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Holmes & Moriarty - Review

Review by PJ-1978

Ratings

Parser/Vocabulary
3
Atmosphere
3
Cruelty
Merciful
Puzzles
2
Overall
3
Written:
28-12-2020
Last edited:
Platform:
BBC/Electron

Sherlock Holmes has been kidnapped by his archnemesis Moriarty, and as Holmes' faithful friend Dr. Watson, it is up to you to save him. Even by the expectations of a 'type-in' games magazine text adventure, this one is a very basic affair, with little if any actual puzzles and the whole Sherlock Holmes element slapped on almost by-the-by to a rather generic feeling game.




Parser/Vocabulary (Rating: 3/10)

The parser and vocabulary understanding is pretty much bog-standard for this sort of BASIC, type-in game. The game is very basic with very few real puzzles to over-come, and as such the only time(s) I remotely found myself held up was when trying to find the correct word, or combination of words, to perform certain actions - particularly, when trying to open or get inside something, the game can be a bit picky on input.

Atmosphere (Rating: 3/10)

Holmes and Watson might be linked with all things Victorian, murky London and that bygone age, but very little, if any, of that is captured in this game. It plays as a standard, almost generic game.

Cruelty (Rating: Merciful)

There are extremely few real puzzles to be overcome, and so the 'cruelty level' here in pretty much non-existent.

Puzzles (Rating: 2/10)

As mentioned above, there are sadly very few actual puzzles in 'Holmes & Moriarty'. Which, in a game relating to the famous detective, itself feels like a criminal offence! The game is pretty much walk around gathering objects, use the very occasional object in another location (and work out, by trial-and-error which otherwise useless objects add to your score), but beyond that, unfortunately there are no mind-mending puzzles to be found here.

Overall (Rating: 3/10)

Well, this was a type in game from a magazine (a 1984 issue of 'Games Computing') so in fairness, you rather know what you're going to get with it (very basic). But even so, for both the level of type-in text adventures of the era, and for one connected to what is arguably the world's most famous detective, this adventure is extremely basic, and sparse in content.

I passed ten minutes playing and completing this game, but probably only held out in expectation that something mildly more interesting might happen in it any time soon. No real puzzles, not even any real 'plot' or development.