Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened First Impressions
I discovered the roleplaying game "Call of Cthulhu" back in the early 80's, when it was one of the first major horror-themed dice-and-paper roleplaying games (if not the first). It was principally written by Sandy Peterson, who later went on to do computer games like Doom, Quake, and Age of Empires. I'd always hoped he'd do a Cthulhu-based computer game, but so far... no dice, though there have been a couple of games since then that have been inspired by Lovecraft's stories. Because of the game, I discovered Lovecraft's horror stories, which generally involved a very smart (or at least competent) protagonist discovering to their horror the truth about the dark things that go bump in the night, and end up somewhat insane at the end of the story.

I'm a more recent convert to the stories of Sherlock Holmes, having recently read The Hound of the Baskervilles and finding it to be way, way better than I'd imagined (and better than I'd remembered some of the Sherlock Holmes short stories I'd read many years ago).

And now, there's a game that combines the two. Tuesday night, I bought Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened, a 3D adventure game that pits Sherlock Holmes against Cthulhu. Literally, though probably not directly. I am not kidding, and it is actually pretty cool so far. And if the game DOES end up in a one-on-one cage match between Holmes and Cthulhu, I'm sorry Sherlock, but my money is on the Great Old One.

Now, first things first. Some Bad. The game is something like 2 gigs in size, which is a monstrous download. And I didn't see an option to order a CD-ROM / DVD-ROM version here in the U.S., though I'm not sure its unavailable. But that was an all-night download. Not a big deal, but if you don't have broadband, you better hook up with a friend with broadband and a CD-ROM Burner or you aren't going to be the least bit happy.

Speaking of CD-ROM Burners... I hope you can get them to work. Sherlock Holmes: The Awakened uses a protection scheme by StarForce. Yeah, those crazy Russians who think crippling your machine is their right by virtue of you paying money to one of their clients. Oh, and who also think that they have the right to support pirates of your game if you choose NOT to lock down your game with their software.

I have no idea why Starforce drivers have to be installed when the game doesn't even ship on DVD-ROM (Though, at least they do provide a URL where you can go to download the uninstaller. Gee, how thoughtful... Too bad they weren't thoughtful enough to INCLUDE IT WITH THE INSTALLATION. ) Anyway - if I'd known StarForce "protection" (which somehow in my mind equates to paying the mafia for "protection") was on the game, I'd probably have reconsidered my purchase decision. But now I can warn you.

Maybe this was actually a clever plan by Frogames, the developer, to get you into the mood to play a game about horror and psychotic cultists. Installing those drivers certainly made me feel horrified and vulnerable. But if that doesn't bug you enough to scare you away (and there are plenty of people out there for whom that would be enough), then here's a quick dump of the first half-hour or so of playing the game.

The game opens with Watson in his bed (without covers - no wonder he's got a sleep disorder) having nightmares about cults and monstrous horrors. Obviously, the dude has been through some rough stuff and has lost a few sanity points dealing with Cthulhu Mythos. Those of us who have played the Call of Cthulhu RPG know what's going on here. Anyway, he wakes up, and then you hear his mental dialog about how this all began.

Flashback to two years earlier. The camera runs along the cobblestoned streets of London as opening credits fade in and out. The sign "Baker Street" is clearly visible, and the camera moves to a door with the famous address, "221b". The camera moves up and zooms on the world-famous detective, gazing out the window.

A cutscene follows, with Sherlock expressing a peevishness at not having any cases to be found that challenge him. Watson assures him one will turn up, and suggests he takes an evening stroll to the local bookstore. And then the game begins (or is it, "The game is afoot?")

The game is played in the first-person perspective, with you as Sherlock Holmes. At least so far. Maybe you get to play as Watson (or --- wouldn't this be cool --- CTHULHU! Now there's an idea I'd happily pay $30 for...) later in the game. But thus far, it's kind of an FPS game (First Person Sleuthing). Interesting things start to happen very shortly, as a man's dissapearance reveals some strange and disturbing hints that something a little more disturbing than a phantom hound is may be involved in this disappearance and several other related missing persons cases.

I'm hardly a scholar on Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's work, but so far the dialog in in the game seems to be pretty close to what I'd expect in a Sherlock Holmes story. The voice acting can be somewhat painful at times, but at least the voice of Sherlock Holmes is pretty competent.

The 3D graphics aren't close to cutting edge, but they are nice, relatively sharp, and very *useable* in a game where much of the gameplay revolves around you being able to spot anomalies as clues. The 3D representation of London is very attractive, I should add, if sparsely populated (a good thing, if unrealistic - I can't imagine trying to sort through a bustle of people trying to find the people I am supposed to talk to).

Gameplay-wise, there is some funkiness with getting stuck on collision volumes. And like many other adventure games I remember from back when they were popular, you do get into certain situations where you are trying to guess what else you need to do so the game will let you progress. When I quit my first session last night, it was after I had obtained several clues, including two that needed to be inspected under a microscope. But the game wouldn't let me return to 221b Baker Street because I hadn't gathered enough evidence yet. Nor would it let me follow some footprints through a gate because I had "no reason to go there." Apparently Sherlock is a bit more methodical than myself, and can't jump to any conclusion like, "Hmmm... footprints.... through a gate. I wonder if I should follow them through that gate?"

Ah, well. Maybe Sherlock knows something I don't know.

It's not a high-budget, "AAA" game by any stretch. Fortunately, I'm not a AAA snob. Assuming I can figure out what Sherlock's hang-up is, I'm liking the game so far. There's detail where it's important, particularly in the clues, reports, and documents that Holmes acquires during the course of the game.

And - though it's only been hinted at so far - it's about FREAKING CTHULHU!!!!! Cthulhu by gaslight, baby! Lovecraftian horror! Even if there's not a single supernatural event that takes place during the entire mystery - it's all death-cultists and superstition and bizarre rites without any evidence of the existance of the tentacle-faced god who's gonna devour the Earth for breakfast once he's finished sleeping in - it's just too cool of a concept not to enjoy.

Anyway, I'll report back on it once I've had more time to sink my teeth into it. I confess, part of the thrill I'm getting from the game (warts and all) comes just from playing an adventure game again. Those have been in short supply of late (well, except by some indies, who apparently have been cranking out text adventures at a rate that Infocom and Scott Adams in their hayday couldn't imagine).


(Vaguely) related half-heard, half-imagined memories of insane mutterings of a disturbing nature overheard in the darkness that seemed to throb with the pulse of evil:
* The Top Ten Graphic Adventures of All Time
* Sherlock Holmes Investigates Cthulhu
* Indie Interview With Mike Rubin
* A Twisty Little Maze of Passages, All Different


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Labels: Adventure Games

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