Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments
The game presents you with 6 different cases, all running around 2 hours each. There are clues scattered all over the place and the game practically gives you these clues as you wander around. Nearly everything that you can search relates to the case. When things zoom in, you can find multiple clues. The game automatically pans back out when you have found all the evidence within the vicinity. No worrying over when to use your Sherlock Holmes deduction abilities for the game will also display a giant eyeball for obscure evidence or a faded man icon for when you need to figure out how events unfolded. To me, this was actually a good thing. So many times in games I got lost trying to find that last piece of evidence that was tucked under an item or bookcase. Sadly, this also makes the experience very linear when the game forces you to go from Point L to Point M before you can do Point N.
There are a lot of little editions that make the game fairly interesting. There is a wide-range of interesting puzzles where you have to compare notes to your library or use your alchemy lab to reveal how certain chemicals would react. At times you will have to change your outfit and disguise your voice to blend in with the people. You might just be able to recruit Watson's dog to follow the scent across the floor. Moving around with your character can be a bit tricky at first unless you change to 1st-person perspective. Traveling between points isn't too much of a burden either when it gives it only takes a few seconds to load. The maximum at any time it took to load was a total of 10 seconds towards the gardens. Otherwise it was done really well.
The thing I had the hardest time with the game was that there really isn't any sort of "wrong" decision. If you choose the wrong thing in the library, for example, Sherlock will simply state that it isn't what he is looking for. If you choose the wrong thing in a list of names, he will mock "that is interesting, now let's find the real culprit." Even choosing the wrong contradiction for characters will give you a "please choose the correct answer." Nearly every case will give you a total of 3 suspects and a choice to absolve or condemn a man. The third case gives you an additional option of what was used as the murder weapon (although I think they should have presented a third weapon to choose from). It becomes blatantly obvious if you make the wrong decision when your ending cutscene runs for around two or three minutes. Usually the "correct" answer comes at the end of finding all the clues and some sort of drastic action or additional scene where Sherlock Holmes spouts out another five minutes of deductions.
But what was ultimately refreshing about the game is how Sherlock Holmes sounds, moves, and acts towards people. I never read the books. My only references are the BBC Network Miniseries, US Elementary Series, and the Sherlock Holme movies with Robert Downey Jr. This game makes me feel for a proper Sherlock Holmes - one that has a wholesome relationship with the general public, one that respects the ways of the police and doesn't bash their methods, one that ultimately uses science to come up with alternative theories to the crime without simply spouting out a line of nonsense about how a hair he just saw 6 feet away came from a specific cat found in a certain area of town. The game periodically references things from the book and shows off his very unusual quirks to keep his mind busy while not on a case. The game uses the "old-timey" style of dress and language (like how he says "advertisement").
I never really had any technical issues with the game. For a game that originally came out in 2014, that's actually pretty good. Watson once fell through the floor. There were a few graphic bugs around a character's face a couple times. I never did crash. In the 6th case, I was surprised when the game didn't offer me a way to "observe" the police officer or the lady in the street. However, my biggest gripe had to come with the 2nd case. There was a time Sherlock grabs some measuring tape without telling you what to do with it. There are multiple "invisible walls" that transition to traveling. A lot of traveling points only appear after you find a certain item or talk with certain people. After all said and done, The Riddle on the Rails didn't really make sense to me.
Review: Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishment was a delight to play with its barrage of unique puzzles and problem-solving abilities. The game does hand-hold you in finding every piece of the puzzle, but don't let that stop you from trying to figure out how things happened ahead of time. Contrary to the theatrics of the modern portrayal of Sherlock Holmes, the game properly represents the characters you know from the books in almost every way. The game is relatively short for 6 cases that will last you around 10 hours which is quite expensive for the full price of $30. Only get this game when it is on sale.
5-4-2020