Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective
System: TG-16
Release Date: June 1991
Developer: ICOM Simulations
Publisher: NEC
Genre: Adventure
Step into the shoes of London’s most famous literary investigator in Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective! Call the shots and then watch what happens as Holmes and Watson dig through clues, question witnesses, and take it all in front of a judge. There are three cases for you to solve using your wit (or a walk through). Come now, the game is afoot!
It’s up to you to use your directory of names and businesses to figure out what’s happened. It’s probably best to start with the London Times. This newspaper is touted as an excellent source of information. There is a printed version of the paper with the instruction manual, but each daily edition is also available in the software itself. Finding the related articles can take some time, but once you do, it’s important to take notes about names and circumstances. The Mummy’s Curse case plays over a few different newspaper dates, but you get the names of the three murdered men from reading, and can then begin to gather clues.
Clicking a name in your directory or notebook allows you to then visit them for an FMV scene with the carriage, read whatever notes Holmes has already gathered on them in his files, or have the Baker Street Irregulars gather what they can. This is one of the first FMV based games that I know of, and while the quality isn’t great and the audio-visual sync slips further away from each other as the scene goes on, it is a novel introduction to the video game world.
There are plenty of red herrings present in the case I took on. The murders of Fahmi and Al-Saud are incidental to the case at hand. The box they both wanted means nothing. Even the monkey hairs on the death wraps aren’t of any importance to fingering the culprit. If you follow a false lead, all it does is increase your score, giving Watson a reason to tell you that you’re a lousy detective. The goal of each case, beyond solving it, is to do it in as few moves as possible.
You’re probably not as lousy as you’re made out to be, because you can’t find clues your own way. You’re merely seeing what the director and writers want you to see. My notes for the case are not detailed, but they helped me enough. After taking the case to the judge, you must correctly identify the suspect and answer questions about their motive. If you’re wrong, he dresses you down and sends you back to gather more clues. When you’re done, Holmes spells it all out for you in a wrap up FMV. Much like when reading a Sherlock Holmes compilation for a book report in middle school, I quit after solving the Mummy’s Curse, because I have no patience.
Graphics: 2.5
The FMV is certainly neat, and at the time it’s amazing what the TGCD can do.
Sound: 3.0
CD quality sound, though sometimes the gain is set too loud, cracking the speakers.
Gameplay: 1.5
The actors do a nice job in the FMVs, but the actual gameplay is very light and boring.
Difficulty: 2.0
Can you follow the clues, ignore red herrings, and make leaps when you need to?
Fun Factor: 1.0
I thought being the world’s greatest detective would be more enjoyable, but it really wasn’t.
Overall Rating: 2.0
Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective earns a C. If you want a game where you can sleuth your way through a few mysteries, this will scratch that itch, otherwise, don’t bother.