By John Walker on October 22nd, 2009 at 10:44 am.
It seems there’s going to be another Art Of Murder game. After the original was so dodgy I was a little surprised to see a sequel earlier this year. I never did go on to play the full game after the demo. Some other people must have though, as there’s now to be a third in this series, Art of Murder: Cards of Destiny.
Once more FBI agent Nicole Bonnet is investigating the crimes of a serial killer, who, it seems, is once again trying to murder her. She’s very un/popular among serial killers. But it hasn’t so far proved a successful series, even failing to score highly with the loony fringes of hardcore adventure gaming fansites. It’s been due to a combination of some completely daft guess-based puzzles, a weird mix of glum murder schlock and being forced to do office work, and a horrifically poor translation. Yet there’s absolutely room for grim murder mystery adventuring, so if they’d only put a lot more effort into creating a coherent story they could finally have something. Maybe it will be third time lucky, who knows. My hopes aren’t high with a theme as achingly overdone as a killer leaving playing cards behind. The fourth game will surely have to be tarot-themed. Here’s the début trailer:
I’d much rather have another ‘Art of Theft’.
Has there ever been an actually ‘good’ detective game released? One where you find the clues, interrogate the suspects and then present a case? It seems like an idea with lots of potential, especially given the genres cinematic history.
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The Police Quest series. A long time ago.
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Phoenix Wright. Bit too much of a gritty world for some though, really focuses on the real life situations.
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I attempted to play one of the Police Quests a few years ago. I never did get on very well with the Sierra style of adventure games (even when they were released) and I just couldn’t stomache it. Utterly unforgiving and unnessecarily difficult.
Also, I have thought of one of my own: BladeRunner. Essentially a film-noir detective game set in the future.
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There already is a fine Blade Runner game using voxels (last millenia, when they were all the rage – see: Outcast). I wonder if it ever got re-released on DVD; swapping those 4 CDs can be a hassle sometimes (but I wouldn’t expect anything less from another quality Westwood Studios game :)
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I did mean the Blade Runner game :)
I read this amazing AAR/play through of it recently. It’s actually better read this than play the game in some ways!
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Ah, thanks for the link – only played through it a couple of times, the most memorable scene being the dance… ;)
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@Baboonanza: Culpa Innata was a true detective game, which mostly consists of gathering evidence, choosing which witnesses/suspects/acquaintances to interrogate, and then presenting a hypothesis as to what actually happened and who did what.
Quite a good game overall I thought, though you’ve got to be willing to deal with a handful of rather traditional adventure game-style puzzles and the usual low-budget-eastern-game batshitness of the animations and story.
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I for one <3 the Tex Murphy series, though not quite a detective game.
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“the loony fringes of hardcore adventure gaming fansites”?
You make it sound like hentai games.
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And Still Life, despite its flaws.
btw, i didn’t say anything before… I retire EVERYTHING i’ve said about Machinarium. Everything. And I confess that I talked without knowing.
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I love the intro to the first one – “I have… the first operational task for you… you’ll go to the bar around the corner and bring me some coffee.”
Classic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03beCNhNTSo
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The first real puzzle of the game: fill the fax machine with paper!
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LOL! I can just imagine the voice-over actor saying that line as well. :D
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Never got into Art of Murder games. Seemed like a badly done Still Life wannabe.
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HA! Pretty sure that's sarcasm. Still it's a great adventury game. And pretnding you're a laywer (although a shticky one) while riding the train? Priceless. One of the great DS (whoops not PC, unless you are shifty and get roms) game series.
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Great link, I loved that game at the time, got a few of the endings on multiple playthroughs. Nice to read someone else playthrough it. :)
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(Was meant to be a reply to Baboonanza’s post higher up)
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weirdest. trailer. ever.
this looks like it wants to be Heavy Rain.
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