Issue 42 - Gaming on the Orient Express

[The Escapist Staff]

Nick Bousfield"The game ticks all the boxes required by the arthouse games movement: innovative gameplay with a fresh slant on an old genre, an original graphical approach and a sophisticated, adult story and theme. So why isn't it better known?" Nick Bousfield looks at Jordan Mechner's 1997 masterpiece, The Last Express.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: ravenus

I remember reading a small preview for this game in an old gaming magazine. After reading this article I really feel sad about what a wonderful experience one seems to have missed. Being in India, I only have access to the mainstream games, and apart from the rare budget release, adventure games are a virtual impossibility.

I am hoping that online distribution systems like Steam will one day allow for the viable resurrection of lost classics such as this.

Thanks for the piece, I'll definitely be looking around for this.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Chris

This was an excellent game that did suffer from marketing based ADD. I believe Riven was also released the same year which sucked away some of the oomph from TLE's sails (sales?).

Very Myst-like, but quite unique in its own right that got just about every formula right (or didn't fail on any of them anyway). A good number of copies on ebay are available for fairly cheap, go get it!

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Michael

Thank you for revisiting one of my all-time favorite games. My whole family has fond memories of The Last Express. I remember playing it for hours with my brother and sister, taking turns at the wheel, and marveling at how drawn into the story we were. To this day we quote the game to each other at opportune moments ("Tyler knew the risk!").

With the possible exception of Grim Fandango, a better noir adventure game has never been produced.

With any luck your story on the game will spark a little interest in its existance and get a few more people to play it.

--
M

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: setida

I actually didn't play this game until last year, but I'm sure glad I finally did. Though the nature of the puzzles was sometimes clodgy and some awkard trial-and-error timing (pretty much a mainstay of the genre), the overall experience was definitely among the best adventures I've played. I didn't expect to like it as much as I did, since I generally don't like Myst-likes.

Especially the elements you mention as the multiple languages - which some of the characters just assume, as an American, Cath doesn't understand, will talk about him in French as he's sitting across the room. The noise of a child running through the car, and his mother telling him to quiet down. There was a remarkable amount of ambient and environmental sound, something that's typically ignored or not handled with subtlety in most games.

I wasn't aware of the unfortunately business shenanigans behind the release, only that the game didn't sell well. Thanks for the well-researched article!

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Pelle Lauritsen

Ohhhh, I loved this game. I bought i online, my first online purchase ...

The atmospehere is really nice, and a little knowledge of history makes this game very intense. I play this game once in a while and I always figure out something new. And because the way the graphics are made it doesn't look as aged as other games that old ...

Maybe somebody could make an extended version with the Oblivion engine

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Frank
http://www.aconygames.com
you can still download the demo version here, 40 MB

http://www.pcworld.com/downloads/file_download.asp?fid=3986&fileidx=1

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Bjoern Sjut
http://www.hamburgmediaschool.com
II agree with most of the review on the "Last Express", however one thing that strikes me odd is that it only received "rave reviews". At least for Germany that was not the case. The game usually got something in the range of 70/100 to 80/100.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Mark Patterson

Pelle remember when we used to play this in Blaxland?

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Chris

Thankfully, Germans aren't active developers in the game industry. TLE is a Mechner classic.

 

[The Escapist Staff]

Original Comment by: Drazen

I just want to say that this article is really awesome. I played the game for the first time when I was 8 years old perhaps. I remember that I was really amazed and stunned, it was scary for me at that time, I must admit. Really, the atmosphere on the train, the seamless environment, the mystery and secrets, it's my all-time best adventure game, it's really unique and special, and everyone should play it. I know that this is not a proper place to do this, but I want to thank Jordan Mechner because he sent me personaly (with a signature ) a free copy of the game back in 2001. That means very much to me!
I am planing to put a fan site on the net in a few months. To this game and all the people who were involved in this project, I wanted to make some small sign of gratitude since they gave us incredible game. I just wish everything worked out well with the advertising part