After an average ‘The Awakened’ we see Sherlock Holmes back in ‘Sherlock Holmes VS Arsène Lupin’.
This time Sherlock Holmes doesn’t have to solve a murder case, but catch a thief. Arsène Lupin, the French gentleman annex thief has left France for a while to ‘teach those arrogant Englishmen a lesson’ by stealing the most valuable possessions of the United Kingdom. To make it more exciting, Lupin sends a letter to Holmes in which he announces his actions and challenges the detective to catch him in time.
The further progression of this story is quite predictable (except for a few unbelievable sideways) and is all but exciting, especially in comparison with Sherlock’s last adventure, The Awakened, in which we were at least a bit interested because of the horror-like story. Storyline and characters are all shallow.
When Sherlock (and trusty sidekick Watson) arrive before the theft has happened, there will always be somebody with a problem you will have to solve. After the theft the search for clues that Lupin did it begin and then the tips that Lupin himself left, have to be deciphered to find out what will be the next target.
Those tips come in the form of some rhymes, varying in difficulty level. It can come in handy to have a good knowledge of the English language and English-French history to understand all double meanings and hidden clues. Just like last time, detective tools like a loupe are available to use, but not that many times unfortunately.
Puzzles and riddles luckily come in abundance and although it can be challenging to solve them at times, they are not that difficult. Another advantage is that you don’t have to run around from area to area to find all the things you need to solve puzzles. Sherlock’s maps allow jumping from one place to another with one mouse click.
The bad graphics and bugs spoil the game some more. Often Sherlock or Watson ends up in a black hole and there is absolutely no way out but to reload the last savegame. If you have recently saved the game, that is.
The overall graphics quality dates from a few game centuries ago, but of course the advantage is that you don’t need a high-end PC to play this stuff. The music consists of an annoying violin tune that is repeated too often and makes the dialogues less audible. Life in Sherlock’s London is better without it. Not that the dialogues are that interesting, most of the time they are just way too long-winded.
Conclusion: just let Sherlock solve this case on his own.
TitleScore
9 Comment(s)
Anonymous
Hm. Graphics, predictability... these are you criteria?
It seems you are taking this entire game out of context. I know graphics and action are all the rage, and have be en for the past ten years, but honestly. The kind of person who plays this game... well, let me elucidate;
What was the first thing you did when you entered the art gallery? Let me summarise what I think: You, by your knowledge of game mechanics, knew what to look for immediately, bypassing or ignoring most of the dialogue as irrelevant, and went on to the next scene, because of your deadline to rate the next game in line, hoping for an AAA title. Do please correct me if I am mistaken in this.
When I first entered, I went around and *looked* at all the beautiful damn paintings, and listened to the quite good, if not perfect voice-acting, describing each painting in detail, and enjoying every moment of it.
The musical track could indeed have been a lot longer, then again, so could it have been in Morrowind. It enhanced the atmosphere nonetheless.
Furthermore, I rather enjoyed the dialogue. It IS long-winded. But in no way irrelevant, if you are interested in the story and experience of the game. Sherlock Holmes as the narcissistic genius, his nemesis, the arrogant and insufferable Frenchman... rather fitting I thought. Not high literature, then again... this is a game. With pretty good writing.
Again, in context: The graphics are a lot better than the previous game. They have progressed. It's not Crysis, not by a long shot, but so what? The graphics do what they're supposed to, I felt like I was in the victorian London of 1895, the, admittedly extremely stale graphics of the previous version have been updated, and are a lot more vivid.
All in all, I take issue with your claim sir, and believe you are just not the right person to be reviewing this game. Mostly because you seem to be focusing on things that are just not relevant to the intended audience, nor doing the game justice for what it is. For one, it is NOT Crysis.
Anonymous
Let me ask you, 3.5 for the gameplay?! You didn't mention not one bad part of the gameplay!
"Puzzles and riddles *luckily* come in abundance..."
"Another *advantage*..."
And what, concept 4? That would be for the predictability and "not exciting" story then...hmm, six grades off, very accurate indeed.
Seriously, I think you're playing the wrong kind of game if you think the dialogue is bad because it is long, must be from the FPSing. During the time I played through the game there was not even one line of dialogue that didn't either give you hints on what to do next, or clarify something that happened or that was told about earlier.
I do not think this was a perfect game, but I can't in any way see why it would deserve such a score. Maybe if you'd concentrate on the relevant things, like the good poster before me already stated.
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I might suppose that reviewer prefer shooting, running and fighting- it's not a crime but crime is when somebody who doesn't know too much in this case try to write a review.
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