Customer Reviews

Sherlock Holmes: Nemesis

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Sherlock Holmes Nemesis is a truly enjoyable adventure. I found Nemesis to be much more enjoyable than the previous Sherlock Holmes Awakened. The menus and inventory are more user friendly, the story is much more believable, the graphics are excellent, making the overall experience much better.

There are some really well done places to explore here... the British National Museum, the National Gallery, Tower of London and Buckingham Palace. Each place is designed beautifully and is a real pleasure to explore, especially since this game is in a first person style 3D mode instead the standard adventure 2D.

The story is really intriguing too. Sherlock Holmes confronts Arsène Lupin, the gentleman-burglar made famous by the literature series penned by French writer Maurice Leblanc. The battle between Holmes and Lupin takes place in the late 19th century London. Lupin tries to steal paintings and other valuable items across England and Holmes must stop him.

The difficulty is a little high but that doesn't take away from how good the game is. In fact, I would find it hard to believe that most people could play this game without referring to a walkthrough. I used a walkthrough on the most difficult parts only and I still had a wonderful time with Nemesis. This is one of my favorite adventure titles.

Sherlock Holmes: Nemesis is a real challenge for clever gamers, but it is very hard, and I resorted to using a walkthrough (MaGtRo) because without it, I would not have gotten through the thing. If you miss one clue or item you're supposed to pick up, you're stymied. I was unable to pick up two items in the armory and it took me two hours of back tracking to figure out why: I had missed picking up an obscure picture of a family called Mac Adams in a previous location. Be forewarned, but not deterred!

Victorian London is marvelous from our comfortable armchairs even though the reality under the thick fogs was anything but romantic. Jack the Ripper was a dilettante compared to a modern serial killer such as Ted Bundy, but the Ripper is romantic in a chill, creepy way and the scream of one poor victim down there under the 1890's fog vibrates along the years -we hear it, we shudder, we are titillated. Victorian England- the perfect game milieu.

Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are the perfect Victorians as we see them, gentlemen: no swearing or vulgarisms. And the cat and mouse antagonism of Holmes and the arch-thief Arsene Lupin in this game is a highly intellectual rivalry. Lupin the Frenchman strives to bring England (and Sherlock Holmes) to their knees by stealing the five most important objects to England, without which she can't endure. You are treated to a merry romp through the National Gallery, the Tower of London, the British Museum, and of all places, Buckingham Palace. Actually, you may learn a lot about paintings, even what the ravens in the Tower eat (but I imagine we're getting our leg pulled a bit on that). The locations are splendidly done and you feel very much a part of them, you are there.

The voice acting is very good throughout, but in contrast to the backdrops, the human characters are rather jerky, rigid and not as expertly done as, say, the characters in any Nancy Drew game. Don't be deterred, please. Holmes and Watson are OK.

Sherlock Holmes: Nemesis is made in heaven for you if you love London, especially Victorian London and if you love Holmes and Watson. Many hours of enjoyment await you and the game is a great escape. The plot may be totally unrealistic and sometimes it gets downright silly, but that matters not one whit. What matters is, you're back in Victorian London, peering through the fog, hearing the clop-clop of horses' feet, helping Holmes save the British Empire.

Overall, a moderately enjoyable experience. The difficulty of this game is very high. The linkages between the clues and the storeyline were at best, extremely subtle. I found a good walkthrough and followed it as a tour guide. I became an observer instead of a slueth. It was a pleasent experience, but could have been more.

I like the storyline but some of the puzzles were tough and hard to figure out. I didn't get enough information to point me in the right direction without a walkthrough.Personally I didn't like the quiz. I think the game would have been better without it. The graphics were spectacular. I enjoyed the paintings and visiting the different locations around London. If you like Sherlock Holmes then you would like this game even if you have to use a walkthrough.

I wanted to love this game and I more or less enjoyed the prior adventure, Sherlock Holmes the Awakened. This particular adventure pits Holmes against a French master-thief, Arsene Lupin, who plans to regain the honor of his country by stealing a variety of English treasures.

The graphics are much as they were for the prior game but what is interesting is the detail given to the actual historic sights. I've been to the Tower of London and it was amusing to see it in the game modeled with great attention to the layout of the place. But the graphics are hardly crisp and the human characters a bit blocky.

The voice-actors for Holmes and Watson are well done and the game captures the 'feeling' of Holmes quite well. Other voice-actors tend to be stilted and at times remind me of people who don't speak English as their primary language. Lupin in particular just wasn't out-rraaaag-eously Frannnch as I wanted him to be.

Gameplay is downright frustrating. Searching for items and figuring out how they go together was enjoyable enough and gave you an excuse to roam. The puzzles on the other hand were designed for those interested in math. Adding, subtracting, multiplying, disguised in lengthy letters and clues is the game's idea of fun. Like so many other reviewers I resorted to the online walkthrough whenever I confronted a puzzle that stumped me for too long.

The game has potential but is far too scripted. There came a point where I KNEW where Lupin was, but of course I couldn't do anything about it. I think a better design would have been several cases with various ways of observing, questioning, and a few puzzles can lead Holmes to victory. Instead, like the Awakened, you are more or less watching a movie with so-so graphics, a half decent plot, and a predeliction for math.

Is the game worth buying?

Yes, but I'd not pay more than $20.00 for it. It has potential but doesn't deliver and instead you end up stuck doing math or getting motion sick because the game doesn't have the bobbing feature we all learned to love post-Castle Wolfenstien 3D and Doom. Why this game hasn't figured it out is beyond me.

So why buy? The whole plot is well done and the end is wrapped up quite nicely by Holmes explaining it in classic Holmesian fashion. I also think Holmes needs another breath of fresh air and this company has the right idea! They just need to shake the 'math is fun' and 'script is fun' aspect.

This game is less about logical problem solving and more about obscure puzzles and riddles, so obscure that a walkthrough is required. Requiring a walkthrough means that there's no satisfaction when you advance in the game, not to mention that's it's not fun to frequently switch between the game and your web browser.

The game also demonstrates too well the tediousness of Pixel Hunting in modern adventures. Instead of having to search a single 2D background for hot spots at each location like older games, newer pixel-hunting games require that (1) you pan 360 degrees horizontally and (2) pan 180 degrees vertically and (3) this game makes the problem worse than ever because you have to walk to every wall, corner, table, and footprint of each room and repeat these panning exercises.

And while moving around the rooms is generally good, all too often you'll walk too close to walls and have to back up to see things clearly.

The music is nice at first until you discover that each location has only one short piece of music that repeats over and over and never stops.

The two positive aspects of this game are (1) it's pretty stable (which is saying a lot for Frogware's games) and (2) you get to see some of London's landmarks in great detail. This aspect could have made this a great game if the rest of the gameplay wasn't so bad.

I played the first Sherlock Holmes:The Awakening, and enjoyed it, yes it was rather hard, since it was the first time I had played a game like this, but the challenge of it made it fun. I bought Nemesis and found it to be even better, the graphics are much better and the story is more interesting and easier to follow. It is challenging as well, but in this one the clues are easier to figure out and the overall pace is better. But I will say that the walkthrough is helpful, although I found out more than once if I just thought it out the answer was right there all along!

Some of the puzzles are quite obscure in their reasoning. Sheer luck, rather than Sherlock is required in many scenerios.

This was by far one of the most difficult games I've ever played. For that reason, it was also one of the greatest games I've ever played. The puzzles were genius and never repeated themselves. I had to use a walkthrough in a few cases, but tried my best not to because solving what seemed to be an impossible puzzle by myself created the real thrill of the game. After being stuck for over an hour, the discovery of one small clue that had been overlooked would create a thrill and set me on a new track. This game will test the extent of your skills in detection and deduction.

Great graphics, story line and puzzle complexity. The puzzels sequences can be quite long and involved.