Art of Murder: FBI Confidential (PC DVD)

I suspect the developers had a foot each in two doors during the making of 'Art of Murder: FBI Confidential'. On the one hand the game attempts a light hearted approach to the murder mystery genre by the likes of 'Broken Sword: Knights Templar', with its low graphic violent content, little to no swearing, friendly heroine and more adventurous locations, yet at the same time, the visuals and the subject matter give the feeling they were after a more mature route to that of 'Still Life' and 'Gabriel Knight' also.

What we get is a game that on many cases works adequately enough for fans of both parties, but loses any chance of having a distinct identity that could have made this game stand out of the long list of current mediocre adventures of recent years.

Worse still is AoM could have even been a memorable classic. A great example is the opening FMV where our newbie agent Nicole Bonnet, meeting her partner at an abandoned building, is sent on her first `assignment' to fetch his coffee only to return to a gun-shot and finding her partner breathing his last breathe.

Whilst the dialog tries do deliver suspense and an edge, the abruptness of the editing, and little animation to our main protagonist meant what could have easily have been a memorable opening instead ends dully back at the office with little emotion or sympathy for the victim or Nicole.

Speaking of which, one of the saving graces is the exceptional dialog. It's terrific to note there are some memorable sarcastic yet innocent lines from the loveable Nicole but this is a cause for concern also. Her voice actress clearly isn't as enthusiastic or grateful with her material and lines often aren't as powerful or engaging as they should be.

This is a real disappointment. To make matters worse, she seems far too innocent to be an FBI agent. Whilst there's no doubting she's clever, she certainly doesn't stand out as the head strong person you'd expect in such a job, neither do we learn that much about her.

Characters around her are the same. No one appears defined or memorable enough. Memorable characters are crucial to games such as these where the player can often feel lonely, and many games such as Syberia have benefit heavily for having characters with depth and unique quirks.

The story itself is nothing out of the ordinary either, drawing upon the usual clichés. Despite this, I feel, had the points made above have been addressed and with a little more elaboration; this game could have delivered something outstanding. Graphically and artistically, the locations are sharp, clear and interesting.

The game play itself consists pretty much entirely of highly drawn-out item based puzzles. Unfortunately many seem more a chore and whilst certainly all make sense, they've clearly been added to pad out the game longer than necessary. `Puzzles' include adding paper to a printer, charging a mobile phone amongst other things. Whilst this is far from the first adventure to do this (Still Life being a prime example), never have I come across a game to do it so excessively.

To counteract this there is, for the first time I've seen, an option to highlight all interactable items on screen with a click of a button. At no point will you need to pixel hunt for items in the most obscure of places. I highly welcome this, as I don't play games to backtrack in search of an elusive items I don't even know I'm looking for.

Also worth mentioning, for better or for worse, is you won't be doing any backtracking either. Adding to the ultra-linearity of AoM, you may only play at one location at a time. You can only leave once all tasks at hand have been achieved. Unfortunately Nicole is very vague in explaining why, often commenting lines by the likes of "there are still things I need to do here before I leave", etc.

Of all the average adventures I've played, this, along with Post Mortem, has had the most potential. The dialog is certainly there, and the latter half of the game boasts more exotic locations than seen in many other recent offerings (especially murder mysteries) but it falls short due to the developer's inexperience in the adventure game field and [presumably] low budget.

The game looks good. The controls are nice and simple. There is even a nice helpful magnifying glass button which will show all the clickables on screen.

The plot is ok. The real downside is that the game is overly linear. You are prevented from leaving a location until you have completed all the tasks. You can only visit the locations in the specific order of the game. Also there are several occasions where even if you can logically work out the conclusion of a puzzle, you still have to carry out lots of pointless steps first, or engage in stupid dialogues before the game will let the solution work.

Plus given the ultra rigidity of the game, there is no reason to ever play it a second time, so not great value either.

Bought for my wife who has played all the CSI games and she loves this title. Some good puzzles and easy controls - sounds like the other reviewers have duff PCs. Only downer is one scene when you are tied to a chair (no spoilers!) and you have to 'hop' the chair about to get out. One wrong move and the game ends. Pity they have to stick a daft bit in like that. I sort of think it is like a Resident Evil game without the zombies, but all the puzzles. Good fun and under a tenner a DEFINATE buy for CSI fanatics needing their next fix.