Art of Murder: Hunt for the Puppeteer

The Good
For sure graphics are good enough to say that this is the part of the game many will like the most. Thanks to that, "Art of Murder" has a special appeal from the very beginning and until the end it keeps it that way. There is no pixel-sized object to look for - just a detective story where you need to figure out what to do next.

The Bad
Unfortunately there are many things that make this game average. For starters the shallow story which is sometimes very difficult to follow. Some scenes and logical connections seem to be completely out of any place. However it can be forgiven on the contrary to the very linear gameplay.

Anyone has seen many games like this but at least we could pick up all the objects on the way. "Art of Murder" will let you collect the object only if the script really needs it. It makes you running back and forth several times to the very same location just because the game told you to pick up things it was forbidden before. It grows frustration and a feeling of wasted time. Most of the time you are on the right track to follow the story but it is crucial to do things exactly as it was planned - picking up key before finding the door will not be accepted.

Interface is not particularly complicated and seems to be quite intuitive which would not be a bad thing if it wasn't for its lack of logical dependencies. Sometimes you need to use things when you are on the close-up screen, sometimes not. Interactive things can be always marked with question marks what makes game a bit predictable but due to bad linear scripting in turns into ridiculousness.

The Bottom Line
If you liked the first part, the second will also be the one you may fancy. However if you are a truly devoted adventure games' fan this game is very average and very soon you may find yourself annoyed by most of the ideas implemented into the game.