The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes Mystery Game (PC) Review
Posted by Chris Evans on 06.02.2008
Chris Evans Investigates Sherlock's Latest.
The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes Mystery Game
This new Sherlock Holmes game claims to be the only game sanctioned by the Arthur Conan Doyle Estate, it just a shame that his skill and flair as a writer wasn’t included in part of the deal. It is rare that I can get so bored by a game that I find myself wishing I was working. The ‘Hidden Object’ sub-genre of the Puzzle Game scene is quite frankly a tough one to crack and despite all of Holmes’ and Watson’s efforts The Lost Cases fails to crack the case.
There will always be limitations to what Hidden Object games can achieve as they are of such limited scope that they must do something special to succeed. They can fit in well within a broader puzzle game which provides something more for the player to do, on their own they generally aren’t that good.
The Lost Cases tries something different, it involves other puzzle games into the game itself, these range from rotating pieces of a picture to fall into place correctly or to spot the differences in two paintings. Wait that last one is pretty much a core gameplay type of the Hidden Object genre itself, and it plays a big part in the main game itself.
You see, each case follows the same pattern. Holmes and Watson provide a brief bit of background information from where you proceed to a map where you must select the location of the incident. I say incident as Holmes and Watson often have been known to get confused about the nature of their investigation. In one case they referred to it as being a murder and yet they make mention of the victim being alive.
I do digress; the game revolves around two main modes before you solve the mystery. You are either presented with two images, one atop the other from which you must identify differences between the two. The other mode requires you to find a whole host of items hidden among the scene. It must be mentioned that the scenes themselves are better presented than in other Hidden Object games, there is a much more organised level of clutter. But apart from that saving grace it is still so poor.
The Lost Cases provides you with 16 different cases to tackle and they all seem strangely lost in the general malaise that runs through this game. While fans of Conan Doyle’s work may find the cases and what passes for story interesting, when thrown together like this they do little to keep you driving forward to complete the game. If you don’t die from boredom of finding the hidden object or spotting the differences then you will when you realise that the cases just keep on coming until you have done all 16.
I may be heavily lambasting The Lost Cases but really it is just sub-par as a game, but for a game stuck in the Hidden Object genre it is somewhat decent. Really if there was more variety in what you have to do in each case it would be somewhat average, but alas not.
The graphics are bland 2D with little life in them, and even less during cut-scenes which look like animated paintings that I would’ve done when I was 10! The voice acting sounds uninspired and samey.
Unless you are a big fan of Hidden Object games I recommend you avoid this and invest in a puzzler that offers a variety of challenges and is actually fun to play. However in the grand scheme of things it is not awful, just a game hamstrung by the sub-genre it is in.
Graphics
5.0
While the objects are implemented well, the overall look is poor.
