If you're interested in the reviews of Sherlock Holmes vs Arsene Lupin, then it must mean that you have already played
If you're interested in the reviews of Sherlock Holmes vs Arsene Lupin, then it must mean that you have already played Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened. Well, in The Awakened, I found one of the best adventure games I ever played in my entire gaming life, and so I thought that the sequel would be at least as good as the Cthulhu-themed title. I was kind of wrong. Of course, when I saw the map of London in The Awakened, I wished that they would make a game using the locations from it, because I never visited London. My wish was granted, at least, but I expected much more from the game itself.
Story / Plot
I guess you can't expect very much from a story based on a competition between the famous detective Sherlock Holmes and the inventive french thief Arsene Lupin, mainly because you already know that your job is to follow and to catch the thief. Simple as that. The story begins when Holmes and his eternal partner Watson receive a letter from the famous thief that roamed in Europe and brought humiliation on the european police authorities. In that letter he states that he will do the same with England's Scotland Yard, by accomplishing the greatest thievery acts known to the world, and by doing so he will show England's true place in the world - as inferior to France. You can observe in the game the immense grudge in Lupin's heart toward the English that the developers accomplished to cultivate. That's about it. From now on Sherlock Holmes will try to prevent the plans of his rival, and the story will develop mainly through the letters that Lupin leaves each time after a theft. You'll travel to many locations in the British metropolis and you'll meet many characters in your adventure. Actually the game shows that Lupin was partially right, because Holmes will see from a close perspective the incompetence of the English authorities. There are many funny moments, related with the methods that Lupin uses and the riddles that he creates.
Characters
The characters in the game were well designed, creating a special individuality deducted from their role and the preconceptions that one would see in them. Though I actually saw that some secondary characters have the same face (for example: the architect - apprentice class of characters). Anyway that is not a serious problem, especially in an adventure game.
Environment
One of the biggest disappointments for me in the game was the design of the world. Of course, most adventure games don't have a 3D world, but they do have one thing - atmosphere, a feature that gives a game a unique style, and the player feels a specific feeling that you can't feel in any other place. Hey, even Next Life has plenty of it. I mean where is the fog, where are the people on the streets. In short - where is the real London. I didn't feel any of it.
The good part, is that the game offers you a large variety of historical-cultural places to visit in London: museums, towers, Buckingham Palace. And you will certainly enjoy their interior, with loads of good art, masterpieces and various exhibits (egiptian statues, babylonian doors, vases, swords and such).
Graphics
Some say the graphics are good, some say they're not. I can certainly say that the graphics are worse than in The Awakened, or should I say that they are less-polished. Everything is done in rush, and I personally hate the Tower of London, when walking between it's walls, I felt a sensation of "I am empty". All I can say is that there is something missing in the textures, in the sky representation, in the walls, in the grass...the trees are fine though.
Anyway, that is if we are comparing it with Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened. Overall the game has decent graphics, and maybe the best in the adventure world, if we exclude Dreamfall: The Longest Journey. The first-person view combined with a reality-like movement is certainly something special in an adventure game.
Puzzles
In Sherlock Holmes vs Arsene Lupin I met some of the most easiest and the most hardest puzzles in an adventure game. One thing is clear is that they both lead you to frustration. They imply lots of movement through the same places and a more-than-average general knowledge in art and history, which is both bad and good. But looking at the game in general, I think that the developers filled the game with too many puzzles where they shouldn't have, and that's the most frustrating part - when you know that after the statue puzzle, another one, this time a vase puzzle awaits you, and after that a babylonian door puzzle, or the other way around.
Sound / Voice Acting
I'm proud to say that SH vs AL has one of the best voice acting, choosing from the games released in the recent years, thus continuing the tradition in the Shrlock Holmes Series. You can clearly see that the game borrowed the voice of some very talented actors.
The environmental, the plot and the ambient sound are good, though it surely makes itself unnoticed, in a good way.
Gameplay
The developers made some improvements to the interaction between the player and the world. But that's not all that there is to gameplay. In my conception the gameplay is the overall gaming experience in a game. Of course you don't shoot bullets from a new sci-fi weapon, but you get to catch Arsene Lupin ! The combination between puzzles, old-school games, 3D world, non-violent solutions, humor, First-Person View and reality does not look stupid, it's a new definition to gameplay.
Closing Word
If you're an adventure fan you should try this game, I don't recommend it if you don't have patience.
Note: My scores are usually relatively low for good games and high for bad ones. That's why I don't have game ratings of 10 or 1.
Note 2: My rating has an error of 0.5 points, so if you do not agree with my score you can just imagine that I have put a 8.0 or a 7.0 instead of 7.5.
Note 3: This review was made by a "Cthulhu, sci-fi, fantasy, monsters of the abyss, etc" fan.