For over ten years PC gamers have donned the hat of the world’s greatest detective Sherlock Holmes, and now console gamers can pickup the magnifying glass and embark on a detective adventure in The Testament of Sherlock Holmes. At E3 we had a chance to sit down with the team behind Sherlock Holmes and get to see his latest adventure in action.
Our demo finds us in the shoes of Sherlock Holmes as he begins his investigation into the death of the pope. Right away we are shown just how dark, twisted and gruesome the game will be. As the pope laid bloody in a chair with his fingers broken back we must investigate the scene for clues. The core gameplay centers around three things, investigation, deduction and puzzle solving. For this demo Holmes must use investigation to find clues, and then use deduction to draw up a lead. For instance there were various bloody footprints at the scene of this crime, and we were able to deduce that based off of the popes missing shoes and the different prints that the criminal changed shoes.
Unlike the hit L.A. Noire, in Sherlock Holmes all deductions and leads end at the same place. There really is no punishment or no change in difficulty if you get the wrong answers. And if you are having troubles there is a help system in place that will guide you through the correct path through your investigations, deductions and puzzles.
Visually the game is pretty solid. As I said earlier the investigation we took part in begins with us looking over the mutilated body of a pope, and from the lacerations to the broken fingers it’s pretty awesome, in a nasty gross way. The game plays out mostly in third person view but you can switch to the first person view at times as well.
The Sherlock Holmes series has a fairly decent following, and fans of the series will enjoy this new adventure. Besides taking the role of Holmes you’ll also get a chance to work cases as Watson and even spend some time as the greatest detective of all, the four legged furry Toby. The Testament of SHerlock Holmes might not be everyone’s cup of tea but for those who enjoy a good head scratcher then you’ll love the mature gore and gruesome discoveries.
The Testament of SHerlock Holmes will be out this Fall on Xbox 360, PS3 and PC.
