Sherlock Holmes: Crimes & Punishments (2014)

Просто, но мне понравилось.

Если разбирать «Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments» на элементы, то она рассыпается: головоломки и мини-игры слишком простые (и их можно пропускать), в допросах нельзя ошибиться, а загрузки между локациями безумно раздражают.

Но каким-то образом, несмотря на все недостатки, почувствовать себя Шерлоком в этой игре очень легко. В этом её главное достоинство. Не все шесть дел (не связанных между собой) интересны. Но система «дедукции», когда найденные улики и факты нужно связывать в цепочки умозаключений, и на их основе обвинять подозреваемых — хороша. Ошибиться, кажется, можно только в двух делах, но всё равно — захватывает.

Графоуни, озвучка и прочее — норм. Так что это, по-моему, лучший способ почувствовать себя детективом.

I'm impressed by how many cases are in here! There's a ton of content. Just now beginning the final case. The controls are kind of rough, some of the puzzles are tedious, and occasionally the solution to something is obvious but you can't do it until you satisfy a series of steps that might have made sense to the game's creators but don't feel obvious to me.

Like at one point we found ropes, hooks, and a crossbow, plus two different diagrams in the area depicting using the crossbow to fire like a grappling hook to form a bridge over the water. But we weren't allowed to even pick up the items until the story specifically brought up a bridge. But we STILL can't assemble the grappling hook (in the workshop) until we first go to the river and look at where we want the bridge to be, at which point Holmes is like "AH-HA WE SHOULD BUILD A GRAPPLING HOOK" -_- no shit sherlock (lmao)

I get that they wanted to prevent players from crossing the river too soon in the story, but it could have been better achieved by, say, withholding the diagrams until they became relevant and we find them as part of the case. I wouldn't have assumed I even needed to cross the river if there wasn't a huge sign next to it of someone using a grappling hook to get across lmao.

Still this a fun little mystery, adventure, puzzle-solving game, and I never got so stuck I needed to resort to a walkthrough or anything. (There's also a handy skip button that pops up after a while in case some tedious puzzle is really just taking too long, and it doesn't penalize you for using it, which I super appreciate. I mostly used it for things like "wipe away all the grime from this painting")

Admittedly, I only played this game for less than an hour, due to the fact I just didn’t like the games mechanics. Personally, I found the game much too easy and obvious for my liking. I quickly became bored by walking around and clicking the same buttons multiple times or being told what to do next. I didn’t actually have to put any thought or effort into the game. So I couldn’t really relate to anything I was doing.

I did give this game a honest try though, because it’s obvious that effort was put into it’s making. It was detail-oriented and there was a story there to be discovered. I just couldn’t be bothered. I didn’t feel invested enough to carry on.

This was a game I discovered recently by coincidence. It's great to see a modern Sherlock Holmes game that isn't solely a "hidden object" game. It reminds me more of the style of LA Noire, a game I immensely enjoyed, and seeing as there likely won't be an LA Noire 2, this game series scratches that itch.

To continue the comparison, this game is no where as difficult as LA Noire. All the mysteries are intriguing, but the trains of thought are simple enough that you are never unsure what the game is asking from you. I felt the "Vanishing Train" was the most unpredictable, and best, mystery. If you do happen to fail a challenge or make a wrong guess, there's no real in-game punishment. While it does neuter the challenge, it makes the mysteries more fun as you aren't constantly worried about guessing wrong & having to reload the save.

The whole "deduction" gameplay was a neat feature. It allowed you to work out the clues and organize them in Sherlock's head to piece together the possibilities of how the crime played out.
The late 1890s London atmosphere was well done, most of the locations and people made you feel like you were in turn of the century England. Sherlock and Watson are both well acted and they stay pretty true to the original source material, even passing reference of Sherlock's coke habit.

Unfortunately this game is mercilessly short with only 5 cases to solve vs. the 20-25 in LA Noire. All around, this game is relatively simple, not a lot of frills. The graphics are passable, the levels are small, and the music is okay.

I was surprised there was not even a vague mention of Holmes mainstay, Moriarty anywhere in the game and I was upset you could only wear the typical Sherlock hat in only one case.