Navigation in MOTOE is easily mastered. Clicking on a location will cause Antoinette to walk to that location, and double clicking on the edges of the screen will cause her to skip automatically to the next screen. To aid in working your way through the train quickly, there is a map of the train cars at the top of the screen that can be clicked on to automatically travel to that section of the train. This is a nice touch that makes moving back and forth much easier.

With navigation made so simple, it's a shame that the inventory interface can at times be so convoluted. There are several distinct interface screens, and while the examination, scrapbook, and passport screens are tidy and helpful, there are several other problems. The main inventory is functional enough, but with 80 slots covering five screens, and no way to discard unwanted inventory, expect to do a lot of scrolling before you're done. That's not nearly as frustrating as the separate inventory combination interface, however. That's right, rather than go the tried and true adventure game route of just dragging one item on top of another, or at least allowing combinations on the current screen, in MOTOE you have to go to a separate screen entirely to combine your items. A cumbersome inconvenience at best, this process becomes downright tedious as time goes on, particularly as some combinations involve more than two items. And since there is no feedback other than success or failure, a certain degree of trial and error is guaranteed. The end result is far too much clicking back and forth before all is said and done.

Fortunately, there is enough investigation and puzzling throughout the game to take your mind off of this. The majority of the game will be spent hunting for clues and interrogating your fellow passengers, but there's also a healthy dose of fetch quests, and even a sliding puzzle box for those that think they belong in every adventure game.

Once again, however, there are problems that appear as you progress. First is Poirot's involvement in the story. Although injured, he is there to help, and if you need assistance you can visit him in his compartment for advice. But when you really need his help, you'll often find that going to Poirot only gets you a canned response about how you need to retrace your steps. Poirot will also "speak" to Antoinette in a sort of detective's intuition throughout the game, telling you when you are heading down the wrong path with a course of action, usually in a joking manner. But the fifth, sixth, or even tenth time that you hear the same snide response from him, you will most likely just turn down your speakers and continue on your way.

Secondly, while the puzzles and investigations are interesting at first, they begin to get repetitive over time. The first time you find a fingerprint is a great moment, but finding out that you're missing one fingerprint and scouring the entire train over and over again trying to find it is not, especially when there is no rhyme or reason for where to look for them. You expect to carefully inspect a crime scene, of course, but seeking them on random objects throughout the train amounts to little more than pixel hunting. There was also an issue that I ran into where I missed a fingerprint, and at a certain point in the game lost access to the location that contained it. This required me to load a save game from quite some time earlier and replay through a few hours in order to get it. Again, the mantra "save early, save often" comes into play, but no game should require it with design failures.

Another issue that rears its head occasionally is the fact that the game tries to be open ended, but it quickly becomes evident that the developers meant for you to take on tasks in a certain order. There were a too many few times where I started a conversation with a character and began talking to them about parts of the story that I hadn't experienced, or about items that I hadn't found yet.

The game's finale is handled well for the most part, nicely balancing player involvement with the appeal of Poirot's obligatory ingenious summation. Yet while I applaud the developers for creating a new ending in concept, in practice the addition felt a little too contrived for the game's good. Most gamers can expect to reach this point in around 8-10 hours with few problems, as there aren't an abundance of puzzles and for the most part the pace is reasonably brisk.

On the strength of its original story, combined with lovely graphics, an interesting cast, and voice acting that really brings each character to life, overall the game provides a decent adaptation of a timeless whodunit. It also represents a marginal improvement over And Then There Were None, though unfortunately the experience is once again weighed down by some questionable design decisions and poor implementation, making it feel at times more like an exercise in busywork than a thrilling adventure. Of course, Agatha Christie fans will need no convincing to pick up this game, and Murder on the Orient Express is still worth playing for anyone interested in taking part in one of the most engaging murder mysteries ever written.