Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments Reviews
Poor voice acting and obnoxious back tracking let it down – but this is still on the right side of the law as far as we're concerned.
I absolutely loved diving into the mind of Sherlock Holmes while playing this title. People who have read, watched, or played anything else from his world will no doubt find something familiar and enjoyable in Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments. My time as Holmes was extremely exciting, fun, and immersive, and I was impressed with how long it lasted. Every case had some new gameplay element introduced, like getting to play as Holmes' hound Toby to follow a scent trail. Each character was beautiful in detail, but not in animation, and each case elegantly came to an end while Holmes' life went on to the next one, and I was happy to be a part of each and every moment.
Evidently, Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments isn't about rights and wrongs so much as it is about interpretation and judgement. Being right all the time is a fitting tribute to Homes' monstrous ego, and it's also an interesting premise for a detective game - a more effective one than it might initially seem. However, the lack of character development and some lacklustre supporting players result in a feeling of detachment from a game that only excels if you are invested in it. That's a shame, because there was potential for Crimes and Punishments to be a truly great detective game, instead of just a mechanically sound one.
Crimes and Punishments is the best Sherlock has been, but it's just short of great
A confident reinvention, despite the obviously low budget.
Mini-games are hit-and-miss and frequent loading screens frustrate, but there's a lot to like about this latest series of detective adventures with some immersive cases and a decent production quality.
Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments is not without its issues, but it is loyal enough to its source material and the adventure genre to make it worth a look if you're a fan of either. Just don't expect any of the high-octane set pieces of the Robert Downey Jr films or the ingenuity of the Cumberbatch show.
For all the hard work it puts in, Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments deserves an audience, a big one, worthy of its time. Not only is its production a true spectacle, towering over many others, but its sophisticated gameplay elements are many, varied and rewarding to boot.
Overall Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments is a fitting title and if it weren't plagued with various problems like load times it would have been an even better title. It is a great crime thriller and if you are into that sort of game I would certainly recommend picking it up.
I realize that it's going to be hard to fit in yet another game into your hectic fall release schedule, but at least Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments can be broken up into manageable chunks in between your other gaming sessions. If you're a fan of Sherlock Holmes or mysteries in general, I can't recommend this one enough.
It's difficult to find a detective game where you can actually solve a mystery how you want to. In Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments the deduction board gives you this ability, which ultimately leads to a number of different conclusions to each case. You can also enjoy a great sense of satisfaction as you make a plot revelation. Visually, Sherlock Holmes is brilliant, from the detailed crime scenes to the realistic facial animations. The clunky gameplay, frustrating mini-games and inconsistent voice performances do detract from the overall experience though.
Each of the cases offers a unique and interesting story, and discovering what happened at each location is fascinating. While constantly pressing X to examine what seems like every object in a room becomes tedious it is easily offset by eureka moments that pop up every so often. The environments you explore are great but are unfortunately not helped by ropey visuals and a slew of technical issues. Perhaps Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments' greatest achievement is how guilty you feel when you punish an innocent person – even just being able to get it wrong is a superb idea.
Underneath some flaws and clunky controls, there's a very strong Sherlock Holmes game present in Crimes and Punishments. Those who can look past the issues will find enjoyable deduction based gameplay, but for others the problems might outweigh the strengths.
Overall, Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishment made an excellent addition to the Holmes Adventure games. The new modern approach really benefits the game as a whole, and the new engine brings out the best in the Holmes games that the others just couldn't convey. I would highly recommend this game to anybody who enjoys the Sherlock Holmes universe as well as to anyone who enjoys detective/mystery games as well.
So, so much effort has gone into this. But sadly, to little entertaining result.
Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments dazzles visually, but disappoints with murky conclusions to its cases.
This is clearly a game made by Holmes fans, for Holmes fans (although you don't have to have read the stories to enjoy it). Hopefully the game doesn't get lose in the holiday game release madness, because it would be great to see follow-up titles building upon all that this game does right.
While the narrative is a bit disconnected, Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments uses the short story framework to its benefit, keeping each of its cases focused on pure, thrilling detective work.
A cracking adventure game, possibly the best Sherlock Holmes game that Frogwares have given us thus far, Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments goes a long way to making players feel like we are are Holmes rather than simply playing a game about him. There are little niggles here and there, but frankly if you enjoy your detective mystery games, it would be criminal to overlook one of the best we've had in ages.