Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments is the latest release from Focus Home Interactive and Frogwares for the PS3, PS4, Xbox One, Xbox 360 and PC. However, this time around, the control of the investigation as been placed entirely in the hands of the player with the ability to decide whom to interrogate, what clues to collect and much more. Are you ready to start your investigation and solve the case? Read on to learn more.
The
Sherlock Holmes game series has featured over six investigation games since its initial release on PC in the early 2000s and has since evolved from a point-and-click adventure to a full-fledged 3rd person mystery game. Sherlock Holmes was a fictional character created in 1887 by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle as a private detective with amazing skills. Holmes quickly became a popular character who has since been adapted in various stories and novels to eventually becoming an iconic video game character in modern times. Sherlock Holmes is renowned for his amazing talents which allow him to observe aspects of the crime scene that most individuals may overlook. Holmes has the ability to spot clues that may be hidden to the untrained eye and then use his amazing powers of deduction to get into the mind of the suspect, and figure out not only the suspect's motives, but where to search next. An intriguing new concept in
Crimes and Punishments is the ability to literally get inside the head of Sherlock Holmes and figure out how his mind works. Players will have the ability to step into Holmes' brain and make synaptic connections between his grey cells which represent all of the information he has gathered and combine the clues at hand to reach educated deductions to solve the case. Once you have named the bad guy, then it is up to you to dish out his punishment and decide what happens next.
Crimes and Punishments is on an entirely new level when it comes to gaming due to the high degree of immersiveness and realism presented throughout the entire story.
Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments features advanced gameplay mechanics that revolve around the ability to gather clues and information through various investigation techniques such as interrogating suspects.
Crimes and Punishments now puts 14 investigation mechanics into the hands of the player for the full Sherlock Holmes experience. Once you arrive at the next possible clue, players only have a few seconds to connect the clues and make an educated hypothesis on what to do next.
Crimes and Punishments utilizes Epic Unreal Engine 3 to produce richer and more detailed environments this time around by creating a more polished presentation and smoother animations. Not only does the game look better but it actually plays better than ever before!
Crimes and Punishments is a investigation game in the truest sense of the word, because this time around you are Sherlock Holmes. Players will enter a beautifully detailed world full of complex characters that bring the exquisite story to life before your very eyes. Every detail in
Crimes and Punishments is important no matter how small and insignificant it may appear at first glance. The stories available in the game are guided by the evidence you collect along the way which can veer off into multiple endings for all six cases with up to nine per case. The amount of replayability in
Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments is incredibly high and this is definitely one game were you get your money's worth.
The game starts out with three cases with the player being responsible for finding the guilty party by how they put their clues together. In some aspects, you can not move to the next task until you have found a certain piece of evidence, which can get frustrating and overwhelming for some players who find themselves stuck on a certain clue. The basics of the game may take some getting use to and players should practice and learn these early on. The first case that Sherlock Holmes must solve is that of "The Fate of Black Peter." Players will have a case book that tells them the case they are currently working on and the tasks they must complete to further their investigation. In this same case book, players will find a map of the city, profiles of the victims, documents, dialogues with other characters, souvenirs, echoes and character portraits. If you get stuck, then always go back to your case book and review the information gathered so far in order to see how you might proceed.
The camera angles in
Crimes and Punishments are simply superb and the player can switch between 1st person and 3rd person by simply pressing "B". The great camera controls throughout the game really help in the immersion and let you take in everything that the game has to offer. The best part of
Crimes and Punishments is the ability to interact and examine everything in your environment which makes the story more intriguing and fun. For example, you start the game off in the office of Sherlock Holmes with a telescope looking out into the city streets. Upon looking into the telescope, you will see that it points directly into the window of a rather big boned lady who has some massive cleavage going on. Your thoughts will run wild with each new piece of information--is Holmes secretly a pervert with a thing for larger women? You never know how this can relate to the story and this is the amazing intrigue of
Crimes and Punishments. Once you have examined everything in the office then you can move on to the bedroom where Holmes keeps all of his amazing disguises which are very important throughout the story.
Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments revolves around examining everything in the story such as the items in the environment and of course the people. There are even times when you will be able to challenge what a character says through a Quick Time Events alongside the ability to even see through Sherlock Holmes eyes with the "Eye" icon to examine clues in more detail. While there will be many items within your environments, not all of them are relevant to the story or case. There are several side-activities throughout the game that allow you to solve complex and fun puzzles throughout your adventures. Once you have gathered all of the clues around you then you will access the deduction space to match clues together and create a node in the brain of Sherlock Holmes. After all of the clues are gathered and you think you have your suspect, then you will be given the opportunity to condemn or absolve your suspect. The choices you make here will ultimately impact the conclusion of the game because you can punish the wrong suspect or change your character completely by absolving a guilty party. Once you have completed all of your decisions and come to a conclusion, then you will be shown a screen with your score percentage and have the chance to replay the case if you so desire.
In the end,
Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments is a great game that not only has an amazing presentation but intriguing story, complex characters and fun gameplay mechanics to boot. The visuals and sound are superb and really bring the entire story together while fully immersing the player in the dark world of Sherlock Holmes. If you have been looking for a fun investigation game then look no further then
Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments!
Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments is now available from all major retailers
and can be purchased for PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One, Xbox
360, and PC.
Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments is rated M for Mature by the ESRB. For more information on the game, check out the official
Sherlock Holmes: Crimes and Punishments website.
Game Features:
- Single Player
- Play as Sherlock Holmes
- 14 Gameplay Mechanics Available
- Achievement/Trophy Support
Game Information:
Publisher:
Focus Home Interactive
Developer:
Frogwares
Distributor:
Maximum Games
Platforms: PlayStation 4, PlayStation 3, Xbox One (reviewed), Xbox 360, and PC
Release Date: September 30, 2014
Score: 9 out of 10
