Frogwares tried something different, but in putting all the effort into an open world it meant the core gameplay suffered. The core missions are reasonable, with similar gameplay to Crimes&Punishments. Some of the plotlines are quite good. I found the observation deductions were a bit tricky because some of the relevant info you need to make a deduction isn't revealed until later in the conversation. Likewise in several of the cases the evidence is 50/50 and could go both ways, so it comes down to luck rather than good deduction. (You can tell if you got it right by the amount of money you earn from cases - the game won't tell you). The game does give you icons next to each bit of evidence to indicate next steps. I think it would be unplayable without these. There are several new mechanics that were not so good. The 'eavesdropping' ended up almost always as guessing and brute-forcing the solution. Questioning the public was ok (use Concentration to check how they will react to you) but didn't really add anything - you just walk around until you find a friendly person. The addition of combat was not required. In the game you have the option to skip it, which is good. The sidekick 'Jon' was mostly annoying. The game has 'Jon's diary' but I never saw the point in this as it mostly fills up with repeated reactions to whether Sherlock gets the right answer first time in the archives or when questioning people. There are a lot of side quests, but they don't engage all the mechanics, ad some are pretty lame. I would have liked less open world and more fully developed cases with all the mechanics (eg mind palace) rather than a 'case' just being walking through an area with a lot of clicking. I liked the addition of maths puzzles (the chemical analysis sections) but even when on hard mode they were still really easy. I also found the ending a bit lame, especially compared to Crimes and Punishments.
I also wanted to enjoy this game. I like Agatha Christie, I like mystery games, I liked Evil Under the Sun and Crimes and Punishments. But I'm only about 2 hrs in and I'm not sure if I can finish it. The game is just too boring. - The deduction map requires you to make many tiny connections, to the point where I had to brute force some things that I'd already figured out, but didn't know how the game wanted me to map out. - Poirot walks everywhere and there's no option for fast travel or sprint. Tedious when you're wandering around a very boring level - There are items with the option to interact but Poirot just says 'There's nothing interesting'. Cool story bro. - I'm not a fan of the art style. Personal preference but compared to Crimes and Punishments it was like a game for a mobile phone. You just get hand drawn images of the characters during dialogue that stay static for each line of dialogue. - There's no intellectual challenge. No choices, just clicking your way around everywhere. You can't get anything wrong. - The mind maps have a flaw where it's very easy to figure out what should be connected without thinking - not going to spoil the game for others but the developers should address this. - The characters and plot are boring. There's no tension. Everything is bland and uninteresting.
TLDR: This game is fantastic. Buy immediately. I have been playing the Frogwares Sherlock games since the Silver Earring, plus many other adventure games, and I can say that this is one of the best ever. It leans more towards being a puzzle game, and some may find it too easy, but I thought it was loads of fun. I thought the characters were spot on for for Conan Doyle's characterisation, and thought it had a nice balance with investigation, action and humour. There were also nice touches like how you can talk to Toby the dog (and Toby's bed has 'Toby' written on it! Cuuuute!) Pro: - Good writing, with some nice fun moments that balance the humour and drama nicely - Voice acting is top notch - Wonderfully detailed environments and high-res textures make it fun to explore locations - Deduction space is well designed and makes the investigation streamlined - Can easily replay case endings to see how different endings play out I liked, but others may not: - Interaction icons turn green when you have exhausted investigation options, making it easy to see if you have checked out everything in a location. I thought it was a good way to avoid having to revisit locations just to see if you need to click on every item again - Notebook makes it clear what you have to do next. Some may find this makes it a bit too easy, but I found it meant the game never slowed down, and I didn't have to check walkthroughs to see if I'd missed a trigger somwhere - Lots of mini-games/QTEs. I found them a bit reminiscent of early 90s games like Defender of the Crown and personally I liked how the game had more than just one mechanic Con: - Texture pop. Lots of textures pop, especially on transparent textures. - I thought the ending was a bit anticlimactic - Only get to wear the deerstalker cap in once case Frogwares could just remake this game with different cases and I would keep buying them.
I know this is a walking simulator but there wasn't enough in the environment to make it interesting. You spend half the game going between your apartment and work. Later in the game there are a couple of larger locations but there's nothing really there to interact with. It's not really immersive at all. I also couldn't sympathise with any of the characters. The two main playable characters are just jerks and annoying. Richard Nolan is like a cut-price Tesco Gordon Freeman. I liked some of the puzzles but they were too easy. The game does try to have some big Themes and Messages about technology etc but it seemed unoriginal. Also... UNSKIPPABLE end credits?? They went for about 20 minutes.
I found the story really engaging. I found it difficult to close this game because I kept wanting to find out what happened next. The choices that you are given are difficult to decide, making the game have more of an emotional impact than almost every other game I've played. I didn't mind the interactive story style of gameplay, but it would have been nice to have the option to fast forward cutscenes. I could read the dialogue much faster than the audio and it got a bit tiresome with some very long cutscenes (and there are a LOT). BUT the control system is terrible! I don't know why others haven't mentioned this in reviews! Firstly, it's not easy to see what can be selected until you get close, resulting in something simialr to pixel hunting around rooms. Then, to select an item you have to rotate the character and it seems arbitrary as to whether you will highlight the item you want or another. Then the interactions available hardly ever show up, meaning you just swipe the mouse hoping for the best. There were many optional items I missed because the object didn't show up. Also, there were some quick-time events that I failed at because I couldn't see how to interact with the item. Annoying AF.
This is more like an episode than a full game, but the characters and story are really cute and fun. The art is really good and the dialogue is funny. Only minus is that it's not very difficult, but it was entertaining enough just to go through the story. Bonus points for the NZ elements and kakapo.
Annoying puzzles, average story and graphics - this is a game you can do without
I thought this did what an adventure game should quite well - not *quite* as good as the best (Monkey Island etc) but pretty close - give you a well rounded story and game world, with enjoyable puzzles. For me the game world was the best thing - like Technobabylon the setting had a deep richness that encouraged exploration and examination. For seasoned puzzlers you may find the puzzles a bit easy but personally I didn't mind because they were all logical - no putting sellotape on a cat to make a moustache.
I liked this game. Yes it is quite short, but it's worth it when it's on sale. The puzzles aren't terribly difficult but I didn't mind because the characters and story are well done. It's quite absorbing. If you like these retro point and click adventures then I recommend this game.
