Sherlock Holmes has always been a popular character in media - there’s been a tonne of film and television adaptations of Arthur Conan Doyle’s famous “consulting detective.” Video games though - that’s not somewhere you often see Mister Holmes.
Enter “Crimes & Punishments,” the newest in a relatively unknown line of Sherlock games from independent developer Frogwares. You play as the man himself, solving six different mysteries in late 19th century London. So how well does Sherlock translate to a video game?
THE GOOD
If you’ve had and previous experience with Doctor Holmes, you’re bound to recognize something here. Sherlock and Watson’s characters draw inspiration from multiple versions of the lore. They’re not totally faithful to the books, or the 1940s pipe and hat Sherlock, or the current TV version played by Benedict Cumberbatch. Think of them as “Sherlock Holmes and Doctor John Watson: Greatest Hits.” The “day in the life” cutscenes are always fun in a dry British humor way, especially if Mycroft is involved.
For an indie game, the graphics are rather impressive - the world won’t wow you like [who makes?] Destiny, but this isn’t a big budget game. The graphical focus is instead place on Sherlock’s interview subjects. The detail during conversations is fantastic - the lighting and contouring are movie-quality, and then mouth and chin movements are eerily human,
Now during these interviews, Sherlock gets to flex his “persona observation” skill. Time slows to a crawl while you, in Holmes’s shoes, search for tidbits of character-defining information in the subjects’ appearances. This basically mimics the same ability seen in movie and television versions of the detective, but the slower pace here is smart; it keeps things simple. Imagine having to figure these same things out in a span of two seconds with timed button presses.
Sherlock’s got some of his other cool trademark skills, too. His focus ability highlights easily overlooked evidence and his imagination skills allow him to reconstruct events or items that would otherwise baffle the people around him - it’s a good homage to other modern Sherlock interpretations, and it helps avoid the biggest problem with most click and point adventures -- figuring out what the things you gather actually mean.
With that said, the main focus of the game is still the characters you interview. They’re generally fascinating and well-voiced. They’re complete with idiosyncrasies (which Sherlock quickly notes in his profiles), and they’ve got varying accents, personalities, and believable background, though none of them stick around long enough to offer much in the way of development. But, that’s how it should be in short, mission-based game like this.
Though, despite being only six cases long, this isn’t something you’ll breeze through. It’s designed to make you think - and it lets you draw your own conclusions. Evidence you gather can lead to different case theories - most of which are incorrect, of course. Still, you can go forward with these decisions and live with making the “wrong” choice - you’re not directly guided to the “correct” choice, or set on one ultimate path.
THE BAD
There’s no hiding this: Crimes & Punishments has a few technical issues.
There’s invisible walls. EVERYWHERE. There aren’t that many areas in the game, so you’d think you’d get to walk around them pretty freely in this day and age...but nope. Patches of grass are inexplicably off-limits. Invisible walls are okay when they’re used to section off areas you’re OBVIOUSLY not supposed to go...but when you’re looking for clues or the next step
