The Testament of Sherlock Holmes
Reviewed By Luke "Lukaz" Withoos
Warning: this review could be considered quite graphic in parts and may be somewhat disconcerting to some readers.
After spending the last few days playing The Testament of Sherlock Holmes, I can safely say that I have had enough time playing this game to understand its true potential. I like to start my reviews with some anecdotal history about the title, so let's start there.
Sherlock Holmes is a character created by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle; a writer from the late 19th century. His tales have lasted over a century; with different tales being told each time. The most prevalent recent iteration in modern day is the film in 2009 featuring Robert Downey Jr as Sherlock Holmes. As I am sure you understand, this film and its sequel were quite humorous and resulted in box office hits.
All iterations of Holmes have the same premise; Holmes is an investigator outside of the law that has a brilliant deductive mind. In many iterations, he is hired by the police to investigate crimes as a consultant and he is accompanied by his faithful friend, assistant and biographer, Dr. John H Watson.
The tales of Holmes are well respected by the writing community and are seen through rose-coloured glasses by many. I must admit that I am one of these people.
Rose-coloured glasses removed, I can only see The Testament of Sherlock Holmes for what it is; a disappointment to the successful 'Sherlock Holmes" brand.
Set in 1888, Holmes and Watson investigate cases that Holmes seems to have planned for the two of them without Watson's knowledge. The clothing is relevant to the historical timeframe and the believability of the cases makes the story plausible. Well, plausible for a gore film made in our current time like SAW; a Tarantino film; or even a snuff film; not something set in the late 19th century.
Why start suggesting this straight away? Well, that is how the story starts really. Aside from the 'training mission' to learn the controls, the true case involves the murder of a bishop in his chambers in a London church. But it's not a simple murder.
The bishop wasn't shot, stabbed, pushed down the stairs, or hit by a horse and cart that plowed through the chamber wall. The bishop was mutilated. His chest repeatedly cut with a scalpel, his fingers smashed and stuck at odd angles, burn marks all over his legs, with flesh from his arms literally chewed off. This graphic image is what greeted me the moment I opened the door to this crime scene. (That and the shady-looking priest hanging around).
To top things off, the bishop self-flagellated using a whip and a spiked belt as recompense for things that he had done. His body was already horribly scarred without this other torture (Some twisted stuff was going on).
I am sure many would agree that this graphic representation is somewhat extreme, but at least they put effort into something. The same can't be said about other aspects as there are very few redeeming qualities about this title.
I never like to write reviews that tear apart a game, but this time, I can't help but see the flaws in Sherlock Holmes; there are just too many.
The Sims 2 is a game that was released by Maxis approximately 8 years ago. This title was great for it's time; but it has not aged well. With The Testament of Sherlock Holmes using a graphic engine that compares to The Sims 2, this brand new title looks like it has aged just by opening the box; just like when you drive a new car out of the car dealer.
The opening cut scene involves children locating a journal written by Dr Watson in a doll that they found in the attic of their home. While the scenery was rendered beautifully and the lighting of the room was fantastic, the children were not affected by the lighting and looked like they were completely disconnected from the entire scene.
In this cut scene, it sets the tone for the entire game. Every characters voice is completely skewed from their mouth movements. It's like watching a spaghetti-western from the 1980s; and with the quality of voice acting to match. Every character has a look of surprise on their face; like they are about to be hit by a car. What makes this worse is that the artists tried to render facial expressions; judging by the movements of their faces.
The voice acting/script writers is the second thing that makes this title disappointing. I would like to assume that most people would know that the word 'Marquis' is pronounced 'Mar-key'; not 'Mar-kess'. A 'Marquess', while the same thing as a Marquis is spelt differently and pronounced differently. Why one spelling shows up when the other pronunciation is used is a silly writing error that published games shouldn't be making.
There are times throughout the title whereby The Gameplay made me want to eat my fingers just to make it stop. Why do I need to have to have 3 different camera angles that change the way I play each time? Why do I need to stop for 5 seconds every time I open a door? Why do I need to wait when I want to change direction? Why is the mouse sensitivity so low?
I've never before had such difficulty playing a game. I understand that the attempt was to make a game like LA Noire; but this title is just LA Nothing.
I was really excited about this title and while it had some positive aspects at times, overall it was a disappointing experience. I'm sorry Frogwares; but The Testament of Sherlock Holmes won't be infiltrating my PC again.
Game: The Testament of Sherlock Holmes
System: PC
Developer/Co-Developer: Frogwares
Publisher: Focus Home Interactive
