Recent reviews by Rumio

Ghost Dogs doesn't hold up quite as strongly as its predecessor, but it's still a classic of the series. Has a very spooky set-up, especially for kids, and the 1920s bootlegger theme is fun. A bit shorter and simpler than other Nancy games of its time; and a whole lot of tedious backtracking.

Though lacking in some of the QoL improvements of later installments, like a cellphone and full checklist, SSH remains one of the strongest Nancy Drew titles. It's one of the more educational titles, with lots of interesting information about the ancient Maya civilization. The music and setting are excellent, and suitably creepy at moments. The characters are perhaps its main highlight, specifically some of the "off-screen" ones who are fleshed out mainly through text documents and phone calls.

In my opinion, this is the best of the frogwares Sherlock Holmes series. Since Sherlock Holmes was a contemporary of the Ripper, pairing him with this real life case is a no brainer, and leads to a strong and interesting story, enjoyable for Holmes fans and Ripperologists alike. The characters are all based on real suspects and evidence (with fictionalized conclusions, of course, as the real case has never been solved.) As with each entry thus far in the series, the gameplay is much improved over its predecessors. Lastly, I had no technical trouble running the game on windows 8.1.

Persian Carpet is by far the worst game in the Sherlock Holmes series. Unlike the adventure games of the rest of the series, this title is a casual hidden object hunt. The environments and music are 100% recycled from The Secret of the Silver Earring, which came out years earlier. The pixel hunting is so extreme that you might as well be finding a needle in a haystack--from outer space. Seriously. The scenes are all zoomed out views of an entire room and the clues are things like "strand of hair" and "fingernail." I wish I was exaggerating. There's only one case and it's short and boring. The only somewhat interesting feature is the deduction board, where Holmes makes connections between different pieces of evidence, but it's so clunky and poorly formed that it loses all value. In fact, when I solved the mystery I actually thought I was stuck in a glitch until I randomly clicked the right thing to trigger the ending. And for reasons unknown, the ending fanfare music is "The 12 Days of Christmas."

I would honestly love to see a well-made and substantial hidden object game added to this series, but Persian Carpet is not it.

Nemesis is a great addition to the Sherlock Holmes series. The story of Holmes rising to the challenge of a criminal adversary is familiar to any fan, and this time it's the gentleman thief character Arsene Lupin. Lupin is a truly interesting character, which makes solving his thefts a fun task. The story does have its weak spots near the end ( The ridiculous thing with Queen Victoria, not to mention what happens when you actually catch him...) but they aren't enough to take away from the game's overall value. Personally, I think Nemesis is the best game of the series so far.

Graphics and gameplay wise, Nemesis is nearly identical to Awakened. The hint system is much better though, which is helpful since the puzzles in Nemesis tend to be more math related. Though math puzzles may sound daunting, the puzzles are actually quite fun this time around, and the option to use hints eliminates any ragequit frustration. There is quite a bit of backtracking in the museum section, but you can use the fast travel system to get between areas quickly.

Also, Creepy Watson has been fixed, (un)fortunately.

The Awakened is a great starting point for players new to the Holmes series. In this installment, the balance between puzzles, dialogue and hunting for clues has been perfected, and the new in-game hint system *usually* has the answers if you're stuck. There's been a pretty good graphical update, and the addition of the first person camera angle has totally removed the previous games' problems of pixel hunting and difficult controls. I personally encountered no technical problems playing on Windows 8.1.

If you're a fan of the classic Sherlock Holmes, Awakened may not be for you. The story has a lot of paranormal elements, which may be a turn off for some players. However, I am typically not a fan of paranormal mysteries and I was still able to enjoy the game. Each location has a totally different atmosphere, so in a way there's something for everyone. The mystery is interesting and intriguing without being convoluted, and at around 8 hours the length feels just right.

Before buying this game, be aware of these two things:
1. If you have an unusual monitor resolution, the game's hot spots may be improperly synced, making it impossible to interact with things. I was only able to fix this by switching to a different monitor. I've only heard of one other person having this problem, however.
2. There is a missable clue in the first chapter which breaks the game near the end. The game requires you to pick up all necessary clues before moving on except this glitched one. Consult a guide and save yourself the hours it'll take to start over.

All in all, Silver Earring has taken a huge step from Mystery of the Mummy. The story, gameplay, controls, and voice acting are all vastly improved. This game marks where the series really began to capture the traditional Sherlock Holmes vibe. Unlike many mystery games where the protagonist seems to be a complete idiot, Holmes is always a step ahead without leaving the player feeling completely lost. The end-of-chapter quizzes really help to keep you up with the story, so you don't find yourself simply clicking around with no idea what's going on.

Though the game is an overall improvement from it's predecessor, it does have its share of problems. The occasional typos and strange subtitles were more funny than annoying to me. The Action/Stealth sections can be a bit difficult as Holmes is not always easy to control, but with a few tries they can be mastered. For the most part, if you are forgiving of the game's age it will be easier to enjoy.

This game hasn't aged well, and I doubt it was ever much fun to begin with. Moving around and picking up evidence is a total pixel hunt, and the game as a whole handles poorly. It's incredibly easy to get stuck because the game wants you to do some random illogical interaction to move on which you usually find by just clicking on everything until something happens. Dying and end of level cutscenes crash the game on windows 7. The voice acting is so bad it's actually pretty funny. The story was almost acceptable, but Holmes' customary explanation of the mystery at the end was badly done and I couldn't understand it. I wouldn't play this unless you really want to beat the whole Holmes series, or you bought the bundle and feel like you might as well try it.