Worth playing or skip?

[sdarigan]

I got this as a part of a bundle along with most of the rest of the series. I got stuck very early on, and the screen-flicker issue made it hard to stick with it. I've also seen a lot of mixed/negative reviews and people saying the other games are much better.

So for those of you who have played it, is it worth it to muddle through this one, or would I be better off skipping to the next game in the series?

[axmetro619]

In my opinion, it's not worth playing this game. It's absolutely terrible. I would just watch the walkthrough on youtube, if you are interested in the story.

[sdarigan]

Originally posted by axmetro619:

In my opinion, it's not worth playing this game. It's absolutely terrible. I would just watch the walkthrough on youtube, if you are interested in the story.

Yeah... since I made this original post, I gave it another attempt, and then it started crashing. :/ I gave up.

[ChillingInMyChair]

It is an old game obviously and graphics are grainy. Story isn't that great but not a bad game. Playable. If you are interested in Ancient Egypt it's a cool game. It's now free anyway.

[DL12]

This game it was very good. Really good, but unfortnally nowadays theres lots of bugs and a big one as the mouse problem that to solve this you need to do lots of things. But if you suceed to play it without this problem go foward.

[JAIRO]

Subpar quality game that did not age well. Best to watch Youtube walkthrough if you absolutely have to know.

Came out same year as Vice City, Mafia, Warcraft 3, Age of Mythology, Kingdom Hearts 1 and Super Mario Sunshine.
Even for 2002, this game can't stand with its competitors. No wonder, it was made by a privately owned Ukrainian company consisting of only 6 people.
(Back in the day, games were underestimated as a medium and huge IP's like Sherlock Holmes were given away for scraps..)

I always regard the 1st game of a new IP as a prototype, they are usually not as successful which was the case here too.

SURPRISINGLY, 2 years later the sequel Case of the Silver Earring was released and it improved immensely. All the future games until Crimes&Punishment followed the same style and even retained the same voice actor for Sherlock!
IF you have to start at the very beginning or are a retro historian, then Silver Earring is the way to go.
IF you are just a gamer who wants to finally play Sherlock Holmes games, then the best entry point I would objectively say is Testament of Sherlock Holmes from 2012.
It took them 10 years to perfect this style and the game turned out great.
(many recommend Jack the Ripper from 2009 as an entry, but I believe its because they are just big fans of the game and are subjective)

Crimes&Punishment 2014 and future installments changed their style and are more streamlined, made easier for the casual player by removing the riddles and puzzles.
It feels like a change of genre with its QTE. Still, the stories improved and instead of dozens of puzzles, the newer games have a focus on deduction.

In the older games, you felt smart for solving the puzzles without help, in the newer ones you fear of making wrong case conclusion as if you fail, you spoil the story for yourself and replaying the case feels like completionism.
The added risk, forces you to think through every step.
In my opinion the series evolved, but I would like more puzzles thrown at the player (but that would disrupt the flow of the story or could discourage the "precious casual newcomers").