Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments Reviews
I am a big fan of Sherlock Holmes. I’ve not read anywhere near enough of his stories. However, a good friend of mine is the author of a fantastic series of Holmes novellas, which I have devoured with gusto. When the opportunity to review Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments came along, I was all too eager to grab my hunting cap and pipe and dive into his caseload.
Despite the nagging feeling that the game's mechanics are held up by a certain amount of smoke and mirrors, there's more than enough substance here to hold your attention for the fifteen to eighteen hours it takes to finish the game.
Overall Crimes and Punishments serves as a deliberate, well put together mystery game. It serves as a great change of pace from the shooters and action fodder out there now and that will undoubtedly follow in the coming months. Unfortunately, lack of a cohesive story, feeling of being on a set, and the overall vapid nature of those sets lead the game to a somewhat boring end.
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.
Worth a playthrough. The cases are fun and engaging, even if they don't all pan out in the clearest endings. Could use more work to stand out though.
[C]lunky controls, frequent and time consuming travels between areas and the ability to literally skip through all of the challenging sections are real setbacks to what could have otherwise been a very enjoyable game.
Undoubtedly one of the most well-known literary figures of all time, the name Sherlock Holmes carries some clout with it, though over time it doesn't feel like the game world has done him much justice...
Crimes & Punishments is one of the better, if not the best, Sherlock games out there, and if that's not saying much to you, it's also one of the better investigation-style games. The balance and variation of gameplay should be applauded. The developers are definitely onto something here.
There is no doubt that Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments will be a sleeper hit and will find its audience, but for anyone who would enjoy a procedural crime investigating game, this title comes highly recommended. By far one of the more interesting adventure games to have come out in years.
While an excellent step in the right direction and a guaranteed hit among fans, the layperson may find too many faults to enjoy the experience extensively.
This latest puzzling offering is more than elementary then, we'd say. Multiple cases presented well (ignoring the loading issues) all with a variety of possible outcomes which can be achieved using various tools and the power of your own deduction. You do get to feel like Holmes if we're honest; searching for the evidence, logical reasoning and grand espousing - it's very Conan Doyle. The fact it can all be played in bursts or short sessions given we're looking at discrete cases, and the way the game gives feedback on your choices compared to the reality of the situation - and compared to other gamers - adds to the experience the same way similar feedback does in many interactive novel games around at the moment. Ultimately Sherlock's alright - not much more, but alright might be all you need in the quiet autumn evenings.
Sherlock Holmes: Crimes And Punishments is a perfect example of only being able to recommend something to either fans of the source material or of the genre of games. It's neither amazing nor terrible, but will satisfy anyone interested.
Over the last decade, Frogwares has been steadily eliminating the impossibly bad elements from their games, and what remains is the closest anyone's ever come to an authentic Baker Street experience.
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.
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.
A confident reinvention, despite the obviously low budget.
This is a game that will make you think and it will show you lots of pretty pictures and scenery whilst doing it. Unfortunately, the combination of all the technical issues makes Crimes and Punishments an imperfect game. However it is still a playable and thoroughly enjoyable imperfect game.
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.
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.
At the end of a case, the player is given a rating, either highlighting their compassion or their steely sense of justice. They're also given a breakdown as to how other players resolved the case and the option to find out if they identified the right suspect. Your enjoyment of Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments will depend on whether you want to be guided on a series of baffling murders or have the great detective be fallible.