Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders

by Dreamcatcher

Product Features

• Live through a modern classic for the first time on the Nintendo DS
• Solve the crime in multiple ways, and then solve it again
• Complete mind-bending puzzles
• Use your Investigator?s Journal to record clues and notes
• Collect hidden notes found in-game that contains unique facts about Agatha Christie or one of her characters

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0028Q9BFY
• Product Dimensions: 5.7 x 4.9 x 0.6 inches ; 4 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: November 4, 2009
• Average Customer Review: 2.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #15,974 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

As easy as A...B...C?

Agatha Christie’s A.B.C Murders tells the story of Captain Hastings and Hercule Poirot as they attempt to solve a series of bizarre murders committed by an elusive madman.  

Going off the simple clue of the A.B.C railway guide left at the scene of each crime, Hastings and Poirot follow the leads to Andover, Bexhill, Churston, and Doncaster trying to apprehend the killer before the next crime is committed.

He soon realizes a serial killer is on the loose, murdering his victims in alphabetical order, leaving an ABC Railway Guide beside each body and playing a dangerous game with Hercule Poirot. He alerts Poirot in advance of the locations of the murders, but Poirot always arrives too late. Intrigued by the psychopath’s mind and methodology, Poirot travels the length and breadth of England - determined to track down this ruthless killer.


FEATURES

* Live through a modern classic for the first time on the Nintendo DS.

* Solve the crime in multiple ways, and then solve it again!

* Complete mind-bending puzzles!

* Use your Investigator’s Journal to record clues and notes.

* Collect hidden notes found in-game that contains unique facts about Agatha Christie or one of her characters.

Product Description

Agatha Christie’s A.B.C Murders tells the story of Captain Hastings and Hercule Poirot as they attempt to solve a series of bizarre murders committed by an elusive madman. Going off the simple clue of the A.B.C railway guide left at the scene of each crime, Hastings and Poirot follow the leads to Andover, Bexhill, Churston, and Doncaster trying to apprehend the killer before the next crime is committed.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Passable Point-and-Click Adventure, Good for Christie Fans, November 22, 2009

By 

Classic Game Girl & Bibliophile (Stuck in SoCal) - See all my reviews

= Fun:3.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders (Video Game)

Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders is a passable point-and-click adventure, and I think it would be especially appealing to Agatha Christie fans. Basically, in the game, you will tag along with Poirot and Hastings, helping them to investigate crime scenes, interview witnesses/suspects/family members, and solving various puzzles along the way that will test your logical and analytical skills. There isn't a whole lot of gameplay in the crime scene investigations, with the exception of the first scene in which you do find evidence. After that, when you click around to investigate the crime scene, you won't find evidence or clues but you will be given various interesting facts about Agatha Christie's England and her writing. Similarly, when you interview people, you'll basically just run through a series of questions, and you'll need to go through all of them. In other words, what you ask and when makes little difference, as you just have to click through all of the questions and answers. However, often the dialogue does prompt a puzzle, which you must solve in order to proceed, and this is where the actual gameplay takes place. The puzzles are pretty good analytical problems along with a few riddles, similar to the kind of puzzles that one encounters in the Professor Layton games.

In the end, I came away with mixed feelings about this game. On the one hand, I have a soft spot for Agatha Christie, as I used to read those books as a kid. I also thought the puzzles were pretty well-done, and a few were even rather tricky (in a good way). On the other hand, I was disappointed that crime scene investigations didn't yield actual clues or drive the story, the dialogue bits get a little boring since there isn't really any gameplay or decision-making involved, and the interface is rather clunky at times. Overall, the game seemed too easy and too short. I'd say it took me roughly 5-7 hours, though there is no in-game timer, so I'm not sure. To be honest, I feel a full-retail ($28+) game should provide at least 8-10 hours of gameplay. On the bright side, ABC Murders more than twice as long as Women's Murder Club.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Read the book, November 23, 2009

By 

Micky Lee (Somerville, MA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

= Fun:1.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders (Video Game)

As an Agatha Christie fan, I highly anticipated this video game. After playing for half an hour, I decided I will not play it again. First, you will know who the murderer is if you have read the book. Second, the puzzles range from unclear to dumb (guess which date the murder will be committed? Merry Christmas). Third, too many dialogues and too few interesting games. There is an "examine" function that gives trivial facts about Agatha Christie's life and random facts about the first lighthouse built in Scotland (or something). The game is simply dreadful. It is a shame that the wonderful book was adapted into something so tedious and boring.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Good Premise, Poor Execution, March 19, 2011

By 

Laura L. Stanford - See all my reviews

= Fun:2.0 out of 5 stars 

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Agatha Christie: The ABC Murders (Video Game)

Three different aged people played part of this game, just to gauge our different reactions to it; myself, a 45 year old woman, my 18 year old son and my 8 year old son. None of us cared for it and here's why:

DreamCatcher has produced three Agatha Christie games for the PC that are quite good adventure games; above average to superior voice acting, good to excellent graphics and well researched period appropriate locations, music, clothing, etc.

Since this is a DS game, it would naturally not be nearly as detailed nor would I have expected it to be, but this game is subpar on nearly all levels. The game play is very limited and you can actually do very little; the scenes when you click on them only have a few tidbits about history or Dame Agatha herself, and nothing that is pertinent to the game. You cannot move within a location - for instance, if the scene is a storefront and there is a door to enter it, you cannot go in.

Sometimes, figuring out how to end a particular chapter is difficult and you have to replay entire cut scenes to get to the end. Each chapter involves interviewing suspects or policemen, with little choice as to what you ask. It is frustrating, repetitive and stilted "conversation".

Oddly enough, there are math/logic problems that you have to solve to continue in the game and this was an unpleasant find; I actually like such logic problems and play them from time to time, but I was not expecting nor did I wish to have to put down the DS and take a pencil and paper to figure them out. You have no option to either skip or receive hints (if needed; some weren't really that hard, but some were) and you cannot proceed further in the game until they're done...and there's LOTS of them.

It's a pity - with a little more thought and innovation, this could have been a good title. Unless you're just a die-hard Christie fan and wish to own everything that is connected to her, this is a no-buy.