Sherlock: The Riddle of the Crown Jewels
Sherlock: The Riddle of the Crown Jewels is a computer game of the U.S. company Infocom in 1987, it belongs to the genre of text adventures ( interactive fiction ) and is based on the literary characters of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, the British from the. writer Arthur Conan Doyle were created.
Action
The plot in the style of a classic detective story set in London in 1887. The Crown Jewels were stolen from the Tower and Sherlock Holmes she is within 48 hours, in time for the Jubilee of Queen Victoria, will find. Because it has information that it to be treated by the thief an event, it transmits Watson the case. The player assumes the role of Dr. Watson. In his quest for the crown jewels he comes to many city attractions, such as Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, Westminster Abbey and Big Ben. He must solve numerous puzzles before he unmasks the thief (Professor Moriarty ) and the Crown Jewels returns to the Tower again.
Gameplay
The single-player adventure is controlled via keyboard. Using a text parser are entered English words and phrases, the parser makes a very complex sentence structure. The player character must move through many, described in detail action scenes and often consult other figures in order to achieve the aim of the game. There is a time limit for the solution of the game. In the leaflet there are objects that are useful for the game solution, for example the output of a ( fictional) London newspaper of 17 June 1887.
Development and production details
The game is a text adventure without graphics. On the Amiga some sound effects were implemented. Technical development base is the Z -machine. The reaction was carried out for the C 64, DOS, Atari ST, Amiga, Mac OS and Apple II The fictional characters Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson and Professor Moriarty are creations of the writer Arthur Conan Doyle. The game was developed by Bob Bates.
Reception
Sherlock: The Riddle of the Crown Jewels was the last pure text adventure from Infocom. In a German game review of the 1980s, the typical Infocom Adventure excellent parser, the clever plot and the number of logical puzzles were highlighted. In the overall, the text adventure was awarded in the categories of graphics and sound, of course no points; overall it was assessed only 70 out of 100 rating points. A British reviewer rated the game, however, with a total of 9 out of 10. Positive in this case in addition to the successful mystery atmosphere and the historical reminiscences of London in 1887 were judged ( " Altogether, this is a mystery did conveys just about the right atmosphere for the place, time and subject, with a good helping of general historical interest thrown in as well. I take my hat off to it ").
A study on computer game history and theory from 2005, paid tribute to the imitation of Doyle's writing style by the designer Bob Bates. Overall, there were a technically well-made adventure ("a well-crafted late Infocom work" ).