The Last Express Gold Edition
I think this may well be the greatest game ever made. Yes, the controls are clunky as all get out. Yes, for people used to today’s games the ultra-high-tech-for-1997-digital-rotoscoping technique looks extremely antiquated. Yes, you’re dropped into the game with no idea what to do, and you’re going to fail. A lot. But at the same time “The Last Express” includes:
- Probably the best-developed characters in any adventure game I’ve yet played (the weakest is arguably Robert Cath, who the player controls, but even he has an intriguing and irritatingly-largely-unrevealed-due-to-lack-of-a-sequel backstory). By the end of the game you know what they want and what makes most of them tick, and since certain bad things are more or less guaranteed to happen to a number of them the result is the equivalent of an emotional shovel to the face.
– Real player with 16.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Real-Time Story Rich Games.
Ahead of its time but stuck in the past
First read about this game way back when it came out, in a magazine I still have, where the reviewer was left in complete awe because of unique design for an adventure game. Ever since it occupied a small cluster of neurons in the back of my head, waiting for me to play it and its moment to shine. I should say I never played the original so my review will only address this 2013 port, with some inferior exceptions others have noticed.
It plays like Myst, from 1st person perspective with static scenes as you move around, but is set in realistic environment of an vintage luxury passenger train called Orient Express. The whole game takes place in the same 4-5 vagon carts with beautifully rendered backgrounds. You move by clicking edges of screen with mouse cursor that contextually changes functions to forward, backward and left or right turn, with interaction prompts for opening doors and object/NPC interaction.
– Real player with 9.8 hrs in game
Accident
֍ My score ֍
→ 7/10
❤ Audience ❤
☐ Beginner
☑ Casual Gamer
☑ Normal Gamer
☐ Expert
☼ Graphics ☼
☐ Bad
☐ Alright
☐ Good
☑ Beautiful
☐ Fantastic
♬ Music ♬
☐ Bad
☐ Alright
☐ Good
☑ Beautiful
☐ Fantastic
☠ Difficulty ☠
☑ Easy
☐ Average
☐ Easy to learn / Hard to master
☐ Hard
☐ Unfair
§ Bugs §
☐ Bugs destroy the game
☐ Lots of bugs
☐ Few Bugs
☐ You can use them for speedrun
☑ Nothing encountered
☯ Story ☯
☐ There is none
☐ Bad
☐ Alright
☑ Good
☐ Fantastic
⚔ Gameplay ⚔
☐ Frustrating
☐ Sleepy
☑ Boring
– Real player with 10.0 hrs in game
Read More: Best Real-Time Simulation Games.
Great idea with mediocre realization.
I usually do not buy games in early access, however, I decided to make an exclusion for this one because I really liked the concept and wanted to support the developers. The beta was nice, had a decent gameplay and diverse enough scenarios, so I was very exited for the release and very disappointed after checking it.
95% of the game was already in beta. They added only one new scenario in the full version and barely changed the previous ones. The whole game can be completed under two hours like it’s specifically made this way, so people definitely couldn’t refund it. Despite the description the game is very linear, scripted and the only real way to fail most of the missions is reaching time limit. You barely can make any mistakes like helping the wrong person or performing false actions. Moreover, you cannot even change the order of mandatory actions, like placing warning triangles while looking for a way to contact ambulance. Furthermore, the game tend to be very strange and unfair: most of the timd you need to look for the position in the car navigator, however, one particular time you have to do it with your mobile phone, which is in your inventory and you get not a single hint about it, plus, the game itself tells you that you should use road marks instead of GPS in real life. Was it so hard to make the game a bit more authentic and realistic, provided that it already has levels where you use road marks?! In another scenario you have to move a large log like you are some superman and not just a random driver, was it so hard to make a crawling camera or just remove that log completely? Or why our “protagonist” can carry a whole med aid kit in his inventory but cannot carry 2 warning triangles at the same time?
– Real player with 5.1 hrs in game