195: The Cutting Room Floor

[Elexia]

I played a 1997 PC game called 'Private Eye' which is a game based on Raymond Chandler's 'The Little Sister'. The graphics were taken from the graphic novel but it was otherwise smoothly animated and you could follow the novel and get through each part.

It is by far my most favourite game because of the wonderful story (Chandler is a genius!), the indepth characters and the fact I didn't have to point and shoot. I have played The Last Express as well, but Private Eye I haven't lost over time.

Perhaps Private Eye isn't much of an 'Interactive Movie' although there were lots of conversations and actions beyond my control. I thought of it as an interactive graphic novel, because that is where the images came from. It literally became a comic book coming to life with me pressing the plot along.

 

[The Cheshire]

Fucking awesome article. It's the first time I've heard about The Last Express in years. I bought the game back in 1997, I was 11, I still have the original box and CDs, it's a sort of personal treasure of mine. I was so absorbed with it, so obsessed, even when I was just a kid and I barely knew anything about history (sure, I knew WWI existed, little more) the game sucked me in so much... a guy in my class also bought it, and we talked long about the game, in the end we created a friendship that still lasts today. This game has been quite important for me, and never again have I felt that way towards any other videogame. Sure, it's 15 years old right now, but it still does things better than most games today, it is more absorbing and believable than any Unreal Engine super-duper coolness game.

I'm glad to read this article, and to see that someone remembers this game as fondly as I do. Personally I thought Chronos was particularly charming as a character, the perfect cross between a "villain" (just partly, of course) and a perfectly exotic gentleman. So much class, and that voice... so handsome and smart. Abbot the British gentleman, Alexei the russian anarchist, Vasilei Alexandrovich, the old bastard, and his lovely grandaughter. So much time has passed, and I still remember the names of every character in that game.

"Why don't you make us sing?"