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A nice change...

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: October 21, 2007
Author: Amazon User

If you are tired of 1st person shooters and like beautiful scenery and puzzles then this is the game for you. I was engrossed for hours and the graphics are quite good considering the low spec requirements. With most PC games the plot and finality isn't important but this game I was captivated from beginning to finish to know the outcome. There are maps in the booklet and if and probably when you get stuck there are a couple of excellent walkthroughs online.
This game is an advanced point and click type of format (much better than the old Myst format). COlors are vivid, graphics are excellent. My only complaint is I wish they stuck to the original book ending. Much darker and made more sense instead of the "fluff." But at least they gave alternative endings.

Addicting concept-who's next?

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: March 06, 2008
Author: Amazon User

As another reviewer said, it IS very addictive to find out who's going to be killed next. Waiting for the character to run from one screen to the next is a little annoying when you have to cross the island, but not a significant enough glitch to make you want to quit playing. The graphics are good and the location interesting, and overall the game is as good as the Nancy Drew series-although more violent and not quite as family friendly (there's mild language periodically throughout). I like the multiple endings. There are a few things I needed the walkthrough to figure out (like dealing with the wretched apples I toted around through much of the game). Thankfully, there weren't endless worthless games and puzzles to solve, and for the most part the game made sense and was easy to navigate. Satisfying.

Played like an interactive audio book

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: July 16, 2006
Author: Amazon User

I enjoy mystery and adventure games, so I expected to enjoy this game. This is one of the least fun games I've ever played. Most of the 'puzzles' in the game are impossible to figure out without a hint (because they are absurd), and then once you do figure them out are completely irrelevant to the game. In fact, all you really must do to complete this game is to talk to everyone over and over and over. There is an incredible amount of talking, none of which can be skipped and much of which isn't neccessary. I was very disapointed. It starts with 10 people and kills them off from there 'chapter' by 'chapter'. I had hoped that each 'chapter' would have puzzles that would produce clues so that it would be possible to figure out who the killer was. In reality, the clues are so obscure that they can only be seen in retrospect.
I would only reccommed this game if you are more interested in listening to a story than solving a mystery or playing a game.

Great Game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: January 15, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I liked this game very much and found that it was interesting. I also read the book which sticks close to the game. Great adventure, would recommend.

The grade for the character artwork is a C-

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: March 26, 2007
Author: Amazon User

You have to love pointing and clicking to plow through this somewhat disjointed game (I like to point and click).As observed by other reviewers, some of the objects are ludicrously hidden, such as the battery in the flour sack, but I wasn't unduly upset by such fanciful flights of the writers. What I was upset by was the absolutely awful artwork employed in the creation of the characters. The worst is Vera Claythorne. She is the worst depiction of a character I've ever seen in a PC game. This babe arrives at the mansion of Shipwreck Island along with her fellow guests adorned in a god-awful lumpy, electric blue full length gown slit to the waist on the sides.It is drizzling rain and more severe weather is to follow. Vera minces around in little steps like a wound-up Barbie doll wearing her crappy looking gown to the bitter end. Like all the other characters, her face is poorly-drawn and her mouth, like the others, opens and shuts aimlessly like Charlie McCarthy or a fish.

On the other side of the coin is the delineation of the cold, drizzly, bleak Shipwreck Island and the mansion. The environments are very well done, although I think if I had been on the artistic staff I would have rendered the mansion spookier. A plus for the quality of the game is the voice acting, which is excellent. But the voice I enjoyed the most is that of Judge Wargrave, reading his confession exactly as Agatha Christie wrote it. You are treated to that scene at the very end of the game.The contrived ending of the game I felt was very unconvincing because the motives were unconvincing and the possibly of the murders being done by the game's murderer is very unconvincing.

What you have here is a strange dichotomy, and "Murder on the Orient Express" suffers from the same dichotomy: the artwork of the environments as opposed to the artwork of the characters. The artists who created the people in these two games are not good enough. Take for example, the deliniation of the people in the Nancy Drew series or the beautiful cut-scenes in "The Egyptian Prophesy". The two Agatha Christie games aren't in their ballpark.

In summing up, by all means play "And Then There were None" and hopefully you will enjoy it in spite of its faults.I am perhaps more critical because I am an artist but the level of the character artwork to me is embarrassing it is so bad.

OMG!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: December 29, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Well, well, well. The Adventure Company has done it again! This is one of my fave games! It's really challenging and has a twist at the end! The nursery rhyme is real:

Ten Little Sailor Boys went out to dine,
one chocked himself and then there were nine.

Nine Little Sailor Boys went to bed late,
one overslept himself and then there were eight.

Eight Little Sailor Boys were in Devon,
one wanted to stay there and then there were seven.

Seven Little Sailor Boys were chopping sticks,
one chopped himself in half and then there were six.

Six Little Sailor Boys went to a hive,
one got stung by a bumble bee and then there were five.

Five Little Sailor Boys went in for law,
one got himself in chancery and then there were four.

Four Little Sailor Boys went to the sea,
a red herring swallowed one and then there were three.

Three Little Sailor Boys went to the zoo,
one got hugged by a bear and then there were two.

Two Little Sailor Boys sat in the sun,
one got frizzled up and then there was one.

One Little Sailor Boy was all alone,
the hanged himself and then there were none.

The ending definitely shocked me BIG TIME! This game is a must have for those little detectives sitting at home bored! This will test your brain!

Hope you have fun with the game!! ;)

Cool game, some flaws

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: December 26, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is pretty good. I've never read the Agatha Christie novel but this game does a pretty good job of telling the story, I was pretty engrossed in it. I thought the environments were done pretty well even if they were prerendered but they were too static. The character models were merely satisfactory. This game can get a bit repetitive at times though and for some reason this game made my graphics card jump to 110 degrees Celsius, I had to underclock it to get it to a cooler temperature and this game doesn't really use much 3D, just a bunch of 2D images and character models!

One little sailor boy left all alone....

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: June 30, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The first in a series of Agatha Christie PC games, And Then There Were None is a solid book-to-PC screen adaptation that faithfully captures the foreboding atmosphere of Ten Little Indians, Dame Agatha's original novel. Ten strangers are invited to a remote British island by their mysterious host U.N. Owen. Once assembled, they are each accused of committing murder, and all are to be put to death as put forth in the children's rhyme (choking, knives, bee sting, drowning....).

Numerous changes have been made, the most visible being the addition of an eleventh character, Patrick Narracott. In the original novel, Fred Narracott was the boatman for the original party of ten, but was not present on the island. In the game, his brother Patrick has taken his place at the last minute, and is trapped on the island when his boat is disabled. The other characters are faithful to the original novel, although some of their backstories have been changed or enhanced.

Much care has been taken to bring the manor house to life. There are numerous period details, from the 1930s swing music on the radio to the Art Deco light fixtures. Scenes are rendered in superb detail, helping to bring the manor to ominous life. In the original novel (and subsequent film adaptations), And Then There Were None is a locked room mystery; the island was not explored in any great depth, contributing to the claustrophobic feeling. In the game, much of the action takes place on locations across Shipwreck Island. Nearly all of these locations were created for the game and supported by additional in-game subplots. The only downside is the large amount of tedious backtracking to retrieve items as they are needed.

Graphics look dated, and some of the character modeling is distorted (Doctor Armstrong looks like he's hiding a plastic rectangle in his mouth in closeups). Cutscenes serve to move the story along. Voice acting is a mixed bag--I kept feeling like Patrick was slipping into an American accent, but on the other hand Ms. Brent's wonderful accent (and appearance) reminded me of Diana Rigg in The Worst Witch. Judge Wargrave was another strong point in terms of voice acting. The music was pleasant, if repetitive.

The inventory system is clunky; there is precious little use of many clickable items, so you spend the game lugging around useless objects (although Patrick will object to picking up some items, saying "I'm no packrat."). The developers put a strange amount of research and design into a major red herring (think of a Hitchcock film involing avians). Puzzles in general range from the intuitive to the outrageous (Patrick's solution to a "thorny" problem involves a ludicrous chain of events involving goats). The second installment, Agatha Christie : Murder on the Orient Express, has improved upon some of these shortcomings.

The game's greatest accomplishment and tribute to Dame Agatha is in its foreboding atmosphere; sheets of rain and lightning flash outside, dark storm clouds roll low over the island as you walk across it, and waves crash violently on shore.

Generally, the additions to the original story work well. There is more of a WWII political atmosphere than in the original novel; there are references to Hitler, Nazis and sympathizers. The ending has been completely rewritten; in fact, there are no fewer than four possible endings (one "happily ever after" scenario and three not-so-happy alternatives) and one "treat" ending, that of Dame Agatha's original ending read as a voiceover with still renderings.

The game also comes with a copy of Dame Agatha's original novel so you can compare the two for yourself. If you haven't read the original novel, I would suggest waiting until after you've finished the game (or better yet, read along as you play). Even though the ending has been rewritten, reading the story first will take away some of the gruesome surprises in store. Overall, this was an enjoyable game with lots of atmosphere and attention to detail.

This is ridiculous

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 4 / 7
Date: November 17, 2006
Author: Amazon User

If we hadn't found an on-line cheat page on this game, we'd never have gotten through it. The entire fifth chapter is a ridiculous joke - get rotten apples, make cider (but first find the parts for the cider press) and feed it to the goats to get past the thistles? Who on Earth would think of doing that on their own? The flashlight batteries in the flour was another unheard of puzzle. Both my boyfriend and I are intelligent, college-educated people, but there is no way, without help, we would have figured that one out.

Ridiculous.

And after that chapter? The entire game takes about ten minutes.

Figuring out whodunnit? We knew very early on.

Nowhere near as good a tribute to the great book as it could have been. I'm very disappointed; we won't be playing again.

worth the price

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: May 25, 2008
Author: Amazon User

the graphics are fair and the story line is good, for a murder mystery. the characters do walk slow and, like the back of the cover says, there is foul language. the foul language is a little more there than the violence. besides that it's a pretty good game.

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