Agatha Christie – Hercule Poirot: The First Cases

Agatha Christie
Let me start by saying that I'm a big fan of Agatha Christie and her books and love her little Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. That being said, I can say that this is not Poirot, it is a mere imitation of the character, the game tries to present some of his characteristics but fails.
Hercule Poirot
This game does not represent the Poirot that Agatha Christie wrote in her books, and it is fine if the developers intended to give a new flavor of Poirot but it does not work at all.
Looks
To begin with, the look that they created does not match how Christie imagined him, even in his earlier years. This Poirot is much thinner and has a buzz cut, whereas Poirot was a short chubby balding man.
Clothing
Additionally, the colors of the clothes are not matching.. A brown jacket, a yellow vest, grey pants, red tie, socks and shoes... he looks like a clown.
Poirot has multiple suits for every occasion and time of day (ex. morning suit, evening suit, etc.) and it would've been easy for the developers to create different outfits, at least change the colors, also they have the TV shows and movies as reference.
Quirks
Poirot is known to be very meticulous in everything he does, and his attention to details and his OCD is often seen as annoying by others and yet there is non of that in here, now we can argue that this is a different take on the character but then it wouldn't be Poirot, would it? He acts like a generic man that wants to solve a crime, nothing special about him.
The Story
The story is very familiar if you ever read a Christie book, a bunch of people stuck in a house where a murder occurs and Poirot must investigate and solve the case.
After finishing a rather boring prologue, which is nothing but an introduction to some of the main characters you'll get to meet later, there is no repercussion that connects it to the main story. Poirot then gets invited by the same house occupants to solve a blackmailing scheme, which is stupid because he gets undermined and disrespected in the prologue, and then after years he gets invited to the same house.... that doesn't make sense, why would he even accept? And why would they invite him? Nothing makes sense in this game.
The mystery here is not as complicated as a true Poirot story, which is fine cause it's basically a point and click game. The story is good enough and is worth playing through, in my opinion, but don't expect any jaw dropping twists.
The Characters
Speaking of the characters, we have a couple of characters that aren't the most appealing or even memorable. They seem very generic and stereotypical.
Cast
Hercule Poirot , no introductions needed.
The lady of the house, Cassandra Van Den Bosch . She's the generic rich, posh woman that gets angry whenever anyone questions her authority or doesn't do whatever she asks for.
The daughter, Angeline . She's supposed to be the rich spoiled brat but they failed in writing her properly, and she comes off like a naive and trusting girl.
The Major . He's the most hated person in the house, and generically the victim.
Elizabeth , she's one of the maids in the game.
Gedeon , Angeline's fiance, and he's your generic rich fiance.
Zakariya , Gedeon's brother, even though I can't understand why an English guy has a brother with an arabic name, he's your generic man of war that have seen and experienced unspeakable things, even though his design resembles more of a spoiled brat.
Ernesto , he's the generic rich business man that only cares about his brand and business, very stereotypical, and found in most stories.
Margaux , shes the generic gossip hog, nothing special.
Hugo , now he's the generic union man that stands up for the fellow workers.
Jackie . A generic uninteresting female reporter that would do anything for a story.
Archibald , the generic butler in every rich house.
Rehana , the generic foreign cook.
Voice Acting
Most of it is fine, some are inconsistent with their accents and some didn't make sense.
For example, Cassandra is an English woman and she was married to an English man, and yet her daughter Angeline has a French accent.. HOW?
Or for example Hugo, speaks in an American accent half the time but then switches to a French one later.
Furthermore, the audio mixing isn't consistent, Ernesto's (voiced by the Youtuber Yong Yea) and Jackie's, the female reporter, voices are way louder than the others.
Additionally, some of the acting is bad, for instance Angeline (voiced by Gaëlle Bétend) carries no emotions in her voice, sounds so boring and uninteresting.
Gameplay
The gameplay is exactly what you'd expect from a point and click game of this style, tank controls with an unchanging perspective, slow walking while investigating the different areas, with semi-cheap looking animation and facial animation.
Conversation sections are overlaid with 2D drawings with static emotions and a basic selection menu.
The most interesting thing is the Mind Map, that's where Poirot uses his little grey cells in order to deduce and to progress in the game, it's not a bad mechanic, but there is no wrong answers, it's not like L.A. Noire where you can choose a wrong deduction and let's you continue with it, instead the game holds your hand and will give you the right answer after 3 attempts. Wish you could choose wrong and face the consequences, would've been fun to see the different reactions.
Graphics
The graphics are not the best out there, the characters look emotionless with basic animation. They stand still while Poirot (you) investigate around. They don't have any special features, BUT I actually preferred the 2D overlay during conversation bits because it showed more emotions and reminded me of the Visual Novels genre of games.
The surroundings look fine, the interior of the house looks ok, but all the guest rooms look almost similar, I personally wouldn't recognize which room is for which guest.
The lighting isn't anything to special, some light sources would cast shadows but that's about it.But there are some issues with shadows during cut scenes where they look very choppy even on the Epic graphical option, and there are some noticeable screen tearing due to bad v-sync issues but it wasn't that obvious.
Ending
Again, don't expect a big twist, I knew who the killer was after chapter 5, it was too obvious, but that doesn't mean there aren't twists, they're just not as impactful.
The ending is cringe in my opinion, specially the final chapter where Poirot needs to persuade the suspects and they change their minds after a short conversation. The ending itself is a generic happy unsatisfactory ending, it feels like you've done all that for nothing.
Conclusion
It's not a bad game, and if you're willing to keep an open mind with how Poirot looks (specially his red socks and shoes) and are willing to spend time fiddling in the Mind Map then I would recommend getting it when its ON SALE, like I did. The story is ok and the characters are fine.
I give it a 6/10.

When playing a detective game, one would usually expect to do a certain amount of, well... detectiving. Exercising their little grey cells, so to speak. If that's what you are looking for, or perhaps difficult riddles? Some red herrings that you have to recognize from the truth? This is not a game for you.
Playing The First Cases is a bit more like watching an episode of David Suchet's Poirot series, with some intereactive bits and a Behind-the-Scenes featurette on. There are no riddles, no challenges you might expect for example from a classic point-n-click game. This game is easy. You click on things for your young Poirot to gather clues and then play some connect the dots. Et voila, the story unfolds by itself!
So, to enjoy The First Cases, you have to come to it with the right mindset. When you do, it's a charming, relaxing and at moments even intriguing experience. See it a as interactive novel of sorts - it's great. Expect a investigative point-n-click - thou shall be dissappointed dearly.
What is good? The stylised graphics are quite lovely, if simple, the music is nothing to write home about but it works well in the background. Voice acting is VERY good, technically I think it's the best element of the game. The story is maybe not as complex as actual intrigues written by Christie, but it holds up quite well. Might even surprise you at moments, but past a certain point the solution becomes quite obvious.
The bad? Gameplay is quite monotonous and since there is no way for you to fail, the stakes aren't particularly high. When playing the "connect the dots" in Poirot's mind maps, some clues are... too obvious. Like, they are so obvious you won't even consider they should be connected and will catch yourself looking for more complex and subtle connections.
To sum it up then:
PROS:
+ lovely, stylised graphics
+ great voice acting
+ solid story
+ a relaxing experience...
CONS:
- ...that at moments becomes too monotonous
- oversimplified clues
- only one path forward, no difference if you fail at gathering clues.
SUBJECTIVE:
The price. The game is 10 hours if you don't skip dialogues and go clicking around on everything there is to be clicked on. I bought it when GREATLY discounted, not sure if it's worth the full price.
Would I recommend it? Yes, the same way one would recommend a book or a movie. If you know what to expect, it can be very enjoyable, perhaps with a cup of nice, hot tea?

My little grey brain cells are positively tingling

I cant really say much that other reviews haven't already said. The game is very much fine, but isn't really amazing in any way. If you like visual novels and mystery stories, you will most likely enjoy this game like I did! I am also a big fan of the Hercule Poirot Novels, and this game portrayed the character very well, and fell into many of the tropes and story beats you would see in the actual christie novels, which I must say was absolutely lovely to see how much the designers of this game much have delved into the source materiel to make the story work in the fashion that it did. overall if you like visual novels and detective stories youll probably enjoy it. however if you are looking for something with more of a "gameplay" emphasis this is not it. 7/10 for me but I can certainly see how others could have a much lower review of it, as its really not a game for everyone.

This game's biggest flaw is that, under the guise of one of the world's most famous detectives, the player has to associate the most obvious of clues in order to proceed. Photo frame missing its glass? Pile of glass on the floor? Well, you have to go into a separate menu to string those together before Periot can ask about them! It feels very much like being ask to make a sandwich, but having to direct a character to "Open bread bag", "Get out 2 slices of bread", "Close bread bag" in order to begin the objective.
I do think this game would be perfect for younger players and kids who just can't get enough of mystery games, and being able to visually see a plot come together could help cognitive development. But as a game for Periot fans? Simply going off mechanics alone, it leaves much to be desired.

7.5/10
Overall, the story was pretty good with a nice twist. This is more of a visual novel with some extra clicking. Felt like my hand was being held every step of the way...which is not a bad thing but may not be everyone's cup of tea. Game runs quite smoothly and keeps you entertained. This is surely not like a Sherlock Holmes game, but it's not a bad replacement to fill the void.
-Repetitive dialogue for some interactive objects gets a little stale.
-Some characters have odd voice acting with some accents actually changing mid conversation. Dialog volume also fluctuated consistently with no meddling of settings.
-The "Mind Map" proceeds to make you question just how capable you are of connecting clues. Some clues that are OBVIOUSLY connected are 'not allowed' to be connected until you find a third or fourth clue (think of it like...the 'middle man' of clues)...which can be quite annoying. Sometimes the connections between clues are such a FAR STRETCH, which adds more confusion and annoyance to figuring everything out. (The 'Mind Map' was probably the most frustrating part of the game for me)
-Mouse/keyboard controls are okay but preferred a controller overall (which is unusual for me).

Well made and enjoyable little puzzle game, although it feels very "on rails" with certain rooms and areas being blocked off to you if they are not relevant to what you are currently investigating and there is no way to discover information except in the order that you are meant to. The voice acting was superb, the art is beautiful and the deductions mechanic is really nice (although again, because the connections between bubbles on the deduction board cannot intersect, it does become possible in the late game to just look for what bubbles are most easily connected without doing any actual deduction).
All in all an enjoyable game that would have been made so much better by loosening up a little.