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Jenni Lada brings us information about all of the groovy new gaming imports from around the world.
Jenni Lada brings us information about all of the groovy new gaming imports from around the world.
Someone is killing prostitutes in a rather gruesome manner, slitting their throats and disemboweling them. Who would do such a horrible thing? Jack the Ripper, that’s who. As the infamous Sherlock Holmes and his trusted companion Watson, you have to figure out the true identity of the Ripper and stop him from killing his next victim.
Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper is the Adventure Company’s newest release, available for the PC. As with all their games, it’s a search and find adventure where you play as both Holmes and Watson. At different points in the game, you play as the two and find clues and witnesses. You also can talk to witnesses and piece together clues to decide what really happened.
Lets get cracking!
The game isn’t all about, “Find this item and figure out what the heck it’s for!” In fact, most of the time when you find something, you already know what it is and what it does, which is nice. There is nothing worse then spending two hours trying to find a use for an item, only to find out it was completely obvious. Also by hitting space bar, you can see everything you can click on or interact with, which takes away from the annoying ‘pixel searching.’
There are a lot of fun deduction/clue games in this; for instance, you can find a ripped up piece of paper and put it back together via jigsaw puzzles, or you have to open a locked suitcase with a twisting puzzle. Also when you find the victim, you search the body and area to get clues, you have to piece together all the clues to come up with a conclusion. You also have to piece together motives, and other things in fun mini games.
It’s a nice change to play as Watson as well as Holmes. Holmes is trying to stay low key so the general public doesn’t worry to much. As you may know, Watson is a medical dr. so he has skills that Holmes might not have. Most of the you just find and question witnesses and suspects, then report back to Holmes for deduction. You also get to reenact some of the murders, using poor Watson as the victim. Watson really gets the raw end of the deal in most cases.
Not all cases go so smoothly
When moving around in the game, you can either go in 3rd or 1st person view. It’s quicker and easier to walk around in 1st person, but it’s harder to talk to people or click on objects. On the other side, it’s easier to do things in 3rd person, but walking is annoying, since you click where you want to go, and sometimes Holmes thinks you are pointing somewhere else, and could wedge himself between a wall.
Another slightly annoying thing is the fact that in order for people to help you, you have to help them first, no one is willing to just give out information. For example, you go to talk to one witness about what he saw, but he is only willing to give out his information if you first get rid of this drifter that who sleeping at his boarding house and scaring the customers.
These side missions can be fun at times, but sometimes you want to just get to the point and finish this section of the game. Not to mention that sometimes it’s really hard to find these people since no clues are given. In fact most of the time all you know is “he hangs out near the clinic” but if you don’t know where the clinic is, then you have to search for that first.
There are subtitles throughout the game as well as speech, sometimes the subtitles don’t match what is said. This is just a minor thing, but I found it kind of funny, as if people who created the subtitles where only half listening. It also gives you a little added fun when listening to the long dialogue.
Elementary, my dear Watson!
I really enjoyed this game, it’s rather long, so I haven’t finished it yet and don’t know if you ever find out who the Ripper really is, but I am excited to find out! Despite the sometimes hard puzzles and unnecessary side missions, it keeps you entertained and wanting to play on.
You almost look forward to the next murder because it gives you the opportunity to search the victim and figure out the Rippers motives.
Anyone who is a fan of the Sherlock Holmes’ books, or even the Jack the Ripper case will enjoy this game. Even if you are new to both but a fan of adventure games, check out this series.
Site [The Adventure Company] Read [IGN]
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