The Murder Express

A detective’s job can be pretty stressful, especially when he is tasked with finding a dangerous criminal that might hurt more people if he is not found in time. The whole thing requires good intuition and a subjective way to look at the evidence, because there’s nothing worse than pointing the finger at the wrong person and accusing them of murder.

The Murder Express is an intriguing adventure game in which you play the role of a detective trying to find a killer on board of a moving train. The main gameplay idea is that you are free to explore the train and interrogate every person, but you can only give your verdict once, which means that you have to be sure about your choice. Thus, things can get pretty exciting, at least if you enjoy mysteries.

It all starts when you find a certain Mr Duvall dead in one of the cars, with no murder weapon and a plethora of suspects to choose from. However, the great thing about the game is that the scenario is randomized with every playthrough, which means different cause of death and different murderer. This should keep you coming back a few times after you finish the adventure once.

Another great gimmick is that you are always in danger of being murdered yourself, at least if you are standing near the killer when the lights go off every once in awhile. Thus, you have to keep your distance from every person on the train until you start suspecting someone. It’s also imperative that you search every car, because you cannot name a suspect until you find the murder weapon.

To make the atmosphere more engaging, each character is voice acted, although their lines are not very different, unfortunately. It’s also quite clear that the voice actors are not professionals, even if they are doing a pretty decent job with it. As for the visual quality, almost everything is in black and white, except for the blood. This gives the game a noir aroma, which is always a good choice in the genre.

In the end, The Murder Express is a bit rough around the edges, but the experience as a whole is quite engaging, especially if you enjoy crime flicks. The randomized plot allows you to replay the game multiple times without getting bored in the process.