Cruise for a Corpse
| Cruise for a Corpse | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Delphine Software International |
| Publisher(s) | Erbe Software, Interplay Entertainment, U.S. Gold |
| Engine | Cinématique evo2[1] |
| Platform(s) | Amiga, Atari ST, MS-DOS |
| Release date(s) | 1991 |
| Genre(s) | Adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single Player |
Cruise for a Corpse (orig. Croisière pour un cadavre) is an adventure game from Delphine Software International, made for the Amiga, Atari ST and IBM PC.
The game is designed as a murder investigation. The player assumed the role of Raoul Dusentier, a man invited to spend some time on Niklos Karaboudjan's boat. Quickly after arriving, Karaboudjan is murdered, and the investigation begins.
Cultural references
The game, being French, uses many references to the contemporary French and Belgian mythology. Amongst those:
- Karaboudjan: name of The Adventures of Tintin character Captain Haddock's cargo ship in the comic The Crab with the Golden Claws.
- Just like in The Crab with the Golden Claws, crab cans are used to hide objects (in the comic they contain opium, whereas in the game they contain hand grenades).
- The whole plot has an obvious influence from retro murder novels. The fact that the investigation takes place in a closed environment, and that all suspects had a reason for the assassination, is reminiscent of Agatha Christie's works such as Death on the Nile or Murder on the Orient Express. The old fashioned name of the inspector, Raoul Dusentier, reminds of famous French-speaking inspectors names such as Hercule Poirot or Joseph Rouletabille.
The MS-DOS version is playable in ScummVM[2] and DOSBox,[3] while the Amiga version runs on UAE.
Reception
Computer Gaming World called Cruise for a Corpse "an admirable recipe for a classic adventure of murder most foul". The magazine liked the rotoscoped animation, but criticized the EGA graphics and "atrocious" code wheel-based copy protection, and concluded that while "Dedicated whodunit aficionados" would enjoy the game, "the general adventure gaming audience" would find it "tedious".[4]
References
- ↑ Cine - ScummVM
- ↑ http://scummvm.org/compatibility/SVN/cruise/
- ↑ http://www.dosbox.com/comp_list.php?showID=137&letter=C
- ↑ James, Jeff (December 1992). "U.S. Gold's Cruise for a Corpse". Computer Gaming World. p. 72. Retrieved 5 July 2014.
External links
- Cruise for a Corpse at MobyGames
- Cruise for a Corpse can be played for free in the browser at the Internet Archive