Maroc - 3RD-STRIKE.COM - A La Une - 29/Sep 03:27

Agatha Christie: Death on the Nile – Review

Welcome back, old friend. We last saw Hercule Poirot roughly a year ago, when Microids presented us with The London Case. A year may have passed for us in the real world but time has seemingly moved on at a different pace for the famous sleuth. The result is a game that puts a fresh coat of paint on a familiar story – that of Death on the Nile. The timeskip was a bold move for sure, but did it pay off, or was it an unnecessary gimmick? Story Even if you’re only vaguely familiar with the works of Agatha Christie, the title Death on the Nile should ring a bell, as the story from 1937 was adapted into a blockbuster film by Kenneth Branagh only a few years ago. Perhaps this adaptation was why Microids decided to take their version of the story in a very different direction. Instead of the 1930s, the game is set in the groovy disco era of the 1970s. In addition to the familiar mustachioed face of Hercule Poirot, there is also an original secondary protagonist, private investigator Jane Royce. Poirot’s storyline follows the core of Christie’s novel: he finds himself on the luxury steamboat Karnak cruising the Nile with wealthy newlyweds Linnet and Simon Doyle, and Simon’s bitter ex-fiancée Jacqueline de Bellefort. Linnet faces multiple threats to her life, leading to the infamous riverboat murder that Poirot must solve. Meanwhile, Jane Royce’s storyline is a new addition that was absent from the original story. She’s seeking justice for a murdered friend and uncovering a wider conspiracy, which takes her to different locations all over the world, before eventually converging with Poirot’s case in Egypt. Graphics The shift in time period to the 1970s inevitably brought along a change in aesthetics, and Death on the Nile’s visuals fully embrace its new setting. When we first see Poirot, he’s dressed as if he just walked off the set of Saturday Night Fever, wearing a white disco suit. The game’s color palette comprises warm, saturated tones, referencing not only common colours from the time period, but also mimicking the warm climate of Egypt. Character designs are stylized rather than realistic, with sharp silhouettes and strong contours to make them stand out. It’s a bold direction for the series, but it doesn’t always work. Poirot, in particular, looks like a fish out of water. Perhaps it would have been better had the game not drawn from Agatha Christie’s novel and instead gone for a fully original IP based around Jane Royce, who looks right at home here. The stylized approach allows some room for forgiveness when it comes to the game’s animations, which are on the stiff side. In terms of performance, Death on the Nile certainly delivers, with a steady frame rate and consistent visual quality. Sound The soundtrack of Death on the Nile strongly contributes to the game’s 1970s atmosphere, with funky music that leans heavily on disco influences. The game is fully voiced, but the cast performances are hit or miss, and it doesn’t help that the lip syncing isn’t always up to snuff. Ambient sound effects fare a lot better, adding depth and cinematic flair to the different environments that Poirot and Jane visit in their investigations. Gameplay If you’ve been with Microids’ Agatha Christie games for a while, you already have a good idea of what to expect, as Death on the Nile sticks to the series’ familiar third-person adventure formula. Taking control of either Poirot or Jane -whichever one the story requires- you explore environments, investigate crime scenes, question suspects and witnesses and gather information. Poirot’s signature Mind Map system makes a return and is also available to Jane. All clues, statements and evidence are stored here, and it’s up to the player to connect these pieces of information in order to make deductions about the case at hand. At key points in the story, players also reconstruct timelines of events, placing characters in the right spot and determining their actions to recreate crime sequences. Puzzles are another key element of the series. Death on the Nile specifically leans into the 70s theme in this regard, with a good chunk of the puzzles based around period-appropriate tech, like Polaroid cameras, cassette players, and even a jukebox. The best part about the different puzzles is just how varied they are, although some puzzles feel shoehorned in or rely on trial and error rather than deduction. This isn’t particularly new to the series, as previous entries like The ABC Murders also were occasionally uneven when it came to puzzles. While Death on the Nile sticks close to the established core experience of these games, the inclusion of Jane Royce is used to introduce new gameplay elements befitting of the new character, which are less suitable for Poirot. Poirot’s sections feel traditional, relying on interrogations and logic-heavy deductions, whereas Jane’s sections add stealth sequences and higher-stakes action moments like tailing suspects or dodging danger in New York. A notable weakness of previous entries in the series was a lack of replay value. Death on the Nile breaks away from this, offering three difficulty levels and optional hidden collectibles, including vinyl records and golden moustaches. At the end of each chapter, you’re given a summary of how well you did, including how many mistakes you’ve made and how long it took you to complete it. Completed chapters can be tackled again so that you can sniff out anything you’ve missed -although there are red herrings present in both Balanced and Herculean difficulties. Death on the Nile sits comfortably in the 18-20 hour range for a single playthrough, although your mileage may vary depending on your level of puzzle-solving skills and how much of a completionist you are. This puts Death on the Nile in line with previous entries in the series both in terms of game length and launch price, which sits at €49.99. It’s an expected and reasonable price point, and if you’re a fan of Microids’ previous Poirot games, then embarking on a cruise to the Nile should be a no-brainer. Conclusion With each entry in its Agatha Christie series, Microids has continued to refine the formula, culminating in the best Poirot game so far. Sending the famous Belgian detective 40 years into the future was a bold move, but it mostly paid off. Unfortunately, this isn’t because of Poirot himself, as the poor man looks awkward in those bell-bottom trousers. No, the real revelation is Jane Royce, whose introduction adds new twists and turns to a familiar story, and whose inclusion opens up the gameplay in new ways. There are still a couple of rough edges in Death on the Nile, with the occasional uneven puzzle and some audiovisual sync issues, but as a whole, this latest title takes the series another step further. We can’t wait to see what the future has in store for Poirot.