Mood. Every human creation that is meant to communicate has it. Although it is mostly subjective, I believe that the mood that one perceives in certain work, or message, has a lot to do with the final opinion that we are going to have about it. With that said, in a not very practical way of honesty, you'll know exactly what is the base of the review that follows.
I think this game was the very thing that started my interest in the man with the hat and the pipe. And even if it's not canonical in some ways, it's obvious that there is a lot of attention to details and circumstances that come right from the books: someone in the design department of EA was a Holmesian, I'm sure. As soon as the opening cutscene ended, and I was presented with the living room at 221B, I was completely immersed in that world. Why? Because of the MOOD.
There is an impending sense of tragedy that floats in the air from the beginning to the end, even if the ultimate outcome is not as tragic as it seemed. Also, a feeling of nostalgic (and therefore epic) acceptance to the things that are in motion, and that perhaps cannot be stopped. And the credit for all this, as usual, has to go the music.
You'll find here some of the most beautiful music that has ever graced a computer game. The delightful melodic work will make you forget that you are listening to MIDI, and make you wish a chamber orchestra played it some day in a concert. The melancholic, almost classical, main theme is played with different moods throughout the game: with a violin at Holmes' apartment, which is his instrument of choice; in a more staccato manner in the street, and agitatedly in the action sequences. Every location and event has a particular theme, à la iMUSE, trying to create a cinematographic sensation, which was the common, and personally welcomed, place in most graphic adventures in the first nineties.
The graphics are neat, but the animation could have been a little better. They're peculiar because of two things: the lighting is fantastic, as the designers did a splendid job in reconstructing the setting of Victorian London in terms of light, and also the backgrounds and objects tend to be kind of pearly because of the way the color palette is handled, which makes you feel there is fog everywhere you go, even in interiors. I don't know if this was intentional, but some people will like it, and other won't.
Just because of the visual and sound experience, I would recommend The Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes. I liked the story, setting, and dialogues, but I played a translated version so I must see how the original lines were. I'm obviously biased as I'm particularly fond of this game, for being one of my first graphic adventures and my first entry in the Holmesian universe. Do know that there is a CD-ROM version of the game (which I think was for 3DO) that incorporates little live-action frames with actors in the dialogue sequences? I have yet to play it, so I can't give an opinion on the quality of the acting.
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[Mr Creosote]: It was in spanish. The translation was good, for what I saw.
[Wandrell]: The floppy version has speech on the intro [like DotT]. The CDversion is 75 Mb, so I think you are right: it's too small to be a full
talkie version.
The 3DO version is a complete CD in lenght, with live-action video as I
mentioned, but I don't remember if it had full digitazed speech.
Thank you. I like music very much, so I do pay special attention to it in games and movies. I suppose it's no coincidence that all the games that top my ranking have a superb soundtrack...
Music is half the experience one gets in audiovisual media, and creates most of the emotions that are perceived, but we shouldn't underestimate the importance and power of good dialogue and well crafted scenarios.
I`ve found a Sequel to this game!! if anyone`s interested in the "great legend" detective... it`s title is "lost files of Sherlock holmes: case of the rose tattoo", a windows 95/98 game.
happy searchin` detectives