Rose Tattoo - not as good as Serrated Scalpel, but still great.
Visually, Rose Tattoo stands out from Serrated Scalpel. Instead of 256-color artistic backgrounds, you have backgrounds that were given a more realistic look to them, with FMV actors manually performing each action. I counted just over 90 people in the end credits. While many of these are small parts - NPCs in a certain location - it is still a lot. The game is also voiced, too, which is why it makes use of CD-ROM technology. Those that desire can choose No Speech, which provides the ability to click-through dialogue at your own pace (I read faster than the actors speak), which is great until you get to the actual cutscenes, where you are unable to do this. These do not happen often, though, and most of the time you can click through at your own pace.
I thought this game had a storyline that was even more complex and several more locations to visit. I counted up 25 when I was near the end and even then another couple of places became available. As before, you can always go back to a place you visited previously, and while you do need to do everything at some point, it does not have to be done in a specific order. There is much to keep track of and if you try to keep track of it all, you might get lost. Luckily, Watson again notates all conversations, so you can always refer back to something. Again, you can not die or purposely get stuck.
Different from Serrated Scalpel, however, is that your available action verbs have been whittled down to what appears when you right-click the mouse. The default for objects is usually Look and the default for characters is usually Talk if you just click the left mouse button. However, this is usually not enough and you need to check out the available verbs when you right-click. They aren't always available the first time, though, and you need to sometimes come back to an object after looking at other things and/or talking with other characters - including Watson. Once I got the hang of it, it was OK, but it did throw me off at first. It simplifies the game in that aspect, but there's more pixel hunting in this game, to up the challenge, so to speak. It does follow in the exploration model of Serrated Scalpel and any good detective should completely survey the scene, anyway. I mentioned that the story is more complex, which means there is more conversing this time around, too. Talk to everybody about everything, and then click on him or her again to see if there are new dialogue choices.
Sometimes, older games are shorter and can be finished more quickly, but not Rose Tattoo. I spent a good 12 hours (the minimum "standard" for today's adventure games) exploring, conversing, and generally keeping busy. Despite all that, I know I missed a couple of optional things. The game is reminiscent of Laura Bow: The Colonel's Bequest, in that you get out of it what you put into it, in terms of what you all do and how thorough you are. In the end, I appreciated the opportunity to fully explore my environments and question all suspects about every possible thing. Too many games look great, but have little substance. I thought Rose Tattoo had more substance. The new look took some getting used to and because of the new verb system, I didn't think it was as good as Serrated Scalpel, but it came very close. Playing Serrated Scalpel is not required to play Rose Tattoo, but if you've played one of these two games, I encourage you to play through the other one.