Game Review...Sherlock Holmes: Nemesis

If you are an amateur sleuth, a budding Ellery Queen or Nancy Drew. Or one of those annoying persons, who always wins at Clue. (totally jealous I am of course) Then do I have a game for you. But if you are anything like me, then you better have pencil, paper and a good walkthrough handy.

Sherlock Holmes: Nemesis (aka: Sherlock Homes versus Arsene Lupin) is a first person adventure game. This game definitely requires you to use the ole grey matter. You will need to use your reasoning and deductive skills a lot in this game, and I must admit my skills were a lot sharper in my younger days when I used to watch Basil Rathbone and Nigel Bruce portray Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson on the silver screen. The puzzles in the game range from easy to downright pull your hair out hard. (you will wind up saying to yourself after you have read the walkthrough "Now why didn't I think of that" a lot in this game)

Graphics
You don't need a powerful computer to run this game. If your machine is Pentium 3 or higher and your video card is 128 MB Directx 9.0c compatible you should be golden. The graphics are clear and crisp. (on a personal note, not taking anything away from the game. I found the depiction of 1895 London a little too clean and pristine for my liking. )

Audio
The sound effects in the game were good and the voice acting was first rate, but I did find that the character lip syncing was off a little in some of the dialogue cut scenes. There were scenes where the characters lips were still moving long after the dialogue stopped. Another nice feature is the ability to adjust the various sound levels. I personally thought the violin music in the background was a little to intrusive until I adjusted it to my comfort level.

Controls
You move through out the game by means of WASD keys on the keyboard or by holding down the left button of your mouse. Using your mouse you can interact with characters and items by left clicking on them. Right clicking your mouse will allow you to access your inventory, dialogue, documents, notes and maps. Right clicking again will close your inventory screen.

Gameplay
In this installment Sherlock Holmes is locked in a battle of wits with Arsene Lupin a fictional French gentleman thief. Arsene Lupin challenges Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson to stop him from stealing priceless artifacts that he says were wrongly taken away from the French through the Treaty of Alexandria and ceded to the British. He vows to steal back these items and humiliate the British Empire in the process. You must unravel the cryptic clues Arsene Lupin leaves behind after the thefts at such famous landmarks in London as the National Gallery, the British Museum, the Tower of London and Buckingham Palace. You must try to stay on step ahead of Lupin, and prevent him from stealing these priceless artifacts. While maintaining the Honor and Dignity of the British Crown, and of course the reputation of Sherlock Holmes by solving the case.

I found the title a little misleading. When I think of Sherlock Holmes's Nemesis the first person that comes to my mind is Professor Moriarty.... None the less I enjoyed playing this game even though it was a little humbling at times.