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The perfect original Holmes story.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: December 29, 2007
Author: Amazon User

The graphics are minmimum (lips movements of the characters), but it is still a worth-while game. The author did a good job writing this fan-fiction story. The background graphics are rich in detail. You can walk up to any certain clue, which can show can interset to Holmes' ivestigation to the crime. When the credits role, you can here the most wonderful music from the most greatest artist in classical music. Makes you think it is a PBS program.

Fun, but not a winner

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 25, 2008
Author: Amazon User

In Secret of the Silver Earring Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson are on a case. This time, they start out investigating the murder of a wealthy man at a dinner party. But murder isn't limited to one body in this game...
In the game, you play in third person. Most of the time, you play Holmes, but you sometimes switch over to Dr. Watson. The game is well-animated with plenty of places to explore. Challenges are not limited to tile puzzles and codes; in one part of the game, Holmes only has a certain amount of time to navigate his way through a forest. Even though murder is involved, the game isn't graphic, so if you get squeamish easily, don't worry too much. The story can be a little hard to follow, but altogether the story is decent. Also, there are plenty of people to talk to throughout the game.
The game has downsides. One of the most annoying things about it is that at the end of every level you have to evaluate what you've learned so far which is a pain. Also, you can't advance unless you collect all the items you need, (down to hair on the counter) There are some tricky puzzles too, but remember... there are always cheat websites to go to.
Altogether, this game is entertaining and fairly well-done. It is by no means great though. If you are a Sherlock Holmes fan, or an adventure game fan, then this might be a good thing to consider getting. But if you like lots of splattering blood and rolling heads, then you will probably think this game is pretty boring.

As Usual a Good Sherlock Adventure

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 1 / 1
Date: January 05, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I'm a fan of Sherlock, so I have nothing but good to say about this and all other Sherlock games.

One of the best ever!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: October 11, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Wow! Just finished Silver Earring, and it was fantastic! It's a great mystery like the Nancy Drew games, beautiful scenes reminiscent of Syberia (gotta be the same design crew). Wonderful, complex story, great acting, beautiful music. The game play is not too hard...Sherlock gives you hints if you need to look around more or move on to the next place...but the puzzles (only about 3 or 4 of 'em) are quite difficult. I had to use the walkthrough for them, but the rest of the time it was easy enough to figure out what to do next. There's also a quiz section at the end of each level, where you have to answer the questions correctly to go to the next level. Nice long gameplay time, too, and many places to explore. One of the best ever! More, please, you talented Ubi Soft people!

They ALMOST got it . . .

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: August 03, 2006
Author: Amazon User

While I understand that different gamers search for differing factors in their entertainment, I think we all can agree that interface problems take the joy out of almost ANYTHING. I was close to giving up on this game until I realized something . . . the extremely ornately "Paisleys" decorating the edges of the screen shots were actually the "exit" arrows for the closeup shots.

Likewise, this game has NO "safety" (ie. "Second Chance"). If you die, you die, and you'd better hope you have a recent save, or you'll be retracing a lot of your steps.

And last annoyance? Pick up the picture of the girl on the mirror in the powder room on Day One, or you will be unable to finish the game. This is a definite FLAW.

Other than these annoyances, the game had some fun moments, some humor, and decent graphics. If you have a UHS, this will play much less frustratingly. One of the number puzzles was WAY out there, and I (who possess a high IQ and mathematical aptitude) found it ridiculously difficult. Even after reading the "solution" I thought . . . "How in the world did they come up with THAT??". All in all, it was fun, but a lot of work for the reward (sort of like eating artichokes).

Poor Character Movement

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: October 14, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Most of the puzzles are fairly easy...However, the attempt to enter the office at the Cement Works displays the lack of control
one has over Sherlock's movements resulting in a very tedious
and time consuming snag in a relatively interesting game....

Not the funnest game I imagined!

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: December 03, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I guess if all you are looking for is to find clues and solve the mystery, this game is definitely for you but it does lack imagination. I would love to see a whodunit game that involves some fantacy and some creative problem solving as well as clue finding and mystery solving. The best game I have ever played thus far and have yet to find a game to match it is "The Longest Journey". If anyone knows this game and a game that comes close, please email me at kborba@comcast.net.

For Fans...

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: April 05, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I can only recommend this game for true Sherlock Holmes fans. The story itself is well done, and the adventures cover everything one would find in an original Sherlock Holmes story. Everything is there from Dr. Watson to Inspector Lesterade. Holmes goes through everything from simple deduction to the study of cigarette ashes, to his chemistry laboratory and even a disguise.

However, there are some problems with this game. For one, the overall idea of being Sherlock Holmes is a tough one to put into a game. The average player simply does not have the deductive powers of Sherlock Holmes. As a result, it is very difficult to put someone into Sherlock's shoes.

The game is a pixel hunt and as such almost a parody of the adventure game genre. Of course, for a Sherlock Holmes game, this is more adequate than for other games. Still I found it somewhat difficult to follow the story. In the novels, this happens as well at times, but that's OK, because the reader isn't Sherlock Holmes. The reader just follows along. In a game on the other hand, it is pretty important to become Holmes.

The game tries to make the player pay a lot of attention by making the player answer a short quiz on several occasions. I found it difficult at times to answer some questions. I understood things well enough to answer the questions, but sometimes the answers were not 100% clear. After a few tries I managed to answer all of them though, at times without really altering the meaning of my answers.

The game also has 2 "action" segments. I do not have a problem with action segments in these games as long as they are done well. This is not the case here. It is hard to figure out what to do and what the criteria is. Controls are bad. On one occasion, Holmes states that "we must be quick", yet as you try to make him move around, he stops at the edge of one screen even though you already gave him the command to move on. Things like that. Also, the action sequences can not be completed at first try. You have to find out how to complete them by failing and learning from your failure. This is a game play mechanic I truly do not like.

Some of the animations are very good. Others not so much. Especially when it comes to moving characters around the screen, things turn south. Watching a character turn around very slowly to line up with an object you told him to run to can be agonizing at times. Also, the way the world is rendered as basically still images (for the most part) that switch over to the next few when the character walks "out of the picture" really is a bad deal especially in areas where you have to find out where you had to go. I have a farily good sense of direction, but had to pay a lot of attention not to get lost.

Very nice story, up there with Serrated Scalpel

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: October 10, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This is a great improvement over Frogwares' first Sherlock Holmes game, its about time game developers started outsourcing specialied creative elements to the people who know them best. In this case the story actually came from a Sherlock Holmes fanfiction writer, regarded as one of the best fan written stories ever written that was adapted for the game.

A word of warning though, early previews/reviews mention a free movie with the game, this bonus is UK only. I was a bit disappointed after picking up the game, but nonetheless I'll try not to reiterate points that you can find in other reviews online and just say that this is a very solid game, no tedious or annoying elements.

With this and Law and Order Justice is Served, this looks like a resurgence for adventure games, and hopefully a move away from the many myst clones that the market has become saturated with.

Interesting story and gameplay, but had some issues

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: May 10, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This is one of those games where you spend most of your time either walking around talking to people about a million things, or staring at the screen trying to figure out what little blemish you missed on the floor that needs to be examined in order to continue. Overall, I thought it was well executed for this type of game. However, the most annoying aspect of it was the character movement--it was very clumsy and sluggish, and there were times I wished for a "warp" feature to speed things up. If you like hunt and search games with an excellent story and lots of conversations to pay attention to, then this is for you.

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