Story

The story is a mixture of Conan Doyle and H.P. Lovecraft writings. It's like Sherlock Holmes meets the Chthulhu. But fortunately, Chthulhu is not the end boss. Unlike Lovecraft's books full of monsters, the story of the game has nothing to do with hideous creatures. Instead, the characters will encounter the furry and rage of people who are worshiping such creatures and their insanity. There are some gore and horror scenes (in the hidden Chthullhu temple, or in the asylum) but the story does not exceed the boundaries of crime-fiction genre. The game starts with Watson who has some nightmares. Nightmares that will come true in the end of the game. While Watson is struggling with his dream, on 221B Baker Street, Holmes gets bored. He waits for something extraordinary to happen. And the extraordinary happens when Watson enters Holmes' room to tell him that one of his clients lost his faithful servant. From a simple problem of security, both characters will actually find clues which will make them travel across London to Switzerland, and USA.

Interaction System

The approach is totally different from the previous title, because of the first person view in a full 3D environment. So the developers gave up to the point&click interaction system and have chosen a new one similar to Myst series. Every time you approach an important object, or NPC, an interaction sign appears showing you what kind of action can be done. Is this interaction system much better than the classical point&click? We will see. While the old point& click forces you into a continuous pixel hunting, the new one is a misleading one. First of all instead of hovering your pointer across a limited area, you have to walk in a full 3D environment in searching clues and objects. Because of a forced linearity implemented in order to follow the storyline, some clues or objects are misleading the gamer. In your investigations you will find useful objects that cannot be picked up until you go through a series of dialogs, or a defined order of actions. Other objects in which you stumble, can be picked although you don't have any clue what to do with them, and use them only after a long period of time. Another minus is represented by the moments when Holmes asks Watson where do they have to go further, or names of different places or persons. In these moments a window will appear where you have to write the answer of the question.

From this moment on, you cannot move to the next location until you won't answer the question. Being caught up in the story, you will miss out important clues in answering these questions. So if you didn't pay attention to the game, you can activate the inventory and read the dialogs, or the documents that might give you vital informations.

If you still don't know what's the answer to any of these questions, you need to exit and reload the game. That's why these moments can become really frustrating. There are no clues or informations that might show when these moments occur. The method gives an original feeling to the game, but implements dead moments into the gameplay.

Chemistry

After completing the game, you will become a master of analyzing footsteps only with a magnifying-glass and a pincers.

Not to mention the knowledge that you will gain after making some chemical experiments! Of course I was just kidding. But you will be surprised how authentic these elements were introduced into the gameplay and story. Using the crouch position, you can analyze the soil in different spots to find important objects or clues such as footsteps. Some chemical experiments have to be done on some objects in Holmes' room in order to find out their origin or their chemical composition.

Final Touch

The game doesn't excel in story or gameplay. But its value is increased by a smart combination of both. There are no moments in which the game has to suffer from pointless quests created just for the sake of additional gameplay. Although some of the riddles and puzzles are misleading you, these are created with direct connection to the story and its events.

The games is set in a 3D environment proper for a first -person shooter. But its realistic and atmospheric touch, suites perfectly the adventure essence of the game. Some puzzles make use of the Ageia Physix engine which is very trendy nowadays. This engine brings some action in the game, and increases very much the interaction level. Not to mention the chase scene in Missouri , or the hangar scene in the harbour, where your character interacts with doors, ladders, hooks, barrels, etc.