I was able to get a heads-up on March's Games with Gold title as it was a game I managed to purchase last year (though in truth it first came out in 2014). For me the main draw was the Sherlock Holmes connection (whom I am a big fan of) and I can happily say that it offers wannabe detectives a chance to step into the shoes of the great fictional detective!
Another surprise is that the graphical quality is actually pretty good - thanks primarily to the use of the Unreal 3 engine. The latter certainly helps with the close-up shots of the - potential - suspect’s faces; whom you will need to scan in order to help solve the cases you are involved with.
In total there are 6 cases to sink your teeth into and while each one has a similar structure the cases are varied enough to be entertaining. In fact it took me 18 hours to complete them all; though this is mainly because you do have multiple endings/ways to solve each case, but I’ll touch base on this later.
Getting to grips
At the start you are introduced to Sherlock Holmes and his partner Doctor Watson and the first case you get involved in is relatively easy to solve (but enjoyable none the less), as it’s more of a training exercise to get you accustomed to how the game mechanics work.
However I must admit the voice actor used for Sherlock Holmes did not quite work for me. I can’t put my finger on it, but I think perhaps Doctor Watson and the rest of the supporting in-game cast suited their roles better. Thankfully this did not dampen my enjoyment of the game (too much).
Keeping Notes
From the off you are sent to investigate a murder, but you can explore your Baker street apartment first as it’s a place you will frequently visit during the sleuthing stages. It primarily houses your lab, archive and disguise room (Sherlock is famous for his many disguises) which comes into play later.
Once you arrive at the scene of the crime you can control your 3rd person character just like any other action style game i.e. use your left thumb-stick to move and the trigger to run. You can also interact with the environment via the right stick and use special techniques (by activating the bumper buttons) to help gather evidence.
This evidence is then stored in your casebook, which plays a key role. For example, alongside the clues it allows you to view past dialogue and quickly fast travel between locations; more will appear as the case unfolds.
The locations are also graphically pleasing, although you are still led down a set path so you won’t find a sandbox environment as such. Plus most of the clues are easy to spot because the cursor will chance to a magnifying glass signifying an object of interest.
However you will need to consult your casebook often because a lot of the places you visit do rely on returning to the scene of the original crime. Additionally the more clues you gather, the easier it will be - in future - to grill suspects....
Profiling
It’s here that you get to see the close-ups of the characters, because apart from the cut-scenes which depict the facial expressions, you also get chance to profile the people you interview/interrogate. This involves using your cursor to highlight key objects that are hidden/listed to the side; thus you need to find all of them to get a complete profile.
Without giving too much away, with the interview/interrogation style stages you need to look at the clues and also the completed profile of the suspect via your casebook. This will allow you to pick the correct response(s) that appear during the latter. However there does not seem to be any real penalties for not picking the correct response. Yet from what I can remember there may be an achievement that you can earn for getting a set number of responses correct, so it’s worth putting some thought into each answer.
I found the above element pretty fun to do and there are plenty of other breaks from the standard Q & A interviews/interrogations and exploration aspects....
Interactive Elements
By this I mean you have several interactive elements to tax your brain, such as putting on the correct disguises, unlocking items (tool boxes, safes), performing experiments (in the lab or out in the field) and even arm wrestling is possible! Later on in some cases you get to piece together events to build-up the murderers ‘Design’. Think of Will Graham from Hannibal as it’s sort of the same concept.
The puzzles, especially the experiments in later cases, can certainly be a challenge and even the aforementioned arm wrestling posses a fun, but challenging, aspect.
More importantly it helps keep the game interesting. Mind you in some ways you won’t get too frustrated with the puzzles as there is an opt-out option which will help you bypass them. My advice though (especially if you want to earn 100% in terms of achievements) is to stick with them.
Toing and Froing
The only drawback to preceding’s is that you constantly have to go backwards and forwards between locations and this does get a touch annoying; especially as you have relatively long loading times in-between. In fairness these loading times are not as noticeable because the developers have at least allowed you to interact with your casebook or piece together clues while you are waiting....
Piecing the clues together
Speaking of which, the latter feature comes into play when you have started to gather a certain amount of clues. You will suddenly get a visual prompt appear at the top right of the screen. After pressing ‘Y’ you can select two clues to form a connection.
This connection is visually shown on-screen as a brain synapses and what’s cool here is that as the case unfolds these patterns/clues can also lead to further brain synapses being formed; until eventually you can come to a conclusion as to who did the crime and how you want to punish them!
Condemn or Absolve
The options here are to 'Condemn' or 'Absolve'; though whatever option you choose it will usually involve interactive timed elements.
At the end, once the above plays out, you are able to review/confirm your decision or go back before it was made to pick another choice i.e by re-piecing the clues together in a different way. I really enjoyed this aspect.
Alternatively it’s here that another option appears allowing you to effectively cheat and see if your conclusion was correct.
In some ways this option seems a get-out clause, but my advice would be to go back into the game and keep experimenting by piecing the clues together (as you can create different out-comes). This will of course increase the replay value and it will also help earn you the 100G achievement if you get all the outcomes!
Summary
Despite its niggles I can definitely recommend downloading Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments as it allows you to walk in the shoes of one of the greatest fictional detectives of all time! So if you missed it the first time around definitely give this a go, as even if you are not a true fan of the genre it provides enough entertainment/replay value to warrant your time/consideration – especially for free this month!