My mind is still haunted by my previous adventure as the
world’s most famous sleuth; The Testament of Sherlock Holmes was a game that
challenged and intrigued me beyond my expectations of it. With Testament, Frogwares
Studio abandoned some of the traditional, outdated point and click gameplay for
a more realistic third-person gaming experience. The Studio succeeded in
breathing new life into a genre that is struggling to survive amidst the fast paced,
triple A titles spoiling gamers in the 21st century. Short on the
heels of this success, Frogwares just announced the release of the next instalment
for our beloved detective, Crimes and
Punishments, and by the looks of it, fans can expect the series to again push
the adventure to new heights.
The new Sherlock
Holmes game Crimes and Punishments will build upon that success with important
changes on the graphical side as well as the game experience side.
For the first time
ever, Frogwares Studio will abandon their homemade graphics engine. The
latest adventures of Sherlock Holmes will be developed on Epic’s Unreal Engine
3, allowing the series to jump far ahead of previous installments in
graphical quality. Environments will be more realistic and finely detailed with
dynamic lighting and shadows. Choosing this engine also lets the game benefit
from many technologies like a powerful animation engine for smooth movement and
animation transitions, real-time shaders and a particle system, and advanced
post-processing effects.
Unlike the previous
adventures of Sherlock Holmes, in Crimes and Punishments you will not be a mere
spectator during the detective’s investigation. It is now your turn to truly
become Sherlock Holmes and lead your own investigation--actually, your
investigations, as 8 captivating cases await you! Murders,
disappearances, spectacular thefts, and other investigations will bring you to
the cutting edge of the detective genre and these cases will be the bread and
butter of this game, written in the pure tradition of Conan Doyle’s novels.
Each case offers real freedom to players, who will have to make important moral
choices instead of simply enforcing justice by the book. All decisions have
an influence in the game and affect your character’s reputation in addition
to having realistic, sometimes unexpected, consequences. You will have to bear
the weight of your choices, as Crimes and Punishments offers an exciting system
of actions/consequences that forces players to think before acting by giving
true depth to every decision they make.
In Crimes and
Punishments, players will embody a Sherlock Holmes with a brand new look. Developers
at Frogwares have abandoned the classic Sherlock Holmes inspired by the 60s
Sherlock movies, replacing him with a more modern character perfectly matching
the new artistic ambitions of the title.
Source: Sherlock Holmes Official Website
The character of
Sherlock Holmes has been entertaining humanity for ages, be it in film,
literature or video games, I cannot imagine a world without him. I am therefore
thrilled that I will once again be able to stretch my skills of deduction to
its utmost limits, enjoy the company of my dearest Watson and feel the challenge
of the hunt inviting me to play.
Keep an eye on
GameZone for an interview with Frogwares Studio where we will explore the minds
behind the creation of one of the greatest adventure game series of our time.
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