Customer Reviews

Art of Murder: Hunt for the Puppeteer

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

This is a point-and-click adventure. It starts and finishes in Paris with travel to Spain and Cuba between.

Control is entirely mouse driven and works well. The DVD disk is required to be in the drive to play. There are unlimited save slots each with a thumbnail picture to help remind the player.

I've not played the previous instalment, "FBI confidential" so no comparison can be made by me. I have played "Chronicles of Mystery : Scorpio Mystery" (this game was also produced by City Interactive) and both these games are of similar quality and attributes.

Graphics are fine. Settings are well reproduced. Acting is OK. There is very occasionally a lapse in vocabulary i.e. bin (trash can) becomes "basket" for instance. This betrays the European origin of the game. The plot is, of course, about a murder investigation. Actually its about a series of murders. Interest is kept up throughout the game which took me roughly 18 hours to complete. Puzzles are inventory based and mostly readily solvable. There are a couple of puzzles which involved several objects (one in each of Marseilles, Havana and Paris close to the end) which are tricky to complete. I had to consult a walkthrough for the Havana puzzle. There is one slider puzzle which I found fairly easy. There are a couple of timed puzzles where you can be killed. Fortunately the game automatically saves immediately before the timed section so no progress is lost and retries can be done easily. On the sound side, background music was unintrusive. Incidental sounds were well done.

The game is very linear. If you miss an object or action then the game prevents you from leaving that location. There is a hot-spot revealer which is useful to check nothing was missed. Items used are discarded from the inventory automatically.

So, to sum up. The game plays well. The story holds interest and is completed in this episode. The puzzles are reasonable (some perhaps a little harder than previous games from City Interactive). The game is a reasonable length. It played bug-free. This is a solid game.

I haven't finished this game yet but I enjoy it more then the first AofM & that was a good game too. Again we have an interesting story, decent voice acting, puzzles are fun, good graphics & no long dialogue trees...just one click and the conversation flows...I really like that!

I appreciate how there is more to this game then the first one. Some evidence is cleverly hidden, quite a few unexpected/surprising cut scenes, more travel/locations to explore, and the story keeps you wanting to know what's next. One character from the previous game is back and that personality is fun. :)

This game is another purchase I feel is well worth it.
If you like an adventure, crime detective, puzzles that are not difficult just fun, with a story that keeps your interest, this game delivers. I will definitely keep an eye out for more games from City Interactive.

Many have complained in regards to the fact that there are several items you can't pick up until some triggering event makes them available, and that is annoying. It's also just about the only negative thing you can say about this game. It's a very enjoyable play with stunning graphics, atmosphere, and general ambiance. The puzzles are not too easy, not too hard, although my machine did freeze at the slot machine section of the game. Not to worry; you can find savegames out there after the slot pays off so you can resume your play. There are some loose ends that are never followed through -- such as fingerprints that you go through the trouble to collect, but never do anything with -- but this is a somewhat minor complaint. Fans of the genre should definitely give this game a try. I also appreciated the lack of gore, nudity, and (for the most part) cursing, unlike some games out there. *cough* Still Life *cough*

This game worked perfectly with Windows 7 home premium (64 bit), but I could not get it to work on my laptop which has Vista (32bit). I don't know if it's an OS problem or if it's a hardware issue, but it just wouldn't work. No problems at all with windows 7, I didn't even have to use a compatibility mode.

The game was fun, but at times very annoying. The annoyances were mostly due to the things she would say if you tried to use an object in the wrong place (the same 3 things were repeated in sequence each time you tried something that wasn't correct), and the times when I knew what I was supposed to do, but could not get her to pick up a required object until after she'd talked to someone. The items were clickable, but if you try to have her pick one up she says that she doesn't know what she would need it for, and refuses to take it. So there was lots of back and forth to the same locations. A lot of the conversations were pretty dumb too, but space bar skips to the next sentence. The puzzles themselves were not too difficult - the slider puzzle was very annoying, but I was able to get through it eventually. I did end up using walkthroughs a few times just out of laziness.

This game is similar to most adventure games that are out there and if you are into these games, like I am, it is well worth it. Some of the puzzles were a little hard for me so I had to cheat and use the walkthru. The game was fun to play and had a good story line to it. The other games in the AOM series are equals to this and if you like them you will like this one.

Game freezes up during the slot machine sequence.City-Interactive ignored my support query. Cant go any farther in game. Frustrating! Avoid this Company at all costs, they will leave you hanging on your own with a worthless game. Once they have your money they are through with you. Beware. Choose another game company to deal with. If we start avoiding these companies who ignore support help maybe they will start paying attention.You been warned.

Playing this game is so much fun for me. I really enjoy it. But I love games like this one too.

Loved the game as the first Art of Murder: FBI Confidential. Looking forward to the new one and hoping for more. Great graphics, voice acting and story. Easy to operate the game and the clues were excellent. Very pleasant game playing experience.

I liked this game a lot. It was fun and interesting to play, as well as full of suspense. I liked the main character and interacting with the other characters. Not perfect, but definitely entertaining.

I find this edition better than the original AOM 1. It appears to me they have ironed out some of the performance issues. The plot is quick and you really have to think and not just "click" everywhere.