"a good adventure game"
Sherlock Homes and the Case of the Silver Earring is the latest in a line of adventures for the popular detective. The game is set in the late 1890’s and follows Sherlock Homes as he attempts to solve a murder mystery with his faithful companion Dr. Watson.
Game Play
Sherlock Homes and the Case of the Silver Earring begin as many adventure games with a bit of story telling. Mr Homes and Dr. Watson are invited to a party at Sherringford Hall by the host Sir Melvyn Bomsby where he intends to give an important speech on the future of his company. Unfortunately before giving the speech he falls dead. It soon becomes Homes and Watson’s task of finding out what happened and who is the murder."The game is set in the late 1890’s "
The game plays like many other adventure game you may have played. You begin at Sherringford Hall after the murder and begin to talk to the guests who were at the party during the shooting. As with any good adventures games, detective ones especially, everything could be a clue and it’s your task to find it. You carry a number of items to aid you in the clue discovery, a magnifying glass to look more closely at something, a test tube to collect samples and a tape measure to ascertain the size of footprints etc. All items which are of importance in a room can easily be identified as your mouse cursor changes. The majority of the time it’s easy to identify items which can be picked up or looked at for clues. The game boasts around 25 hours of game play, and has 40 different and stunning 19th century London locations which will keep any adventure happy for weeks.
"around 25 hours game play"
As in all adventures games it’s possible to get stuck fairly easily. The game plays in a linear format which means you usually have to discover all clues and talk to everyone before you can progress to the next stage. This can sometimes mean running the mouse cursor over every object to see if you can interact with it. Perseverance is the name of the game. Once you discover some new clues you may need to backtrack to talk to people again with new questions.
"40 different and stunning 19th
century London locations "
century London locations "
As well as playing as Homes, at various stages through the game you can also play as Dr.Watson. This does add a nice bit of variety to the game. Insp. Lestrade, Mycroft Holmes, Wiggins, and Mrs. Hudson's also crop up to offer their assistance. The interface designed for Sherlock Homes and the Case of the Silver Earring is brilliant. Throughout the case Holmes keeps a log of everything that goes on, including conversations and clues discovered.
"The interface designed for Sherlock Homes
and the Case of the Silver Earring
is brilliant"
and the Case of the Silver Earring
is brilliant"
It’s also nice to see maps of where you have been which means it’s easy not to get lost when you back track or easy to see if you’ve missed a room. At the end of each level, of which there are five, you consider your discoveries and answer questions in Sherlock Holmes' quiz. While this is a nice feature and really makes sure you know what you are doing, it can be quite hard as getting just one question wrong means you have to do the whole quiz again.
"The 3D rendering is fantastic "
Graphics
The level of detail which has gone into the graphics is pretty superb considering it’s an adventure game. Everything has that hand drawn feel while at the same time not looking over the top. The 3D rendering is fantastic and really adds quality to the game."the graphics are the best currently available"
Each room and area in the game look and feel like they belong. The rooms in the stately hall look grand as they should. The objects and scenery is mostly static except for the people which is a slight disappointment but as adventure games go the graphics are the best currently available.
Sound
The speech in Sherlock Homes and the Case of the Silver Earring is top quality. The only thing which lets it down is the voices. The voice for Homes and a couple of the other characters don’t fit. However with a fitting musical score of Nicolo Paganini and Felix Mendelssohn throughout the game coupled with excellent writing for the dialogue make for a very atmospheric affair and believable that your playing in the 1890’s. However the music and setting of the game may not appeal to all due to its classical nature."excellent writing for the dialogue "
Overall
It’s hard to believe adventure games are so hard to come by these days as at one point they were bread and butter for PC games developers. It’s fantastic to see some companies still producing adventures on a grand scale such as this latest Sherlock Homes adventure. The story appears to have been written passionately as it flows well and is genuinely interesting throughout. The 3D Rendered graphics both look superb and fit the genre very well. Top this with high quality speech, music and interface its hard not to recommend this to any adventure gaming fan. Overall the game offers good value for money and many hours of play. The package also includes a Sherlock Homes Movie, Sherlock Homes and the Secret Weapon.