Customer Reviews

The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I am a fan of the Sherlok Holmes TV show and try to purchase any & all Holmes PC games. [The same for Agatha Christie.] The package consists of 16 books/stories [puzzles]. Each puzzle consists of dialog, searching for hidden objects and choosing the culprit. All 16 follow the SAME pattern. The puzzles are also timed [~30 min.] As expected there is an increase in "difficulty" as you progress. I do not know if the story line really helps in solving the mystery for I usually skip it to stay with the hunt.

the mechanics of the game(s) are well done. The puzzle REPETITION is truly the limiting factor for a this game.

I'm a big Sherlock Holmes fan, and I love video games. I've never been the type to play casual games, and this game is definitely that: a casual game. Take 15-20, play a case, walk away. No investment at all.

Each case starts with a little introduction from the characters (voice acting is alright, not the best, could be worse), and from there you go to a location in London where a crime was committed. Each crime scene consists of the same 2 elements: a "compare this scene with the one from the day before," where you find things in one half of the screen that are different from the same scene on the other half. Imagine the back of a Highlights magazine, and there it is. The next element is a "find these items in this scene," where you have to find everything listed on the side of the screen in the room you are looking at. Hunt and peck, pixel hunt, find the four scraps of paper, or three lock-picking tools, etc. Within those activities, you might find a little puzzle, such as putting together some scraps of paper that were torn up to see what the note says, or putting broken gems back into a cats collar.

Once you finish these screens, you go back to Baker Street and play a game of sorting the suspects (sort of like the game Guess Who?, you sort the characters according to characteristics like beards, glasses, etc) and then play a small game of memory to reveal the culprit.

There is no problem solving, there is no note taking, there is no thought whatsoever. The crime is solved by your 5th grade puzzle solving techniques, and that is that. Once you finish, Holmes explains the crime, and that is that.

It's a fun little game to kill some time, but don't expect to wrack your brain over a case, but do expect some eye strain: trying to find those items can mean lots of time with your face inches from your computer screen squinting.

I first entered my review three days ago (below the line). I'd like to add to it, and I'm adding a positive note. I've found the replay value of the game much more fun than I did three days ago. That's because the position of stuff to find does change each time, and I am not bettering my score by much each time. The little puzzles within each turn stay the same each time, though. The puzzles at the end of each case also change positions, etc., so that sometimes I do worse on them than I did the prior time! In other words, the replay is still a lot of fun. Though it doesn't take that much time to get all the way through all 20 cases, there's enough change each try that replay is still fun.

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This game is fun, but I do regret paying $20 for it as it barely lasted two days for playing all the way through! All but one of the mini-games are very easy for an adult.

It is a good game for just relaxing, though, because search-and-find games don't need computation powers, etc. I rated it a FIVE for fun and a FOUR overall - that is, what I would call average overall. Another reviewer recommended another series with more levels, and I think I'll try that next.

That said, I do want to mention that you can challenge yourself in this game to better your time and overall score - so it is good for replay in that way. You get bonus points for this or that, and you get points deducted for this or that. Plus you are timed. So there are several ways to improve your overall scoring in the game. I retried one of the 20 games, as I had gotten stuck finding one item the first time. The second time through, a few of the items to be found changed, so I still had to "work"!

Am big Holmes fan. Have most books and games about him. This PC mystery game has great story-telling. Cases are pretty intricate. Solving of them a little redundant. Sharp eyesight is required because bulk of play deals with finding hidden items on the screen. Moderate replay value because locations do change. Fun on the whole. EH

I recently purchased The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes and loaded it on my iMac which is running Snow Leopard, the latest Apple operating system. The application loaded just fine but it will not run. When I reached out to Legacy Interactive they responded with "The software is an older title, and is not supported in Snow leopard." This is really lame.

Maybe it's my age [...] or bad eyes but I have a terrible time getting thru the levels in the allotted 25 minutes. The first level was the only one I did it in. I keep repeating the long sections and getting very frustrated. Finally just gave up.

I've been enjoying the game very much. Did have to go get a patch from the web to help it run. That was the only hitch. Probably would be a good idea to add a note

that such action may be necessary in future sales.

You might need to get a patch from Legacy games to play it on your pc.I had to on vista.

I always enjoy playing hidden object games and this game is alright. I like the magnifing glass feature and it is nice that there are some puzzles that need to be solved so it isn't just hidden objects. All in all I am pleased with this purchase.

I really enjoy the game, and am now looking forward to the fall release of Mortimer! This seller is prompt and a very good sale.