I ummed and arred about getting this one. The last Sherlock game was a
raging disappointment in terms of characterisation. By the end of the game, having
to listen to Sherlock talk was almost insufferable.
Thankfully Frogware seemed to have taken some kind of feedback (I’m
sure it wasn’t mine) on board and the Sherlock present in this game is actually
likeable. Sherlock and Watson actually have a relationship that could be
considered friendship and there is a respect present that was horribly absent
from the last game. It makes the characters far more relatable – in terms of
Sherlock not being a cunt and Watson not having to absorb an abhorrent level of
abuse that makes any relationship unbelievable.
The games itself is a point and click adventure game with several
puzzle aspects thrown in. You take Sherlock through six cases that are stand-alone
but also linked in some way. I think I managed to get half way through the
first case before resorting to a guide though. Some of the connections you have
to make are quite obscure. I did dip in
and out of the guide when I needed to but the game makes that cardinal sin of
forcing you to follow the route it wants you take even if you figure out the
answer anyway.
That said, the most intriguing and different element of the game is
that it allows you to reach the wrong conclusion for the investigations. I
found this to be an excellent addition to the game play mechanics as it added a
non-linear element.
Another feature of the game play is that Sherlock has developed
Spider-Sense which can be toggled on to allow him to... be Sherlock and notice
stuff that others have missed. I understand it but it seems a bit strange to
have to ‘activate’ Sherlock’s ability to be Sherlock.
Visually it offers more than its predecessors but that’s to be expected
from the next generation. The music is in keeping with the time period for the
game which is great and I also didn’t notice it as a negative in the
background.
Achievements – 1,000 Points – 25
Achievements
With 25 achievements on offer and no DLC, it’s a relatively straightforward
game. 10 of the achievements are related to the main story or completing the
main case sequences. Of the remaining 15, there are 2 that you really have to
go out of your way to get - getting all possible conclusions and achieving the
maximum personality rating.
Finding all possible conclusions is the difficult one. You have to
gather all evidence available to identify all of the wrong conclusions too so
rushing to the right answer and accidentally pressing the wrong button can
result in you needing to replay a case. It is an easy as pressing x instead of
a to do this.
The maximum personality one is difficult in its vagueness. You have to
pick the same options for all cases to either condemn or absolve the criminals.
This isn’t as straight forward as clicking ‘condemn’ or ‘absolve’ at the end of
a case as the possible outcomes aren’t that clearly labelled. Again, it’s
another one where one miss-click will ruin your progress.
Downloadable Content – N/A
So to sum up it’s an easy and relatively quick completion with a guide
but without a guide it would be quite ridiculous to find everything you need.
That’s the glory of the game though – it’s as hard as you want to make it for
yourself. I would recommend it over the others if anyone wanted to try out a
Sherlock Holmes game.
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