Sherlock Holmes & The Case of the Silver Earring

Well, here we go with a pretty disappointing first post. Sherlock Holmes & The Case of the Silver Earring, the second game in the Frogware series of Holmes games (don't even get me started on the first one ::Shudder::) I actually was trying to justify not talking about this game as a first post but as I just literally completed it last night its still pretty fresh in my mind so might as-well get it over with. Lets just say that i was less than impressed with this game particularly after my recent run through of the old EA Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes games which are both excellent games (will defiantly have to talk about them in more detail at some point) I was in a mood for a spot of detective work.

Now the first thing I noticed when I started the game was that Holmes is even more condescending and arrogant than ever before if that is even possible, not that this is necessarily a bad thing but I would have liked to see a bit more of the straight talking yet strangely charismatic and likeable Holmes I have grown used to in the other games rather than wanting to punch him in the face for blatantly flaunting his superiority over poor Watson.

The second and much more important thing I noticed was the distinct lack of hotspots (basically the things in an adventure game that you click on to examine or interact with)This is Sherlock Holmes for gods sake you should be able to examine anything and find something notable to say. Instead this game seems to go for a more minimalistic approach and has precisely zero hotspots other than the ones you absolutely have to interact with to progress through the game. Now I'm pretty forgiving with adventures when it comes to pixel hunting, I find it all part of the experience but the problem here is this is pixel hunting at its very worst. Apart from the few hotspots you need to find there is literally nothing else to click on so it doesn't feel at all rewarding mindlessly scrolling the curser across the screen hoping to find something to click on.

The last thing worth mentioning is that after each section there is a small quiz section in which you have to answer a few question yes/no and give justification using what clues you have gathered. Now this is a pretty nice idea and fits in with the Holmes style of play but to be honest I couldn't be bothered trawling through the pages of dialogue and letters I had amassed trying to find out whether "The killer could have used the side door". Not to mention the fact that In the end you most likely still have no idea what's going on at all but at faced with a 10 minute cut scene (it felt that long anyway) in which Holmes explains what all the clues meant and who the real killer is. Its quite interesting seeing how it all fit together but as I said I had no idea what was going on until Holmes laid it out for me so I didn't really feel like I'd achieved anything.

Although I didn't really enjoy this game its a million times better than the abomination that is Sherlock Holmes & the Mystery of the Mummy so at least Frogware seem to be going in the right direction and I am actually quite looking forward to playing the next instalments of the series. So until next time people... ;)