May 5, 2008

Sherlock Holmes: Nemesis (**** out of four) is a cerebral mystery-adventure game pitting the legendary fictional British detective, Sherlock Holmes, against the famous fictional French gentleman thief, Arsene Lupin. The current adventure is the fourth offering from Frogwares Game Development, located in the Ukraine. This new game is a first-person mystery where you get to play mostly as Sherlock Holmes, although occasionally the game will shift you into the role of one of the other characters such as Dr. Watson, Holmes’s trusted assistant or Inspector Lestrade, the rather brusk, surly detective from Scotland Yard.

The storyline finds Lupin challenging Holmes, via a letter, to try to stop him (Lupin) from perpetrating an atrocious crime, one so terrible that it will thoroughly embarrass the British people. Lupin wants to do this as a punishment for Britain’s past wrongs against the French. In the letter, Lupin states quite matter of factly that he will steal five priceless British objects that are on display in various prestigious locations throughout London. He will then display them in France, thereby causing great angst among the British. Are you up to the task of helping Holmes in this battle of wits between Holmes the detective and Lupin the thief?

Clues to the first object and its location are contained in the letter of challenge from Lupin. The program guides you on your first quest by helping you decipher the clues. These clues lead Holmes to The British Museum, where he must prevent the theft of a priceless British painting.

This part of the investigation is very interesting and enjoyable because you get to explore the Museum, which is beautifully portrayed. In addition, you’re able to stop and enjoy all the paintings while you search for clues on how the crime could be done. After a bit the game shifts briefly, and you find yourself searching the museum as Inspector Lestrade, who only gives caustic remarks about the works of art. As you might guess, despite locked entrances and police guards, the painting disappears. What are the next priceless objects Lupin will steal and where will they be stolen from? That question and others will be your challenge throughout the game.

The game plays easily, with outstanding graphics that nicely portray the Victorian era. Navigation is smooth and seamless, using the mouse with your cursor’s icon changing to indicate what actions are available to you such as move, examine, pick up, use and the like. The variety of puzzles help to make a good game even more interesting. Anagrams, numbers, logic and even question-and-answer types are used, such as "What is the subject of the painting that Lupin wants to steal?"

A click of your right mouse button brings up a series of tools to help in the game. The tools include the inventory of items you’ve picked up to help later in the game, a map to "Jump" to different sites in London (you can walk or run in the game if you prefer but jumping is faster if you don’t want to enjoy the scenery), documents such as letters or news clippings you’ll need to refer to later to review for clues you may have missed the first time through, previous dialogues from the various characters you can review in case you didn’t take good notes, and reports of Holmes (your) analysis of findings so far.

Beware, though, that some of the puzzles may be very difficult and will make you scramble to check your notes or make extensive use of some of the game aides mentioned above. We wish the makers had included an easier level of difficulty and more tips to help us struggling gamers who got frustrated trying to unravel some of the puzzles. Despite that, however, we did enjoy the game and especially the graphics and easy of navigation.

Ciao Bella: la Bella Romanza (***) is a casual, fun game exploring the life and choices of a young career woman, Elena, as she balances her work, love life and family. Your job as you guide her along is to see to her happiness, success, health and fulfillment.

These goals are not always easy, since her life and her friends’ and relatives’ lives are full of problems. Elena has choices to make and must deal with the consequences. For example, her sister wants to call off her wedding because of an argument with her fiance’. Should Elena intervene, or should she stay away from the problem(s) and see to her own health and happiness? And if she does decide to help patch things up, how should she do it? Most of the problems and choices are text dialogues between Elena and the person she is talking to. Elena (you) have a choice of responses, and each one will have its own consequences to deal with. The game will be different, depending on these choices.

Game play is easy, with colorful 2-D graphics depicting Elena’s town. Choose to go to her work places, the gym, church, home, the mall or any other place, and there are different challenges in each and different choices to make. As you go along, you’ll have to make sure Elena gets proper rest, exercise and food to maintain her physical health and that she chooses proper spiritual and cultural activities to keep her emotional life in harmony.