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Agatha Christie: Death on the Nile | 45 Mb

Agatha Christie: Death on the Nile is based on one of Agatha Christie's more famous and trickier mysteries. As you may know, Christie remains the top-selling author of all time. Her books have been published more times than Shakespeare's plays. I'm a big fan of Shakespeare and Agatha Christie, but I haven't read all of Shakespeare's plays. However I have read every single one of Agatha Christie's 66 novels, and even the novelizations of her stage plays written by other people. So I kind of remembered who the murderer was when I saw the staged shooting in the opening scenes of Death on the Nile.

Unlike the novel, the game takes place entirely aboard the S.S. Karmak. Beautiful, wealthy Linnet Doyle has been shot in her cabin, and all the other passengers are suspects. Except you, for you are famous Belgian detective Hercule Poirot! The game follows a series of your investigations into the murder. In each investigation, you'll have several rooms/cabins you want to inspect, and in each of them a list of items you want to examine. The rooms are all extremely cluttered, though not to a ridiculous extreme. Still, I kept expecting to hear Poirot say, 'Mon Dieu, such disarray!" (After all, this is a man who can barely abide a book sitting catty-cornered on a desk.) Once you find an item, click on it and it will be crossed off the list in your detective's notebook. Some rooms have small puzzles. For example, you might have to find all the pens and place them in a pen holder. Or find the next numbered ball in a mathematical sequence and place it in a jar. (I do that sometimes myself at my friends' houses.) Most rooms have simple but effective background animations.

Sometimes you'll find a clue in an item you're examining... for example, a bloody "J" marked on the wall near poor Mrs. Doyle's body. Could that be a reference to Jacqueline de Bellefort, a woman who had been following the Doyles? Is someone trying to frame her? And Linnet's jewelry box is empty - rather odd for a woman as wealthy as her. And so on.

If you can't find a certain item, you can use a hint (it's actually your magnifying glass). You have five hints available in each investigation, so don't waste them. As is usual in these "hidden item" games, you have a set amount of time to finish an investigation, and random clicking will cost you a thirty second penalty. Flood Light Games is not too strict, like other companies. If you like random clicking (I know I do) you'll probably still enjoy Death on the Nile.

The end of each investigation involves a puzzle of some sort. For example, you may have to piece together a torn up letter or photograph. The passengers of the Karnak are not a group you want to leave your important documents with, for they will surely tear up any paper they get ahold of! You've been warned. Other puzzles entail using your magnifying glass to examine objects (out of character for Poirot, who prefers applying his "little grey cells" to problems rather than fiddling with clues).