The Last Express

by Interplay

Product Features

• collectable

Product Details

• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S. and to APO/FPO addresses. For APO/FPO shipments, please check with the manufacturer regarding warranty and support issues.
• ASIN: B00004C8S2
• Media: CD-ROM
• Release Date: March 31, 2000
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #28,267 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #5 in Video Games > Mac Games > Action > Military & Espionage
  • #51 in Video Games > PC Games > Action > Military & Espionage
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Product Description

The Last Express allows you to move freely through the rich and detailed 3-D environment of the world's most luxurious train, circa 1914, during its final European crossing prior to the outbreak of WWI.

Game play involves interacting with characters, exploring objects, engaging in action sequences, and uncovering multiple story threads--with your perspective shifting from first person to third person for maximum dramatic effect.

Information gained is used to piece together a series of interrelated puzzles, which advance you through the story. If you are clever enough, you ultimately discover the shocking secrets of The Last Express ... before it's too late!

Product Description

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

107 of 109 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Sam Spade on the Orient Express, February 28, 2000

By 

rw9 (Stony Brook, New York USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last Express (CD-ROM)

Pros:

1. Everything in The Last Express is topnotch: the graphics and the voice acting; the varied, fascinating characters, and the absorbing story. It's an atmospheric mystery/thriller like "The Maltese Falcon," plunked into a colorful, stylish Art Deco set. As Robert Cath, a young American doctor, you hop a ride on the Orient Express, where you encounter a sumptuous world sliding inexorably toward violence and war.

2. Nearly all the action takes place on the train, which heightens the intimacy and drama. In this, it is reminiscent of Hitchcock's "The Lady Vanishes." Last Express takes place in "real time," which means that events and conversations continue on at their own pace. A rewind feature permits you to go back in time to redo things you missed. If you have played "Titanic: An Adventure Out of Time," in which the end game takes place in (much more frenetic) real time, you will have a sense of what Last Express is like.

3. There are several endings, but the one in which you "win" is a classic. IMHO, the ending alone is worth the price of the game.

Cons:

1. The characters in Last Express were filmed, and then animated; the end result is rather jerky. I found that I noticed this for about the first fifteen minutes, then I adjusted and forgot all about it.

2. The game includes a handful of fight scenes, although there is an easy cheat to get past these (I used it). There are also more subtle adult themes. They might go right over the head of a child playing the game with you. On the other hand, they might not.

3. The save-game mechanism, which doesn't allow you to easily identify your game.

Bottom Line: Wit, Beauty, Romance, Elegance, Intrigue, Action, Suspense.

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars great game but with a few flaws, June 1, 2000

By 

Natalie Morales - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last Express (CD-ROM)

I found the storyline great (better that many other adventure games I've played) and the characters even better. The game is well designed and thought out.

However, I thought there were a few problems that kept me from giving it five stars. This game is real-time (you need to keep track of the time) which means you have to be in the right place at the right time to have a conversation. If you need to sneak into a room and miss your chance it's to late (this happened to me more than once. ugh.)You can't quickly reload the game like you would in other adventure games. Last Express only lets you start over at certain points in the game. It's very frustrating! My other complaint is that I found some of the puzzles to not be very intuitive. I don't want to give anything away since this is a truly great game but I did have to hunt down hints at a few points during the game.

Overall, this game is great entertainment, if you don't mind some of the frustration.

22 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A New Art, July 2, 2000

By 

JBZ (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last Express (CD-ROM)

This is the first video game that has ever made me consider that the video game might be the novel of the twenty-first century.

Looking at the screen-shots, it may not draw in the traditional video game player (such as myself). And yet, once you are in the environment, the game is totally aborbing. There aren't enough "puzzles" to qualify the game as Myst-style, but the characterization and story make this game something beyond any other video game I've ever seen. It's emotionally involving, in the way that we merge ourselves into truly good movies and books. The somewhat cartoonish style isn't so much like King's Quest or Space Quest as it is like Toulouse-Latrec. And the background design is stunning and intricate. There are plenty of plot-twists and mysteries to solve -- this is no stale adventure -- but the involvement you experience in the story is unlike anything I've seen since, despite all of our technological advances. This is, still, one of the finest video games ever produced, a first-person story of the highest order, where you determine, every time you play, the flavor of the story.