Art of Murder: FBI Confidential (PC DVD)

---

---

Customer reviews

review by: date: 2008-11-23 rating:
Atmospheric puzzler
A rookie FBI agent sees her new partner shot on her first day. She wants to hunt down his killer but is reassigned to the investigation of a serial ritual killer. The graphics are detailed and pleasing and the animation is a little better than in environments like Second Life but nowhere near Hollywood CGI animation. One of the great weaknesses in point and click has been the difficulty of identifying the hotspots unobtrusively. City have found a way to do this with an optional hints system that briefly and simply highlights the exits from the scene and all points of interest. It offers no clues about puzzle solutions; it merely shows the player where to look.

Generally, the user interface is satisfyingly simple: just two mouse buttons (left to use an item; right to inspect it) with data entry and the like being handled through hotspots on on-screen devices like images of mobile phones. And most of that data entry can be avoided through judicious use of the agent's PDA.

After a briefing from the boss, Nicole Bonnet (our protagonist) has to submit a report and then start investigating the first clues of the serial killings while trying to make contact with her elusive new partner.

The heroine is sassy, mildly funny, and slightly aggressive. All the other characters have distinctive characters that avoid caricature. The use of US voice actors has helped with this although some of the phrasing is rather European. The puzzles are varied and largely rewarding although some feel sadly random: the solution to a bank of seven switches seems to have no rationale, for example. The game also takes realism too far by providing no way to accelerate transitions. If Bonnet has to walk down a long corridor, we see every single step in real time. If a puzzle requires repeated journeys for its solution, then we must make all those journeys at normal pace or at a slow run. It could be worse: car journeys are instantaneous and the navigation mechanism of clicking on a polaroid lying on an open road atlas feels appropriate and rather stylish.

So: an intellectually satisfying puzzle with gritty graphics, enjoyable character interactions, and a soundtrack that avoids the infuriating repetition that is such an easy trap for developers. Frankly, it feels like a bargain at a tenner.

---

review by: bazzerworld inc. date: 2008-10-30 rating:
everybody wants to be a critic!
don't intend to do a long critique of this game; it's not in the top league, but, it's colourful; lasts a reasonable amount of time for the outlay and keeps us adventure freaks happy between "classics"....few and far between since all the world wants to kill everything on sight; that pulls the audiences in!! give it a whirl, it's okay.

---

review by: Terramax date: 2008-07-19 rating:
Suffers an Identity Crisis
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.

---

review by: Filthy Raider date: 2008-06-16 rating:
CSI Freaks Get Your Fix Here
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.


review by: date: 2008-06-10 rating:
Bad Graphics
This sounded like an interesting story - so ignoring the previous reviewers comments, I thought I would give it a go, however I was extremely disappointed. The movements are terrible, there is shadowing around the characters and to be honest I could not comment on the storyline, as i gave up after about ten minutes. My advice would be - don't bother!

---

Similar products

The Lost Crown: A Ghost-Hunting Adventure (PC DVD)
Belief and Betrayal (PC DVD)
Overclocked: A History of Violence (PC DVD)
Sherlock Holmes Nemesis (PC DVD)
Dracula: Origin (PC DVD)

---

Similar categories

PC & Video Games . Categories . Games . Adventure
PC & Video Games . Substores . Custom Stores . Promotion Tree . PC & Macintosh . Games . Adventure
PC & Video Games . Refinements . Platform (feature_browse-bin) . PC & Macintosh . Windows

---