Customer Reviews

Agatha Christie: Evil Under The Sun

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(6)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I've loved all of the Agatha Christie games. They're well thought out and a true mystery game. Of course, being based off of the books does help! One reason I really love these games is because you get to meet different characters and investigate, interrogate, etc. It's not full of puzzles you HAVE to complete in order to continue on with the game. It doesn't have action sequences where you're worrying about your character being killed and having to go back and try again. The main characteristics are learning the suspects, finding the clues and coming to the conclusion of the murder.

It also has 7 different Acts, so the game lasts a good amount of time. I highly recommend this game for any adventure game lover and murder mystery fan!

The 3rd episode, long awaited Evil Under the Sun is here.

Graphics? Good as you are used of TAC. Close-ups of the characters are not the best - but it is a minor flaw only.

Sound ? The best of the three games. I very much liked the door and ambient effects, and the fact that, almost on each act, the background music changes.

Dialogs? Very good. Emphasizing Poirot's humor. Poor Hastings can almost never put his own little gray cells to work! The voices are also loud and very clear.

Plot? Interesting. Everyone who has read the book will agree that the plot in the game does not resemble the book with accuracy. Although this might be considered a flaw, I am satisfied - because you will encounter things that were not in the book.

And a nice gift, a very innovative hint system with a moving finger (say, is the Moving Finger the next TAC Agatha Christie game ?).

Advantages:

- Nice gfx, sound, and control system (unlimited (as far as I could see) saves).
- Good plot, no flaws.
- Lots of humor.
- Includes text for the dialogs. (Very important for me).
- Nice and logic , inventory-based riddles. Oh yes, and 1 rather easy puzzle-type riddle found in Linda Marshall's room.
- Full install, play without CDs.

Disadvantages:

- A bit short
- A bit easy
- A bit non-evil ; Good as a game - but no match for the book as far as the atmosphere is considered.
- Some bugs in the graphics ; Not critical, but annoying. Save F2 and Load F3 will do a needed job.
- No book included - Why ? Previous 2 games included the book in the box :(
- No alternative ending. The murderer is the same as in the book - what differs is the method of their 'arrest'. The 'And then there were none' was the only one of the three that had actually changed the plot to introduce a new finale.

Overall:
Although the game is very good overall,it is inevitably compared with the book masterpiece, and it most probably fails in the comparison. I congratulate the TAC developer's efforts, but I would suggest they spend their programming hours and talends in designing new games and not copies of the Great Lady's books, because a copy of a masterpiece is bound to be an eventual failure.

Agatha Christie: Evil Under the Sun is AWE Game's third Agatha Christie adaptation for the PC, and as such, has made admirable improvements over its predecessors, with a few small glitches. Based on Dame Agatha's Evil under the Sun (Hercule Poirot Mysteries), it is the tale of seemingly unrelated guests vacationing on a nearly-deserted British island early in WWII. However, all is not quiet in this apparent paradise; Arlena Stuart-Marshall, a rich and beautiful actress, turns up dead on an isolated beach, and nearly everyone has some connection either to the murder or the strange goings-on on Seadrift Island.

The game opens with the unique premise that Poirot and Hastings are in Poirot's London apartment during an air raid, and in order to distract themselves, Poirot offers to retell the details of his latest case, which received scant publicity due to being upstaged by Hitler. Poirot offers the services of the Finger of Suspicion, a "magical" device that helps eliminate suspects if you get stuck. During the tale, Hastings will jump back and forth between Seadrift Island, 1940 and Poirot's London office as the two share details of the case.

Unlike the previous AWE game Agatha Christie : Murder on the Orient Express, where you played as Poirot (voiced by David Suchet, the BBC Poirot), in EUtS you play as Poirot's friend Captain Hastings as you retrace Poirot's footsteps leading up the the murder and its investigation. However, your physical appearance is that of Poirot, and your thoughts alternate between Hastings and Poirot as the two banter about clues and suspects. Sound confusing? It is at times. Also, David Suchet didn't reprise his voicework here, deferring to the capable Kevin Delaney instead. However, the time travel / body swap gimmick works, and the clever writing results in comic relief.

There are no fewer than twenty possible suspects, and each has their own motive. There is not one, but several crimes unfolding simultaneously, including subplots involving a fascist spy, drug smuggling, past murders, pirate ghosts, hidden treasure, small thefts, and of course, Arlena's murder. Also, Seadrift Island and the Smuggler's Rest hotel are incredibly vast compared to the first Agatha Christie game Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None, offering hours of exploration.

Graphically, the game is flawless, including the Art Deco hotel details and elaborate period costumes. However, I had to giggle on several occasions at a few of the characters who really, really looked like men in drag, especially during cutscenes. I wondered if that was part of the deception at first, but no. Another graphic improvement was in the game's extensive use of ambient effects such as rolling fog, moving shafts of sunlight, distant waves, and rustling leaves that helped to bring static 2D backgrounds to life. The game's voice acting is generally very good, with the exception of some truly bad German accents, and the music is perfectly tailored to suit the mood. The cinematic cutscenes are beautifully executed, and many times are for comic effect as Poirot's grumpy face is featured in close-up, the crinkling of his eyes expressing his disapproval.

The inventory system remains unchanged from previous games, but thankfully, you carry few unnecessary items. Generally, the puzzles are inventory-based and are straightforward, sometimes requiring you to combine items or examine items more closely. Another new twist is the stopwatch; in this game, you time several routes around the island to the scene of the murder to determine whose alibis are sound. There are also numerous documents that are added to Hastings/Poirot's notebook that shed light on past events that are connected to the murder. Poirot also engages in eavesdropping on several occasions, and shadowing shady characters (and ghosts). Another pleasant addition is the use of chemical testing to determine contents of items found in suspects' rooms and at crime scenes.

Two small gripes: when testing evidence, the results are delivered automatically, with no chance for trial and error. A little more freedom of experimentation in determining content would have been nice. Similarly, Poirot is required to play darts at one point, and he wins automatically. I was hoping for a little eye-hand coordination practice instead of having the computer do it for me. Also, some players had issues with gameplay crashes and glitches, but the game ran smoothly on my above-specs computer.

Overall, this is a welcome addition to an impressive series of games that capture the diabolically clever murder puzzles in Dame Agatha's famed mysteries while bringing bygone eras to vivid life. The touches of humor and vivid environment, combined with the extended gameplay, make this the best entry in the series by far, and fans of murder mysteries and adventure games should definitely add this gem to their collection.

This is the second AC game I've played in the series. I thought overall, it was more enjoyable than Murder on the Orient Express. What I liked about EUTS is that you don't seem to spend as much time doing silly things that don't relate to the story (although you still have to do some.) Another helpful feature is that you have a list of tasks to complete during the scene; i.e. "Read article about Miss Porter's School" and "Help Linda build a blind for birds." I felt like with MOTOE you could wander around helplessly lost for hours. As with the other AC games, you still collect items and use combinations of them to help you on your way--but what's great about EUTS is that you can tell if something is a combination by just hovering over the second tool, you don't have to click on each combo and hear the annoying "I don't think that's a good idea" speech 20 times.

The graphics are beautiful, and the voices aren't bad (although Christine Redfern is a bit annoying and I miss David Suchet as Poirot.) On the flip side, unless you save your current game frequently, you might have to repeat your moves because there are quite a few system crashes that you'll experience.

Overall, I think if you are a fan of AC and Poirot, you will enjoy the game despite the glitches. The games seem to be as addicting as the books are to read; I just hope we don't have to wait a year inbetween releases!

Pros:

* Staged gameplay: you progress in chunks, and you know you've accomplished what you need to when it allows you to move on.
* In-game hints: not the most helpful in-game hints, but between the journal instructions and the 'finger of suspicion' you can find your way through. Also, the dialogue gives a lot of hints and occasionally tells you what to do.
* Logical use of items for the most part - no combining dust bunnies with smarties to create a new sentient life form.
* Smooth gameplay and easy-to-use menus.
* Overall it was a well-programmed game with only a few minor continuity glitches (there's one point where you can still 'see' something that has already been retrieved and removed).

Cons:

* Auto-play sequences can be touchy to initiate - there's one time where you simply have to go back and look at something to get it to play, even if you've looked at that same thing dozens of times and it hasn't changed.
* Double-click to view inventory is a real pain - I had to click dozens of times to bring up the view screen. Why didn't they add a 'view' button to the main inventory page, or make it a right-click function?!
* Real veterans of this type of game might find it a bit on the easy side - there were very few brain-teaser-like puzzles and not a lot of action. The majority of the time you spend walking about, which reminds me:
* Too much time spend getting from place to place. I realize this is because you do bump into people on the way, but it was a lot of clicking, especially if you're not super-efficient in your moves. I prefer games with fixed locations that can be jumped between with the use of a map screen, but that's a personal preference.

Overall:

I quite enjoyed it, and even as impatient as I am I didn't have to cheat... much. There were a LOT of characters to keep track of, though, and that got a bit confusing. I would have really liked a cheat sheet with their names and faces just so I could keep them straight (but I have a problem with names, so maybe that's just me). I think the mystery was straightforward and Poirot really walks you through it, so it wasn't as much of a mind-bending challenge as games with tons of puzzles, but it was relaxing in a way, too. I think it's a great starter game for those not used to this type of game (but why would I combine a spaghetti strainer with a porkchop?! - the days of the old 'Day of the Tentacle' and 'Sam and Max') or even a veteran who wants to kick back and take it easy. On par with most of the Nancy Drew games out there.

This game was awesome. If you liked the first game, "And Then There Were None", you will definately love this one. Similar gameplay and length. I thought that Murder on the Orient Express was a disappointment, but this game was great.

I didn't have any technical problems with this game. It is not fair to give the game a poor rating because of technical problems. If your computer has all of the requiremtnts, it will play fine!

First of all I have to say that I had the same white screen problems as other people but by just hitting F2 then F3 for quick save/load I was able to play for an hour or so between white screens. Using that method it only takes about ten seconds to get back into the game and the flow wasn't disrupted at all.

One strange thing about the game I bought was that there were already several saved games that installed from set up, I don't know if anyone else had this?

I haven't played And Then There Were None but this game is definitely better than Murder on the Orient Express. The plot keeps you guessing all the way through and the ending is surprising in a good way, although on reflection it didn't really seem logical (I can't really explain without giving away the ending, but you will see what I mean if you finish the game)

It seems to take a while for Poirot to get from one side of the island to the other but in reality if you double click through the screens it is less than 40 seconds, so it's not a game killer.

The real problem with this game is keeping track of all the characters, you find yourself trailing all over the place to see if someone has anything new to tell you and the only way to know for sure that you have done everything is when the Act ends and you are returned to Poirot's flat.

This is more of a 'gather evidence to support alibis' game than a puzzle solving exercise and the puzzles really don't take much solving. I think the developers wanted this to work more like a graphical whodunnit than a traditional adventure game.


Bottom line is graphics are nice, voice acting is a bit over the top sometimes,the story is absorbing in the sense that you do find yourself suspecting different characters at different points in the game and like I said earlier, never in a miliion years would I have worked out the 'truth'.

This is actally one of the easiest games I have played in terms of the puzzles (this is not a criticism, just an observation).There aren't many places where you should need to consult a walkthrough and I would say there's about 16-20 hours of gaming time in there.

I believe a patch has now been released, but I would wait until you can pick this up as a cheapy rather than shell out full price for it.

Evil under the sun

Having played the previous two games in this series by the Adventure Company, I looked forward my third instalment of murder mystery.

They did not let me down, but first I had a problem with the graphics. It turned out that the game spec requires DirectX 9 & 64 Mb graphic memory. This is the exact same spec required for the second instalment which played fine on my computer. It seems the previous game didn't really require this but this game does. So I bought a graphics card, an FX5200, which is the lowest spec (and cheapest - roughly the cost of one game) card which has DirectX 9 and 64 or more Mb graphic memory and is an AGP card. I got 256 Mb but there are 64Mb cards and 128 Mb versions which would enable playing of this game. The symptom of the problem is a loss of background image leaving a white screen [blizzard conditions!] which makes the game unplayable. Exchanging the card is easy and should take no more than a few minutes. For the record, my old card was an Nvidea MX/MX400 which supports DirectX 7 and has 32 Mb graphic memory. If your computer has PCI then there are many more cards to choose from.

Once the technical aspects were settled, I played the game.

The story is a complicated one. It is more involved than the previous games in the series. I'd not read the book, so this was new to me. You play as Hastings, Poirot's friend, following in his footsteps. This is a novel device to have Poirot knowing all the outcomes and thus able to advise the player. The avatar on screen has Poirot's body and voice. This gave the developers opportunity to inject some humour which I much appreciated. The game is in chapters, seven in all. The end of each chapter is marked by the player being whisked to Poirot's office and some advice given by him. An innovation is "the finger of suspicion" which serves as a hint system as well as an extra puzzle. Initially I was wary of this but soon came to value its efficiency particularly at the end of chapters where there is usually one last action to trigger the chapter end, but nothing suggests itself. Much time was saved by consulting "the finger of suspicion".

The graphics are good, the acting fine. In the final chapter Poirot outlines his case, with prompts from the player. I had my suspicions, but didn't work out who the murder was.

I enjoyed the game. The scenario was memorable. Puzzles are perhaps on the easy side, but the game is none the worse for that. This is definitely a 20 hours plus game, unless you make repeated use of the hint system.

This is the best of the three games in the series. I recommend it. Just make sure your graphics set up is capable.

I have played other games in the Agatha Christie line and this one was hard to play. I would like to have known a little more about the way to move about in the game and how to find clues without constant going back and forth and running into dead ends. I guess I like the hidden objects format of Death on the Nile and Peril at End House.

Be careful purchasing this game if you run Windows Vista. It will not Load or Play if you have an AMD processor. It will only work with an Intel Processor