A New Mystery is Hurtling Down the Track as the Adventure Company Ships Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express for the PC.

Detectives Can Now Embark on the Latest Agatha Christie Mystery Adventure

TORONTO -- The Adventure Company, the leading publisher of adventure games, today shipped to retail its engrossing new PC game, Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express. The game is a thrilling murder mystery for both long-time and new Agatha Christie fans that presents an ideal blend of classic Queen of Crime style lifted from the pages of her acclaimed novel of the same name with additional deceptive twists and turns, making the interactive mystery a challenge for detectives of all skill levels.

Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express draws fans in as they step aboard a lavishly appointed 1930's era train along with a cast of 25 intriguing characters led by acclaimed Belgian detective Hercule Poirot, and including philanthropist Samuel Ratchett and Princess Dragomiroff, all traveling from Istanbul to London. The game adds a new main character to the storyline as well, Antoinette Marceau, a train company employee, crime buff and a huge fan of Poirot's. The luxurious rail trip quickly shifts gear when a heinous murder is committed, shocking everyone aboard and fueling a hunt for the killer.

Poirot immediately starts to investigate and agrees to let Marceau act as his assistant, given her relentless zeal for solving crimes. In the role of Marceau, players are guided and tested at every step by Poirot, as well as other forces, as the mystery unfolds. The game is enriched by the voice of David Suchet, as Poirot, the actor who has come to epitomize the Belgian detective on TV.

As the investigation develops, Poirot and Marceau explore clues both on and off the train. Marceau must use all of her skills to inspect every aspect of the richly detailed train in her hunt for evidence; talking to, shadowing and eavesdropping on other passengers in a search for motives. With the ongoing fear that her fellow passengers will catch on that she is snooping around, she discusses her findings and investigative strategy with Poirot, and through a built-in hint system, he arms her with new ideas and suggestions. In addition to the challenge of solving the crime, Marceau is put through her paces by Poirot, with tasks to complete, like getting the fingerprints of everyone on the train. These side tasks are critically important as players are judged on whether they would make a good detective based on how well they meet these challenges throughout the game.

The investigation is further complicated by weather effects, such as the inclement weather in the mountainous regions, which has a jarring impact on the passengers' circumstances and the clues, sending Marceau out into a snowstorm in search of potential case breaking evidence.

Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express is equipped with a new mapping system, where icons of each rail car appear on the top of the game screen. Players simply click on the rail car they want to visit to move quickly and easily from place to place. There is also the ability to skip through dialogue by pressing the enter key. This is particularly useful if a player returns to a certain section of the game for a clue but does not want to burn time listening to dialogue they've already heard.

Agatha Christie: Murder on the Orient Express is rated "T" (teen) and has moderate system requirements including Windows[R] 2000/XP and a 1.4 GHz Pentium[R] 3 processor. The game, priced at MSRP $29.99 and is available throughout North America at major retail outlets where PC games are sold.

About Agatha Christie

Agatha Christie, Queen of Crime, (1890-1976) is the world's best-known mystery writer. Her books have sold over a billion copies in the English language and another billion in over 45 foreign languages. She is outsold by only the Bible and Shakespeare. Explore the world of Agatha Christie at www.agathachristie.com.

About Chorion 

Chorion is an owner, developer and manager of creative content with the rights to key brands such as Noddy, The Famous Five, Miss Marple, Poirot, Maigret and Philip Marlowe. Visit www.chorion.co.uk.

About DreamCatcher Inc.

DreamCatcher Inc. is a leading worldwide publisher and distributor of interactive entertainment software. Established in 1996, the company markets its products under two popular labels: DreamCatcher Games, featuring the critically acclaimed, best-selling game Painkiller; and The Adventure Company, the number one brand for PC adventure game sales worldwide including award winning titles such as Syberia and Agatha Christie: And Then There Were None.

DreamCatcher products include titles for the PC as well as leading hardware platforms -- the PlayStation[R]2 computer entertainment system, the PlayStation[R] Portable (PSP) system, the Xbox[R] video game and entertainment system, the Nintendo GameCube[R] and Game Boy[R] Advance.

DreamCatcher's head office is located in Toronto, Canada. The company also services European, Middle Eastern and Australasian territories through its international office based in Paris, France. Visit www.dreamcatchergames.comwww.dreamcatchergames.com for more information.