A failed masterpiece

Lets get one thing clear -- I love the story and the ambition of this game. But It is that ambition that ultimately gave me trouble. The story takes place in the months leading up to World War I and a lot of the political activities of the time are evident on the train ride. Its an intelligent and interesting puzzle you are wrapped up in.
Its an ambitious game because it can be played non-linearly. And therein lies the problem. This caused a huge problem for me while playing.
The gameplay is pretty awful. It relies on a system of "do-overs" as you advance through the story, so if you die, you can rewind time and start over. You will probably end up doing this a lot and its very frustrating. Im surprised that even as long ago as 1997 when the game came out that they thought this was a good idea. There is no worse experience than doing things over and over again. Long story short, I got nearly to the end of the game when I died and I couldnt figure out what I did wrong. Then I read a walkthrough on the Internet and discovered there was a small item I needed to find at the beginning of the game that wouldve kept me alive. The game let me play through nearly the entire thing despite the fact that I would not be able to reach the end without practically starting over. Does that sound like fun?
Also some of the required actions are not intuitive. Without giving away spoilers, you need to put something somewhere that you just would never think to do in real life. Its just stupid and you have to "cheat" to find out what to do correctly.
Based on this I cant recommend it, despite one of the best and most intelligent and adult story lines in a game I have ever experienced.
Hope this helps you decide ...

Billybob358 about The Last Express, v1.03