The Testament of Sherlock Holmes for PlayStation 3 Reviews by Gamers

Before I start, let me just say I rented this game knowing exactly what it was and basically what I could expect. I've played the other Sherlock titles (made for the PC - Different publisher but so similar to this game that they must be connected somehow), and I was aware that this was a point and click style adventure. I did, however, hope that this game would be an improvement over those titles.

More fool me.

I can ignore poor graphics. After all, a good game doesn't need to be stunning, it needs to be good. This game is not good. The controls are temperamental and awkward. I spent more time than I care to admit swearing as Holmes and Watson refused to walk in the direction I pointed them and picking up things I hadn't been attempting to pick. Poor controls are something I just can't forgive a game. There is no way this got through playtesting without someone pointing out how poor the controls were, which says to me that the company just didn't care. They decided it was good enough, and put it out anyway.

Then there is the actual gameplay. Unlike, say, the Nancy Drew PC games, or even old classics like Myst and The 7th Guest, there is no illusion of free-will here. You are stuck in a room, where you will click everything you can click, then make every deduction you can make, before at last the game will let you move on. There's no searching, this isn't hard work. In fact, if you can't find all the items a tap of a button will reveal what you're missing.

Where's the mystery? Why can't I just look at some of the clues and make my own educated guess as to what happened and move on quicker? On at least 2 occasions I knew the answer and had filled out 'the deduction board' (the games way of letting you put together the facts) correctly, yet the game wouldn't mark my answers as correct until I did one last pointless thing in the room.

It's frustrating and insulting, and in the end it took away my will and desire to finish the game.