Pretty disappointing, considering what fun I had with the first one.
As I started playing, I was having a great time! Many of the same elements I loved so were included, and I had a blast matching wits with Pirot. Yes, some of the voice "talent" wasn't exactly perfect (The Swede sounded like those farces they do of the Sweedish, and the woman who Pirot classified as having the "strongest character" did okay for some parts, but others it sounded like the actor got sick, the developers were running short on time, and decided to use the Text-To-Speech program to deliever the missing lines).
What really got me, though, was the ending. Not only did it come far too soon, but...
*SPOILER* *SPOILER* *SPOILER**SPOILER**SPOILER**SPOILER********
At the end, Hercule Pirot tells you that you have 3 descisions for who killed Mr. Rachett. He presents the facts, but as you watch the cutscenes, something immeadletly becomes clear to you... you won't have any control over the damn ending. At this point, I threw my arms up in disgust! It's like The Matrix; you're given what appears a choice you must make for yourself, but in reality, the problem is choice, or lack thereof. Look, I wouldn't have minded that they had said, "We are giving you no choice. Deal with it." Many games benefit from that linearity, because many times alternate endings feel like they were the cancelled endings of the original, but wanted to be like everyone else ("Everyone else has alternate endings. Smalls! Dig through the waste bin and see what you can find! We will have our own, so people will think we're sophisticated, and the years we took to make the damn thing were all well-spent!"). Instead, they tell you "Yeah, Pirot, the greatest detective in the whole world, is leaving the fate of the case up to you, a nobody! He'll give you three choices, and you choose whatever you wanna choose!" Instead, you are forced into this sissy ending that was probably the most retarded thing EVER. That girl is suppossed to be DEAD! It ruins the whole story! All the hatred geared towards this kidnapper, and they can't be ANGRY at him? Note to aWe Games: When you tack on an emotional ending to an Agatha Christie story, you better be damn sure it fits with spirit of the novel! You just can't look at what those Oscar-winning emotional endings did and tack it onto a MURDER MYSTERY!
**END SPOILER**
Look, I know how you think that changing the ending to a game will make it better for people who have already read the book, but when you change it like this, it's a boneheaded move! I would've expected from your first foray into the subject of Dame Agatha's novels, And Then There Were None, that you knew how to make a plot twist! That game had an amazing plot twist! The ending is what pretty much ruined the whole game for me, and I am sorry about that. Alas, I can give no mercy.