| Sherlock Holmes series | |
|---|---|
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes series logo used since mid-2007 |
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| Genres | Adventure, open world |
| Developers | Frogwares |
| Publishers | Focus Home Interactive |
| Creators | Jalil Amr |
| Platforms | Microsoft Windows Nintendo DS PlayStation 3 Wii Xbox 360 |
| Platform of origin | Microsoft Windows |
| Year of inception | 2002 |
| First release | Sherlock Holmes: Mystery of the Mummy 2002 |
| Latest release | The Testament of Sherlock Holmes 2012 |
| Official website | www.sherlockholmes-thegame.com |
Adventures of Sherlock Holmes series is a series of adventure games, developed by Frogwares, and based on Arthur Conan Doyle's famous work The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, featuring the famous detective Sherlock Holmes and his companion Dr. John H. Watson. While the franchise is based on the The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and is inspired by it, each game has a fictional plot and storyline.[1]
Each game in the series lets you control Holmes or Doctor Watson in either first-person or third-person perspective. This adventure game series mainly consists of puzzles to solve during the course of the game, including a couple of combination door locks, a devilish clock conundrum that must be solved to open a safe, a few extraordinarily tough ciphers, and even one challenge to draw the bloody pentagram that serves as the sign of Lovecraft's Great Old Ones. Holmes must also take evidence back to labs (both in his famous flat at 221 B Baker St. and elsewhere) and examine it under a microscope or cook it up with other solvents in a mechanical contraption to separate the elements. You can also use a scalpel or tweezers just right on a piece of evidence slabbed under the microscope.
The series takes Holmes to other places like New Orleans, Switzerland, Scotland and others. Although some games are not considered in the action genre, games like Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened provides slow step stealth, and based on the new screenshots, The Testament Of Sherlock Holmes is too.[2]
Originally developed for the Microsoft Windows, the series first began in September 2002 with Sherlock Holmes: Mystery of the Mummy, which featured a first-person perspective and followed Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson investigating the mansion of a British archaeologist.[3] The game was resurrected and expanded for the Nintendo DS[4] and for the Wii[5] all using DS's stylus and the Wii-mote in solving puzzles.
The second game in the series, Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Silver Earring, followed in October 2004, which featured a third-person perspective. The plotline features Holmes and Watson investigating the murder of a construction tycoon, Sir Melvyn Bromsby, with his daughter, Lavinia, among the suspects.[6]
The third game in the series, Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened, was released on November 24, 2006, and features a new, first-person perspective. The game follows an original plotline as Holmes and Dr. Watson investigate a series of strange disappearances related to the Cthulhu Mythos.[7] The first among the series to feature supernatural elements such as the Mythos, the game was critically acclaimed in reviews by numerous sources, including Gamespot, which gave the game a rating of 8.3 out of 10, praising the game for its storyline and stating that it was told "brilliantly" and calling it "Cthulhu-infused Victoriana".[8] A remastered version was released in 2008 that offers a third-person perspective playing mode in addition to the first-person perspective. This game won Gamespot's Best Use Of A License and has been critically acclaimed and a great impact on Frogwares.
The fourth game in the series, Sherlock Holmes versus Arsène Lupin, was released in the third quarter of 2007.[9] The game's antagonist is Arsène Lupin, a fictional gentleman thief created by French writer Maurice Leblanc. The game begins at Holmes' residence at 221b Baker Street in London, where Holmes is playing his violin while Dr. Watson asks him what is troubling him. Among the mail scattered on the table, they find a letter from Lupin challenging Holmes to save England from shame by stopping him from stealing five things of great value to the country. The game consists of poems, puzzles and tasks that takes Holmes from one clue to another.
In late 2008, a fifth installment was announced; Sherlock Holmes versus Jack the Ripper was released in March 2009 and had Sherlock Holmes against the infamous serial killer Jack the Ripper.
The game is the first in the series to be made and published for the Nintendo DS. Where Holmes finds a deep robbery and conspiracy in the Buckingham Palace.
In September 2009 there were rumors for the sixth instalment. The game, titled The Testament Of Sherlock Holmes and announced in April 2010, will be the first in the series to be specifically designed for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Microsoft Windows, and is set for release in Q1 2012.[10]
The game sees Holmes as a consulting detective. Where local police force and Scotland Yard seeks Holmes's help in solving their cold case files. Civilians (mostly gentlemen and aristocrats) also plead help from Holmes.
Games in the series also pits Holmes against other works, fictional character and a real-life madman. Chthulhu in The Awakened, Arsene Lupin in Nemesis, and Jack the Ripper in the fifth installment.
In the game Testament of Sherlock Holmes we see Holmes as losing London's trust, and implies city-survival skills themes seen in Splinter Cell Conviction and The Bourne Identity. Holmes now relies heavily on rumors, and must take any clues while evading enemies's eyes. He also uses blackmail, interrogation, and infiltration of other investigations.
Throughout the game Holmes uses his magnifying glass. Useful when he inspects crime scenes, mutilated bodies, fingerprints, gashes and scratches, and mostly for finding evidence. It is the only item used and appeared mostly in the series.
He also uses his 1850 microscope in checking clues unseen by the naked eye. He has a wide arrange of chemistry set in his flat which he uses to dissolve solute, dissect clues and find evidence.
In the first game Sherlock Holmes: Mystery of the Mummy was the first to establsh the first-person gameplay.
Sherlock Holmes: The Case of the Silver Earring is a point-and-click (mouse-controlled) third person adventure, first one to establish this gameplay in the series. Clicking in the general direction you wish to go will usually cause your character to move in that direction. As Holmes, you spend time searching for important clues, most of which the bumbling police force will miss. Items are at least partly visible, though some don’t become “hot” until an action in the game triggers them. You also analyze various clues using Holmes’s desktop laboratory.
The Awakened was the first Frogwares title to allow gameplay to take place in an entirely real-time 3D landscape and from a first-person perspective, losing the pre-rendered backgrounds of its predecessor.Like other Sherlock Holmes games by Frogwares it gives an open world environment in every location that can hide clues and interact with NPC. The inventory system saves all objects, documents and map locations for later use and can also be used to combine objects. The game can viewed from a first or third person perspective and it provides you with an icon to indicate what actions Holmes can take within his world like pick up or talk.
Sherlock Holmes versus Jack the Ripper lets players inspects each crime scene also lets you reconstruct what happened, taking the pieces of evidence and linking them together until you can form conclusions.
The characters of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson in the game series are modeled upon the ITV series The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes and the portrayals by Jeremy Brett and David Burke, respectively.[11][12]
Early games in the series uses pre-rendered backgrounds, using it to hide clues in the scene and provide accessible open world landscape. It features a combination of 2D and 3D style of view in the background.[13]
The Awakened was the first Frogwares title to allow gameplay to take place in an entirely real-time 3D landscape and from a first-person perspective. Giving a more bloody crime scene and harder to find evidences. Frogwares made a big deal in making the 3D graphics spawn greatly without the normal excessive pixilation that haunted many Adventure game.[14]It is the first game to feature a crime scene as a gory carnage in every murder scene. And for that it was rated M for mature.
All this is mixed with a lush presentation of the 19th century London with a darker lighting effects and graphics depicting the lonely alleyways and mysteries of every crime scene. The graphics quality has improved sharply since every last game. Animation in particular is becoming more smoother and much more natural-looking. The third-person camera can also be moved around the character independently, which helps both to find an angle you're comfortable with and to take in your surroundings while standing still.[15]
These upgrades are part of a broader move to attract more console players. After the last game, Frogwares and French publisher Focus Home Interactive got feedback from Xbox players in particular that they wanted more adventure games with 3D graphics and production values to match what other genres are offering. And Frogwares are eager to deliver, though the developers still insists this does not mean forgetting about PC players, as some already speculate.[16]
Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper used drawings to depict its murder victims, hiding the full horror of the scenes out of respect for the real historical victims. The new games in the series now isn't like that (specifically The Testament Of Sherlock Holmes). As the characters here are purely fictional, there is no restraint in showing this gory scene in its full glory.[15]
The games were a commercial success. Dubbed as "Best Selling Adventure Game For The PC".[17]But Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened was the most successful Holmes game to date. Acclaimed by both critics and consumers. It was also nominated IGN's "Best PC Adventure Game of 2007".[18]
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