Mar 27, 2012

Sherlock Holmes Consulting Detective

It was either 1991 or 1992 when I got my first CD-ROM. It came bundled in one of those Multimedia PC (anyone else remember the MPC standard?) kits Creative Labs used to put together, and was accompanied by a Soundblaster Pro and some CDs. Needless to say, I was blown away. Never thought a humble 286 PC could pull off such amazing feats. Besides, ignoring the dull edutainment and encyclopedic software on offer, the thing came with a pretty impressive game: Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective.

It was a game designed and developed by adventure maestros and brave innovators Icom; the same team responsible for some of the earliest and definitely more ground-breaking attempts at a point-and-click interface. But where Deja Vu and Shadowgate innovated by evolving text-adventures, Sherlock Holmes was both a technological marvel and an altogether new way at enjoying narrative heavy gaming. It also was the very first FMV offering I had ever played and it simply amazed me. It even fooled my young self in believing that games with video in them were the future.

Then again and to my defense, Sherlock Holmes, despite its 256-colours limitations and ancient compression technology, sported real actors, solid writing and proper-looking sets. Come to think of it, it was probably among those select five FMV games mankind doesn't have to be ashamed of. What's more, it played excellently and quite a bit like a board game. It even featured three unique cases to solve; all of them fondly remembered.

Now, to the news. The good news! Well the good news is that zojoi, a team headed by Dave Marsh of Icom fame, is attempting to actually bring back the entire Sherlock Holmes series (all nine episodes of it) complete with remastered videos, new interfaces and -if things go really well- even new footage. It will be bringing them back to the PC and Mac, but also on mobile platforms, provided of course we all help out a bit with its Sherlockian Kickstarter. Here's the pitch video to get you all excited and sleuth-y:


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2 comments:

  1. I don't mind me some Sherlock Holmes, but I will leave the mystery solving to him and Watson... maybe even some little hairy gnomes.

    Anyhoo, I started watching the new Sherlock series on BBC. I really dig it. Only 3 episodes a season, but they are each movie length. They even got his greatest villain "Moriarty" in the show. So far they have done quite well bringing Sherlock to modern times. Worth a watch if you haven't yet.

    Ok thats all I got.

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    1. Oh, yes! The new BBC Sherlock is pretty amazing and easily the smartest thing on TV since Firefly. Sharp writing, great direction, quality dialogue and the true spirit of Sherlock Holmes. Love it and hope we get another season very soon.

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