have been even better by today’s standards. They
could also have used some more work in the way they talk – their
lips flap like characters in a dubbed Asian martial arts movie!
The voices though are close to perfection, portraying the personality
of the characters exactly as they would have been during the era
the story takes place – from the strictness of the judge to
the “rebellious” character of young Anthony Marston.
Nice, soft background music and the storm’s sound effects tie-in
to create a package that will have you immediately immersed.
 Overall, And
Then There Were None is an enjoyable, albeit
easy adventure. It does earn points by never insulting the
players’ intelligence
by allowing them to randomly click through the game. The atmosphere
and surroundings surround the story perfectly, which unfolds in a
way that would surely have earned Lady Agatha’s seal
of approval. One feels that there could have been more gameplay-wise
though
- as well
as
several
bugs and imperfections
avoided – which makes me suspect that the game was rushed somewhat
for the holiday season. I cannot comment on how I would have liked
the game if I hadn’t read the book, but I am positive that
mystery fans who haven’t read the book are in for a treat – and,
as a nice marketing move, the book is included to curl up with later!
For those who have read the book, ATTWN is
a great adaptation that lacks nothing story-wise and is guaranteed
to satisfy. After And
Then There Were None, The Adventure Company has the
license to develop four more games based on Agatha Christie's novels
- the titles of which have yet to be announced. As an Agatha Christie
fan, I am convinced that they are in good hands with AWE Games.
But as an adventure gamer, I see room for improvement.
Final Grade: B+
(find
out more about our grading system)
System Requirements
(Minimum):
- Windows® 98/ME/2000/XP
- Pentium® 3 800 MHz
- 256 MB RAM
- 32 MB Video RAM
- 16X CD-ROM (or PC
DVD-ROM drive)
- 16-bit Sound Blaster® Compatible
- 800 MB HD Space
- Mouse and Speakers
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