Sherlock Holmes Vs. Arsene Lupin

Graphics

The graphics for the game are reasonable for its time. For a mid 2008 game you would expect there to be a lack of blurs, blocky edges and static scenery. This game seems to avoid all of these. There is plenty of light and space to move around in, and shows 19th century London as being fairly accurate in regards to the way it was described in the books.

The PC I used to test this game was a relatively low spec machine, and I had no problems playing this game with most graphical options at the highest they would go. My setup is as follows:

One whole area (inside and outside of buildings) is all loaded when the game starts, so there are no loading times between different places. I think this makes game play more fun because gamers in general tend to lose interest quicker than most audiences, so dispelling the age old loading screen was a smart move on the part of the developers.

Sound

The audio detail in the game was pretty impressive; it is very simplistic but effective. The music relates to what kind of situation you are going through in the game and makes you think when you need to. The background noises bring the reality to the game e.g. bird noises and trees blowing. They set the scene effectively. There was however A LOT of dialogue used in just the beginning of the game. It seemed to need a lot of explaining of how to get the game going. Fair enough if people don’t know anything about Sherlock Holmes or 19th century detective work, but those people probably wouldn’t buy this game in the first place; so it seems unnecessary.

The letter at the start was 6 pages long and took me a fair bit of time to read. This frustrated me while playing because I just wanted to DO something! There is also a lot of pointless conversation between Holmes and Watson that just seems to achieve nothing. However there is an element of comedy to the game where it’s quite clear that Holmes is the boss and Watson is his sidekick. For example just in the first scene, Holmes seems to be taking no notice of what Watson is saying, regardless of how helpful or insightful it is.

Subtitles are automatically switched on when I started playing. As a regular gamer, I find sometimes I see the first few cut scenes of games and miss out on a lot of the dialogue because I can’t understand what the characters are saying. The fact that the subtitles are automatically on was a great plan.

Interface – inventory, chosen dialogue.

The main menu interface was impressive. The direct access to it from in game is very handy. Kept simple, but without detracting from the interface. There are no loading times between different menus because all options are available on the one, and it’s no way near as confusing as some option heavy menus can be. If you decided you want to start again, you can, without “Do you want to quit to the main menu?” and “Are you sure?” and “Are you really sure?” YES!… followed by loading times and more sitting around. Although this does leave risk of clumsiness of players who can accidentally press these buttons. BE CAREFUL!

The in game interface is very simple as well. Shortcuts to the inventory screen are available and it is organized into different sub menus. You’re given decent sized pictures for items and its pretty clear what you have got available to use.

Like many point and click games it is possible to select dialogue which appears in a small scroll somewhere on the screen. Occasionally though, the dialogue can be a bit long winded.

Difficulty and Note Taking

Personally I found this game very challenging. Although I’ve played many point and clicks adventure games in the past, I wouldn’t say I was particularly skilled at them. If you are an intellectual thinker, this is by far the game for you. The game requires you to take notes down on a piece of paper as you work through the game. Although I can see the historical accuracy of doing this, couldn’t we have had an in-game text editor? This is the 21st century, no one uses paper anymore. Also, I didn’t want to make notes while I played. I wanted to play! Ok, it does make the game pretty realistic because you as a player are physically taking the role of the detective, but most of the time I found this boring because it got in the way of what I wanted to do. Also to test out how "noob-friendly" the game was, I actually decided not to take notes and as the game went on it seemed to get impossible because I hadn’t. I had to resort to a walkthrough just to get past one bit because I didn’t take sufficient notes. It’s definitely a good feature but will only appeal to people who like a slower paced, point and click. The thinking man’s adventure game.

Cost

The game is available to buy for £29.99 (€39.99). This is about average for a "blockbuster" style game, but I think it’s a little high for a game like this which has a bit of an Indy feel.

The game can be purchased by direct download which can save you a lot of time and hassle.

1. No need to take time to go out to a shop and buy it.
2. Depending on your internet connection speed, access to the game within minutes.
3. Easy payment system.
4. There is no need for a CD/DVD to be put in every time because the game, once downloaded, will be playable without one.

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