Art of Murder - FBI Confidential Reviews

I liked it and thought it was well designed for it's age, some things were a bit out there though, so I did have to check out a walkthrough a couple times (the chair) - I didn't enjoy the backtracking though, it makes the game a lot longer than it has to be All in all I'd recommend it if point and click adventures are your thing - also I bought the whole Art of murder bundle on sale and I think it was cheaper than this game alone.

The playthrough is not especially intuitive and quite unrewarding. The story and character development are lacking and predictable. All in all it works, but is boring.

This game is sadly linear, and niche in its logic. Without a modern hints system a guide is certainly useful. It probably wasn't too bad on release but hasn't aged well, that combine with the lack of achievements to make it feel like you've accomplished anything, or cards for levels means I can't recommend it, which is sad as the base game is solid, it just lacks amusement value despite having compelling characters.

This game is a classic and although it isn't as smooth as the newer games it is still worth playing after all these years and there still aren't enough mystery games out there!

I played this game as a kid back then in 2010. However I was not able to complete it as the language was not my strongest and soon the game was forgotten. I completed L.A Noire a while back and that's when I suddenly remembered about this "Detective Click and Move game I played as a kid". I finally was able to resolve all the riddles and complete the game. I wouldn't say that it's the "Best Detective Game" out there. The game hasn't aged too well either. You aren't honestly missing out on anything. But if you want to try something different for a change, you can give this game a go. The plot twist at the end was actually good.

3/10 It's like a couple of 17 year old wrote this game..... I can't really recommend this game, even for a point n click fanatic. This game is clearly made by someone that don't know English. I'm surprised the voice actors didn't try to correct the dialog. There are so many things that I can criticize.... For example: you can't put fuel on lighter "this is just stupid" (she says something similar). But put lighter on fuel.... aaah the lighter is full now... I'm not going to waste more time talking about this garbage. I got this game for less than a dollar..... it's not even worth playing for free....

Annoying. You can sum up the story into 1 minute of gameplay. The rest is just cheap ways to justify a game. Game over sequence in the end shows laziness in development. Obscure. Uninteresting. Logic is far-fetched. Not a good detective game.

Let me start by saying I have a soft spot for old classic point n click adventure games. This one's really very good but not great as it contains multiple aggravations. Where do I start: Normally voice acting doesn't bother me at all. But in this case, the main actress who you have to listen to throughout the whole game sounds like she couldn't be any more bored if she actually tried. Many of the items don't let you pick them up until you need them, which sucks because you have to remember where they were, if they were clickable then hunt them down again and hope to be able to pick them up. There are some beyond Monkey Island level puzzles where you try tossing a bunch of crap together and hope that it works. In this case it does, but not logically. Many many times I found myself frustrated trying whatever the hell the game wanted me to do and then consulting a walkthrough as it became more frustrating than fun. What's up with the ridiculous chair, basket and door "puzzles"?! Why?? The game is very linear so you can only go to one location at a time. When you've seemingly completed everything, some times it's looking for one more obscure thing for you to do, but without any type of hint or direction. More than once, I've rechecked areas which originally had nothing, only to suddenly find something to do there but for absolutely no reason and again without any direction or reason. The game crashed but only a couple of times. This is a classic old game, so you should save often All of that said, I really did enjoy the game, warts and all. It took me back to the days of classic point n click adventure where you combed the scenes and locations for more items and clues. A few of the items let you look at them but without any commentary. It seems as if they didn't complete finish everything in the game. I really like this game for the nostalgia value but also because it doesn't play anything like the typical dime a dozen HOP games. There are no HOPs and that's a good thing. There's also no fantasy nonsense with kings and demons and dragons, etc, which is very refreshing for a change. It's a true detective game all the way through and I really love these types of games as there are not nearly enough of them. So if you're a hardcore classic adventure gamer like me, I think you'll really like it to. It's perfect to cuddle up with a blanket, some soup and hot chocolate while it's raining or snowing outside and dig in!

pros + good looking and detailed pre rendered graphics + decent voice acting + background music is good + puzzles are enjoyable and not too difficult. there are also inventory puzzles you can combine some items. + hotspots are marked to make it easy. no need to hunt for pixels. + story is intriguing and exciting. you're an FBI agent and investigating some ritualistic murders and there is a recurring pre-Columbian theme in story. + game is long cons - cut scenes low quality and quite dark. - there are no Steam achievements - game doesn't drop cards Overall this is an decent and typical old school point and click adventure game. i quite enjoyed and recommended!

"Art of Murder" refers to how artfully the game makes me want to murder the main character. Pros: + Graphics look nice. + General gameplay works well for the most part. + Music isn't bad. + Story would be okay, if only it was told properly. Cons: - Main character is dumb as a stick. - Main character's dialogue contradicts NPC dialogue and evidence several times. - Several puzzles are so illogical that the infamous Gabriel Knight 3 "cat hair moustache" puzzle makes more sense. Not hard, just stupidly illogical. Like not being able to pay a guy directly(for no proper reason), so you instead have to find a metal object and put the money on a bench, under the metal object. - The game expects some seriously unnecessary micromanaging in certain "puzzles". - You can't get through dialogues automatically, even if there are no dialogue options. The game just simply requires you to click on the character you're talking to multiple times throughout the same conversation. And sometimes, even when you think you've reached the end of a conversation, you have to go back and talk more because you can't progress until you've gotten that last bit of often useless dialogue. - The game is extremely particular about not letting you pick up a handful of objects before knowing what you need them for. Yet you still pick up a whole bunch of other items without knowing what you need those for. Absolutely no consistency in this matter makes it annoying. - You can die in several places throughout the game, just like a Sierra classic - but without the humour. Halfway through the game you'll start considering that a good ending for the story, though. But if you still want to complete the game, make sure to save often. - Did the voice actors have any direction during recording? Also, why didn't they redo their lines when they say the wrong words? For example, in at least one case the voice actor was supposed to say "with", but said "without", giving the line the complete opposite meaning. - Some really bad cutting between scenes. In one particular case I didn't understand what had happened until quite some time later. - No, those "jokes" are not funny, so stop trying to say them all the time! - The game requires you to try, fail, retry or just guess a lot, without giving any hints at what result you're trying to achieve is. - A lot of the generic lines said by the main character as reactions to clicking on things just doesn't work, or is so far from fitting into the context. - Too often puzzles are there just to have the puzzles, even if there's absolutely no way the puzzle hinders the characters progress. Examples are the aforementioned payment puzzle, and another one where you have to empty the water from a barrel so you can move the barrel and climb up to a ladder the main character could easily have reached anyway - if they just decided to lift their arms up. All in all: This is one of the worst point & click adventures I've ever played! I don't understand how it has gotten four sequels. The only reason I might consider playing a sequel is to find out whether or not it is as bad as this first game. (Edit: It's three years later, and I never did.)