Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective
Elementary, my dear Watson (but only if you're Sherlock Holmes)Genre: adventure - point n click
Publisher: NEC
Year: 1991
System: TG-16 CD
Gameplay Score: 3
Gameplay Notes:
As far as these point and click games go, this is about as good as it gets. The UI is intuitive (except for the newspaper) and the cursor moves slowly at first, which allows for precise movement, and gradually speeds up to allow for long movements. A perfect solution for the lack of a mouse. Minimal loading times, for the time.
Level Design Score: 1
Level Design Notes:
As much as I enjoy the setting and the gameplay in this title, the cases are so obtuse that you'd have to be a savant or using a walkthrough to figure out what to do next. The videos provide a lot of information that you must keep track of, but they rarely point you toward the next objectives. Instead you have to learn a great deal about the locales and individuals in the area (of which there are dozens). It makes sense that the mystery's are hard to sort out - there are only three, after all - but I'm convinced that the only way to complete the game is by either visiting every location and speaking to every person, or to cheat. In the first case, you'll be playing and taking feverish notes for a long, long time, and in the alternative scenario you can beat the entire game in 15 minutes. Pick your poison.
Theme Score: 5
Theme Notes:
I LOVE the stuffy British atmosphere of this game. The acting in the numerous video clips is quite remarkable, especailly when compared to the other FMV games of this era. Extremely well made.
Art Style Score: 3
Art Style Notes:
The UI is clean and colorful and the videos are surprisingly high quality, but they only take up about a quarter of the screen. After a while it's not so distracting but I wouldn't call this game a visual treat.
Audio Score: 4
Audio Notes:
Sound quality is remarkable. Voices are clear. I wish there was some music, or at least the option to choose some, but the fantastic voice acting and sound quality make up for this omission.
Overall Score: 54
Review ID: 10033
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