A Journey back in
time…
While I have not read Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, I do
certainly recognize an “inspired” work when I see one. Perhaps not as
painfully obviously clear as in “Chaser” and “Red Faction” (both which
were direct rip-offs of the good old Arnold movie “Total Recall” from the
80’s). But I know enough of the setting and atmosphere to speculate that
this game recalls the classic beloved novel, reworked to the computer,
90’s style. The Last Express, involving Jordan Mechner of the
Prince of Persia games, is a journey back in time to pre-war Europe, with
the tensions, conflicts and peculiarities of the time, all taking place
aboard the fabled Orient Express.
Yes, the Orient Express -- home to a multitude of tales, upon which only
the richest of the rich could travel. Starting at Paris and with the final
destination of Constantinople (quite the long journey), there is plenty of
room and time for intrigues and thrilling adventures. As the games’
advertisement states: “It leaves Paris with passengers…it reaches
Constantinople with survivors” – this will be no holiday journey. With
conspiracies and murders around each turn and every other passenger a
stranger, a young man named Robert Cath (played by you) is unknowingly
thrust into the fray. He sets about unraveling the mysteries of this Last
Express in a world on the brink of destruction.
Adventure with pressure
The Last Express is an adventure game, but not quite an adventure
game like all others. First, the entire game is played in real-time. I
believe that one can (although I never tried it myself) spend the entire
game sitting in one’s cabin without any knowledge of the events unfolding.
Since that would make a poor game, however, I would not recommend it to
anyone except those with too much time on their hands.
The Last Express is also probably the most “free” adventure game I
have experienced. You can go anywhere you want, whenever you feel like it,
as long as the conditions are the right ones. For example, barging into
people’s private cabins through the outer window of the train is not the
most appreciated gesture. While this makes for a more “realistic” feeling
and a freer way of solving the mysteries, it is a double-edged sword that
can be very frustrating. Why? As mentioned earlier, you may go anywhere
you want as long as the conditions are the right ones. This means that if
you miss an opportunity to do something crucial in the main storyline, you
are stuck with the result. And to those who are unaware of what they’ve
missed, it can be frustrating, to say the least.
But if you overslept in your cabin,
with Vienna flashing past outside the window, and you still haven’t even
greeted your fellow passengers
-- do not despair. The entire game
is played in real-time, yes, with a minefield of ways in which you can go
wrong. This is where the developers (in a stroke of genius) implemented a
“clock” feature. When you start playing the game for the first time, this
clock starts ticking (it is accessed via the main menu, and it can be
rewound from there), giving you another shot at solving things. To not
leave you totally in the dark as to when a key event is happening, there
is also a very stressful “tick-tock” sound that starts when anything
important is about to occur. (Quite the kick in the rear if you’re in the
cabin of a certain Austrian lady snooping through her belongings).
The game is played in a simple point-and-click mode. No quizzical key
combinations here. There is an arrow for navigation through the train
(beautifully rendered screens, but no 3D) and a hand for manipulating
objects.
Story and environment
A friend, Michael Whitney, has invited Robert Cath - the main character -
along for a ride on the Orient Express. Not being able to arrive in time
for the departure, however, we can see Mr. Cath making a dramatic late
entrance in the game introduction. As a stranger on the train, without a
ticket or a proper reason for embarking, he has no clue at first as to why
he is there. This is where you step in.
The Last Express is full of atmosphere, and while the beautiful
(for its time) graphics and music are a major component of its success,
where the developers really surpassed themselves is in the persona
gallery. Without revealing too much, I can safely say that this includes
the typical (corpulent) German industrialist businessman, a Russian
revolutionary, a happy Englishman, a beautiful musician, an aristocrat and
his granddaughter, a group of outsiders who keep to themselves and a
mystical African man. All with hidden motives and different goals, with
you in the middle of it.
Almost all of the characters on the
train have some part to play, and even with those who don’t are still
interesting to listen to. I heard it said that every time one plays The
Last Express, it is a different experience, and I believe it. As time
passes, the characters go on about their business: eating, talking and
arguing. Since you can never be in two places at the same time, and these
things happen simultaneously, you can never experience it all in one go.
(A motivation to play the game again, if ever there was one.) You can sit
in the restaurant car and listen to the conversation of those around you,
relax in the smoking car, or listen to private conversations through
doors.
One of the characteristic features of these conversations is how Russians
will speak Russian, Germans will speak German and the French will speak
French. I may not be a linguist, but it is a refreshing thing not to have
to deal with Germans who zpeak like zis even wif otter Germans. Luckily,
since our Mr. Cath is a learned person, he can understand them and he
kindly provides us with subtitles. I wouldn’t have minded subtitles with
the English conversations as well, but you can’t have everything, can you?
That all the voice acting is
near-to-perfect does not make it worse, either.
The atmosphere
There are cutscenes from time to time to propel the story forward and also
the occasional fight (these can be tricky the first time, but you will get
hang of them quickly). The major problem with the cutscenes – and some
things in the game itself – is how everything “stutters.” The animations
here do not flow, but are merely one picture after another. There must be
some technical explanation for this, but I cannot grasp what it could be,
as the animations (made by motion-capture) of people moving around in the
game itself are smooth and very well done (most of the time). Other than
that, the graphics for a game released in 1997 are as expected; crisp,
clear quality and beautifully rendered. The painstaking process of
recreating the train is evident in the amount of detail offered. From the
elegant private cabins to the claustrophobic baggage car, everything is
just as one would think it had been.
And through all of this, we have Elia Cmiral’s retro/orchestral soundtrack
playing. Violins mixed with heavy percussion and string instruments,
setting the mood. Very well composed, with a fitting song for each
situation, this masterpiece adds a lot to the atmosphere. (The soundtrack
is also available on Amazon.)
Finally, before concluding this review, I must admit that the first time I
played the game, I had a walkthrough printed out next to me. The Last
Express is hard. Very hard. And it can be frustrating too, mostly
because you have no idea of what to do next. There are practically no
pointers and there are a few very illogical solutions to problems (the
“Golden Whistle” most prominently). If you are an inexperienced adventure
gamer, my suggestion is to first play the game with a walkthrough and
watch the bittersweet story unfolding. Then make a second attempt, this
time entering the world of The Last Express as Robert Cath; alone
without any idea as to what is going on.
A genuine classic, much overlooked.
90%
08-2006
design copyright ©
2006
GameBoomers
Group
