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IGN Review of Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None
Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None is a point-and-click videogame adventure based on a 1939 novel whose original name is so politically incorrect that we won't dare to publish it on this site. You're connected to the Internet – look it up. Despite its original title, And Then There None is widely considered one of the great mystery novels, an opinion supported by the popularity of the work; with more than 100 million in sales since its release more than 50 years ago, it is one of the best-selling mystery books of all time. And although you may not know it by name, you will surely recognize its theme, which has been copied countless times in other works, including movies such as Clue.
The story follows 10 people invited to a secluded island for a dinner party, each hiding dark secrets. A mysterious figure using the name U.N. Owen (Unknown) begins killing off the guests in manners that match perfectly to a famous nursery rhyme today called 10 Little Soldiers. In the game, you play as a brand new eleventh character, Patrick Narracott, the boatman hired to ferry the guests to the island. Shortly after his job is done, Narracott returns to his boat to find it "scuttered," and so he has no choice but to return to the mansion where he begins to investigate.
Great premise, of course, but the gameplay mechanics are not nearly as interesting or as engaging as the storytelling, which is precisely the title's issue. Bear in mind that developer Awe Games first created the adventure as a PC title for the Adventure Company three years ago and that the package arrives on Wii with no content changes or additions – the only difference being that you can now use the Wii remote to navigate instead of a mouse.
The game's age shows from the start. The graphical presentation is passable at best by today's standards. Narracott himself is made of polygons and stiffly animates through pre-rendered backdrops comprising the mansion. This technique was popularized more than a decade ago with other point-and-click adventures and survival horror titles, but it is rarely used nowadays due to its inherent drawbacks – specifically, an always-static camera and scene changes bound to disorient you. Textures lack detail and while all of the guests gathered to the island do feature decidedly good voice work, their facial expressions remain unchanged and the lip-synching doesn't even pretend to match the spoken dialogue. Further, the models themselves are clumsily rendered, blocky, and therefore hard to believe in. Naturally, there's no 480p support and the game runs in 4:3 mode only. Simply, after a few minutes, you'll be able to recognize that And Then There Were None is an old game regurgitated for Nintendo's endlessly popular console.
Awe Games has implemented basic Wii control to accommodate the experience. As you explore the mansion and search for clues -- first as a means to discover who wrecked your boat and later to discover who's doing all the killing, and why -- you will point the Wii remote at the screen and click around to the cue of on-screen icon changes. When you near something that can be viewed, your reticule will change to an eye and when you can walk somewhere, you'll see fit. Fine for 2005, perhaps, but Wii owners have just come from the exceptional Zack & Wiki, which does fully integrate Nintendo's remote into the play scenarios, and by comparison the Adventure Company's entry just doesn't hold up. It's all very controllable and playable, mind you, but it's hardly intuitive. You'll want to point at any place on the screen as a means to make Narracott walk there and yet that method doesn't work at all; instead, only hot spots trigger actions so you'll need to search them out even for mundane tasks such as walking.
The studio has also implemented some barely functioning Wii gestures -- for instance, you'll open doors by pointing at them with the Wii remote, pressing the A or B button and then making a twisting motion. These tend to work correctly about half of the time.
If our review so far reads hyper critical, know that And Then There Were None – for all of its archaic graphics and gameplay controls – still nestles within its confines a great mystery, some decent puzzle solving (some of which makes sense and some of which seems arbitrary and pointless), and a decent method in which to progress through the experience. The challenge level is more than satisfying – the quest to the end at the very least lengthy – and there are more than a few story twists and surprises thrown in for good measure, even for those who have already read the immensely popular story; be warned, though, that you may not find the game's conclusion as fulfilling as the novel's. If, therefore, you grew up with point-and-click titles and don't necessarily require that Wii projects take full advantage of the system, you might just find something to like about this effort, even if for nostalgic reasons.
©2008-02-29, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved
The story follows 10 people invited to a secluded island for a dinner party, each hiding dark secrets. A mysterious figure using the name U.N. Owen (Unknown) begins killing off the guests in manners that match perfectly to a famous nursery rhyme today called 10 Little Soldiers. In the game, you play as a brand new eleventh character, Patrick Narracott, the boatman hired to ferry the guests to the island. Shortly after his job is done, Narracott returns to his boat to find it "scuttered," and so he has no choice but to return to the mansion where he begins to investigate.
Great premise, of course, but the gameplay mechanics are not nearly as interesting or as engaging as the storytelling, which is precisely the title's issue. Bear in mind that developer Awe Games first created the adventure as a PC title for the Adventure Company three years ago and that the package arrives on Wii with no content changes or additions – the only difference being that you can now use the Wii remote to navigate instead of a mouse.
The game's age shows from the start. The graphical presentation is passable at best by today's standards. Narracott himself is made of polygons and stiffly animates through pre-rendered backdrops comprising the mansion. This technique was popularized more than a decade ago with other point-and-click adventures and survival horror titles, but it is rarely used nowadays due to its inherent drawbacks – specifically, an always-static camera and scene changes bound to disorient you. Textures lack detail and while all of the guests gathered to the island do feature decidedly good voice work, their facial expressions remain unchanged and the lip-synching doesn't even pretend to match the spoken dialogue. Further, the models themselves are clumsily rendered, blocky, and therefore hard to believe in. Naturally, there's no 480p support and the game runs in 4:3 mode only. Simply, after a few minutes, you'll be able to recognize that And Then There Were None is an old game regurgitated for Nintendo's endlessly popular console.
Awe Games has implemented basic Wii control to accommodate the experience. As you explore the mansion and search for clues -- first as a means to discover who wrecked your boat and later to discover who's doing all the killing, and why -- you will point the Wii remote at the screen and click around to the cue of on-screen icon changes. When you near something that can be viewed, your reticule will change to an eye and when you can walk somewhere, you'll see fit. Fine for 2005, perhaps, but Wii owners have just come from the exceptional Zack & Wiki, which does fully integrate Nintendo's remote into the play scenarios, and by comparison the Adventure Company's entry just doesn't hold up. It's all very controllable and playable, mind you, but it's hardly intuitive. You'll want to point at any place on the screen as a means to make Narracott walk there and yet that method doesn't work at all; instead, only hot spots trigger actions so you'll need to search them out even for mundane tasks such as walking.
The studio has also implemented some barely functioning Wii gestures -- for instance, you'll open doors by pointing at them with the Wii remote, pressing the A or B button and then making a twisting motion. These tend to work correctly about half of the time.
If our review so far reads hyper critical, know that And Then There Were None – for all of its archaic graphics and gameplay controls – still nestles within its confines a great mystery, some decent puzzle solving (some of which makes sense and some of which seems arbitrary and pointless), and a decent method in which to progress through the experience. The challenge level is more than satisfying – the quest to the end at the very least lengthy – and there are more than a few story twists and surprises thrown in for good measure, even for those who have already read the immensely popular story; be warned, though, that you may not find the game's conclusion as fulfilling as the novel's. If, therefore, you grew up with point-and-click titles and don't necessarily require that Wii projects take full advantage of the system, you might just find something to like about this effort, even if for nostalgic reasons.
©2008-02-29, IGN Entertainment, Inc. All Rights Reserved