FBI Agent Nicole Bonnet
– developer City Interactive’s version of Clarice Starling
– is once again globe-trotting in Art of Murder 2: Hunt
for the Puppeteer.

A
serial killer is draining his victim’s blood and then using
an intricate hook and pulley system to hang their lifeless bodies
in famous ballet poses. The only clues are handcrafted dolls attired
in 18th century costumes left near the bodies. Agent Bonnet’s
investigation will take her from Paris to Marseilles, from the Spanish
Pyrenees to Havana before she finally corners the elusive killer.

Art of Murder 2’s
graphics are splendid. Automobile headlights from the street below
flood over the hotel room’s ceiling. Ravens flap their wings
from atop crypts and dogs sniff about deserted alleys. The textures
and depth of the buildings in the urban landscapes is near realistic
and the cut-scenes have a gritty, movie-like feel to them. There is
also a nice touch as a character from another City Interactive game
– Chronicles
of Mystery – makes a surprise guest appearance.

And that concludes the
positive portion of our review.

City Interactive seems
determined to wallow in mediocrity as many of the problems that plagued
their first two adventure offerings are repeated in Art of
Murder 2.

The
voice-acting is not horrendous, but it is certainly tepid. It sounds
as though the actors were given pages of lines to read without any
knowledge of the character’s situation. So not only are inflections
off-kilter, but much of the actor’s interpretations are lifeless
and emotionless. Of course, even the most talented of actors would
find it difficult to infuse life in such stilted and at times nonsensical
dialogue. At one point, Bonnet phones FBI headquarters in search of
her superior and is told by the secretary that “He’s gone
for longer.” WTF?! What does that even mean? On a positive note,
there are fewer misspellings in the subtitles this time around.

The game is unforgiving
in its linearity. There is zero opportunity for any creativity from
the player. Areas cannot be exited unless all of the objectives have
been accomplished. Nor is your GPS of any use as it only lets you
go where the developers want you to go next.

As
for Agent Bonnet, why is this character even in the FBI? Once again,
City Interactive has her unbelievably traipsing all over the world
in search of a serial killer. The entire storyline would have been
better served, and more believable had it been set entirely in New
Orleans. Not only is she outside of her jurisdiction, but all of the
usual clichés in this type of scenario rear their ugly head.
The French Inspector she is assigned to work with – guess what
– he’s irritable and doesn’t appreciate Bonnet intruding
on his territory. What a novel concept. Of course, he’s also
inept and doesn’t follow through on investigations thus opening
the way for her to subterfuge his case. Bonnet’s personality
also seems to have been stripped of much of the charm that made her
so likeable in her first adventure.

Still, things could have
gone swimmingly if only some sort of logic was employed, but as these
few examples will prove, it is not to be:

• Agent Bonnet will not
  break the police tape across a door because she could be charged
  with breaking and entering. But she has no problem with getting
  into the room by climbing out a window, crossing a ledge five stories
  up – destroying some property in the process – and then
  picking a window lock to enter the room. Isn’t that still
  breaking and entering? Wouldn’t it have been just as easy
  to pick the door lock, slip through the tape and lock the door behind
  her?
• When she returns to
  a bookstore after having been gone only a few minutes, the shop
  owner has been killed and strung up by the serial killer. In only
  a matter of minutes.
• Worst of all is that
  the developers do not play fair. At times you are able to accumulate
  inventory items whenever and wherever they are found whether they
  are needed at that moment or not. Yet, just as often you can’t
  take an item unless you have encountered a situation in which it
  can be used. So which is it? There is no consistency.

The
puzzles, some of which are fun to solve, can also be, well not really
a puzzle. After a Cuban government worker refuses to help Bonnet unless
she provides him with some Cuban cigars (which in itself made no sense
to me, if you’re already in Cuba won’t all of the cigars
be Cuban?). Now in any ‘normal’ adventure game –
or even in real life for that matter – you would expect to hunt
down an out-of-the-way store where the cigars you are searching for
are tucked away on a dark shelf, but maybe you wouldn’t have
the money to purchase them and have to find some way to earn cash.
Or maybe you would find a field with some tobacco leafs and you would
have to find a way to cut and then roll them into a tight cigar. You
know how you get the cigars in Art of Murder 2? You
find them. In a tin can in an elevator. Just waiting for you. How
frigging convenient is that! Who in the heck needs a convenience store
when stuff is just scattered around for the taking.

By game’s end, it
almost seems as though the developers have gotten sick of the entire
game and just want to get it over with. Before the final confrontation
you have to cross a sewer. There is a hook in the wall and some broken
mortar below. A rope and a plank are in your inventory. When you click
on the hook, it says good place to secure the rope. When
you click on the broken mortar it says, place the plank.
Does it get any easier than that!?

As
for the dénouement, try not to laugh when the villain
proclaims, “I am trying to clear us of this odium!” Yes,
it is a real word and yes, it is properly used, but still. . .

Finally, we haven’t
been too kind to City Interactive games in the past, but we’ve
tried to be honest. Still, when a publisher refuses to send either
screenshots, or a review copy – especially to a site that has
supported the adventure community for ten years – well, that is a
slippery slope and judging from some of the negative reviews already
posted for this game, it looks as though a lot of other sites will
also soon be purchasing their review copies at Best Buy.

System Requirements:

• Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista
• DirectX 9.0
• Pentium III 500 MHz
• 128 MB RAM
• DirectX 8.1 compatible
  video card with 32 MB RAM
• DirectX 8.1 compatible
  sound card
• 1 GB free hard drive
  space
• DVD-ROM drive