Art of Murder: FBI Confidential

Nicole Bonnet is an FBI agent based in New York City. Her partner is killed suddenly, but instead of being allowed to work on that case, she is instead assigned to working a different case with a new partner. This new case involves several grisly, ritualistic murders that appear to be the work of a serial killer. The trail begins in New York, but eventually leads to South America.

The game begins with the murder of Nicole’s partner. Shortly afterwards (in game time, that is), she’s back at the office and ready to get back to work. In this big, dangerous city of New York, this branch of the FBI only has three desks for the rank and file officers and one desk for the boss. Nicole is the only regular officer here, as she prepares to investigate her partner’s death. The secretary is here, though, and Nicole chats with her and then tries to head out. Oh, wait, she has to write up the report, first, before she can leave. Drat, the printer is out of paper! This is too exciting.

At this point in the game, we don’t know anything about the story. Nicole’s partner was killed, but that’s all we know. This lack of story background, combined with the very mundane tasks that Nicole has to undertake, makes for a rather ho-hum beginning. Fortunately, the game does become more interesting later on when Nicole travels to Peru, but that’s not saying a whole lot.

The Art of Murder: FBI Confidential is a point-and-click adventure in the usual style, but one that relies on a police procedural approach, similar to CSI. This is a good idea, and one that should have worked well in this setting, but the way it’s handled is rather boring. The tasks don’t seem to make a whole lot of sense, and often either items can’t be used or picked up until later in the game when they are relevant, or Nicole can’t move ahead in the game because of something not done. Fortunately, there is a hint system (needed items or places will light up) and the inventory puzzles aren’t very difficult.

The interface is the typical icon approach to interacting with the environment. It’s handled efficiently and easily. Right-clicking when the appropriate icon appears will trigger the needed event.

The music is adequate, but not very soul-stirring. The sound effects are present and do a decent job of emulating the activities in the scenes. Where the game falls down in the sound department is in the voice acting. Partly due to the random remarks that don’t have a whole lot to do with anything going on at the moment, but mainly due to bad voice-acting, the voiced conversations are bland and dull. There are some rather funny remarks pointed at pop-culture, but they don’t hit the mark very often due to the overall writing and voice-acting. There is also a lot of cursing, which may have its place in some scenes with an FBI agent, but here it’s as if these words were placed randomly for the sake of existence.

This game is fairly easy, and with the hint system it’s hard to get stuck. The puzzles become harder later in the game in South America, but then they often don’t make a whole lot of sense.

The Art of Murder isn’t a bad game, but neither is it a very good game. There are good aspects to it, but when mixed with the bad parts it’s a mediocre package. The game begins decently enough, but it never gets off the ground. The boring puzzles and bad voice-acting make it hard for players to get into the game while playing. Nicole has a hard time with her script; it’s all over the place. Her remarks often jar with the scene.

The Art of Murder is probably best enjoyed if purchased as a bargain for a weekend play.

Review Scoring Details for Art of Murder: FBI Confidential

Gameplay: 6.0
This game is rather boring and it’s difficult to get into the story. The interface is designed well and it’s easy enough to play, but just not very interesting.

Graphics: 7.0
The game looks pretty decent and the characters move smoothly. The environments are nicely drawn and populated.

Sound: 7.0
The music is not very memorable, but isn’t bad, either.

Difficulty: Medium
There isn’t anything that is particularly difficult.

Concept: 6.0
This game is just like all the other average adventure games out there.

Overall: 6.0
This game is a mediocre adventure game that may offer a few hours of enjoyment to some. Much of it is illogical or unexplained, and the voice-acting is hard to get past. There are lots of thing to do with the inventory puzzles, but they aren’t very interesting or challenging. This isn’t the worst game out there, but neither is it the best. Players who are looking for a few filler hours of CSI-like gaming may enjoy it.