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by David Welbourn

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Murder at the Aero Club

by Penny Wyatt

Mystery
2004

(based on 13 ratings)
3 reviews

About the Story

In this short game, you play as a detective investigating the murder of an ASAC inspector at the TAF Aero Club, eight hours away from Sydney. Let's hope you can solve the case quickly!


Game Details


Awards

16th Place - 10th Annual Interactive Fiction Competition (2004)

Editorial Reviews

Baf's Guide


A mystery that made me dream of how wonderful our world would be if all criminals were like the murderer in this game: their utter inability to hide or destroy crucial evidence would make the work of the police so trivial we'd soon have them all locked in. Only one thing overshadows this idyll somewhat: the vision of Agatha Christie begging on the church-porch. Speaking seriously, while Murder at the Aero Club certainly would fail entirely as a detective story, it doesn't necessarily as a text adventure. Some of its aspects are quite amusing, and the puzzles are logical, although not outstanding. Considering its shortness, this work could be put into the "mildly recommended" category, although you certainly don't need to be Sherlock Holmes to beat it.

-- Valentine Kopteltsev

>INVENTORY - Paul O'Brian writes about interactive fiction

My first clue was a line in the banner: "(With apologies to all real-life characters and Government organisations upon which this is based!)" Do I detect a faint scent of "in-joke game"? Of course, the dead giveaway came when I encountered a character with the same name as the author. So assuming that "Penny Wyatt" isn't a pseudonym, or that it's the pseudonym of somebody who really does belong to an Australian aero club, I'm going to venture the hypothesis that this is one of those games where the author implements some familiar setting and characters, drapes a little concept around them, and then releases it to the world. It's a close cousin of the "implement your house" and "implement your job" games: the "implement your hangout" game.

The vast majority of the time, games like this are vastly entertaining to the lucky few who are acquainted with the people and places represented, and irritatingly baffling to the rest of us. Murder At The Aero Club is no exception, though its competent prose and the presence of an actual story (albeit minimal) render it a cut above many.


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Number of Reviews: 3
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
Easily my cup of tea, June 23, 2023

A simple yet adequate murder mystery plot with sufficient suspects and clues. Was stuck towards the end when I couldn't get the suspect to talk, so had to rely on peeking at a walkthrough, but otherwise most things made sense. Would be great to have an in-game hint system, and anticipate other commands to minimise the "There is no reply" response. Would also be nice if there were more plot development, but otherwise I am glad to have found this.

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2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
Bland, October 31, 2007
by Nusco (Bologna, Italy)
Related reviews: IF Competition 2004

A short and very bland whodunit, where you don't really care about who did it. It feels like a series of in-jokes between the author and her acquaintances. The setting, a small private airport, is original, and it kept me playing.

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1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
A murder mystery set at an airplane field, September 15, 2017
by MathBrush
Related reviews: about 1 hour

This game was an IFComp game. It has you as a detective investigating murder at an airplane field.

You collect clues by searching scenery and by talking to people. It has a lot of elements of a good detective story, but it's really easy to get stuck and throw off the timing. There's also some goofy oddball elements that don't really fit in.

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Murder at the Aero Club on IFDB

Recommended Lists

Murder at the Aero Club appears in the following Recommended Lists:

Detective and mystery games by MathBrush
These are games where you play a detective or someone else investigating a mystery. Most of them are realistic games which I am splitting off of my realistic list. Some are more magical or science fi-ish.

Polls

The following polls include votes for Murder at the Aero Club:

Australian Setting or Characters by Rhetta_Lynnea
I've played several good games with Aussie characters or setting, and I was wondering if there are any others. It doesn't have to be the main focus of the game, just a little extra colour.




This is version 4 of this page, edited by Paul O'Brian on 9 May 2022 at 2:19am. - View Update History - Edit This Page - Add a News Item - Delete This Page