Description
Ladies and gentlemen, please pay attention - the Orient Express is about to depart from Paris! Do I hear somebody playing a violin? As the train slowly starts moving away from the station, a young, courageously looking man jumps on it from his motorcycle and makes his way inside. This is Robert Cath, an American about whom we don't know much as we begin the game. In the train, he finds the dead body of the person he was supposed to meet. Now he has to act quickly. The only way not to arise the suspicions of the police is to disguise himself as the murdered man. A very dangerous investigation begins, and the hero soon finds himself involved in a deep net of personal intrigues and political conspiracies.
The Last Express is a true real-time adventure set in 1914, just before the First World War, in a concrete historical and geographical environment. As you gain control of Robert Cath, time begins to flow. If you fail to solve a part of the mystery until the train arrives at the next station, certain events might follow which will lead to a premature and disappointing ending. You cannot die or get stuck in the game, as you can always rewind the clock and try playing any period of time again. Along with some detective work to do and a couple of inventory puzzles, your main task in the game will be to listen to people's conversations, to talk to them, and to solve the mystery by finding out more information about the bizarre case. There are also some action fighting sequences in the game.
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Trivia
The composer of the soundtrack, Elia Cmiral, composed numerous film, theatre, and ballet scores in Sweden and Czechoslovakia before coming to the U.S. His recent film scores include Ronin, Stigmata, and Battlefield: Earth.
He says the following about the Last Express score:
" The Last Express was my first composition for a computer game, as well as my first serious assignment after moving to Los Angeles. It was a large project that took three months to complete. Before I could begin, however, I had to learn the requirements of writing for this new medium, and plan how to write such a large number of short cues. Director Jordan Mechner was a great help and a good teacher to help me navigate both the game and the new genre.
The story has many unique characters of different ethnicities, exotic environments and a wide range of moods including suspense, drama and love. I developed groups of cues and assigned them themes or orchestral colors. Each group expresses a certain feeling and is tied thematically to the others in the group. This reduced the number of themes and kept me focused on the characters’ emotions. The main theme evokes a touch of sadness, romanticism, and tension on the eve of the First World War. The score relies on a small ensemble of strings with violin solo, some hand percussion, and extensive use of synthesizers for color and texture."
