Games developed by Ellicott Creek Software
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Sherlock Holmes: The Vatican Cameos
Sherlock Holmes: The Vatican Cameos is an interesting text adventure that is more interesting for its innovative designs than for the gameplay itself.
The game is based on the 'Vatican cameos affair' mentioned in passing in The Hound of the Baskervilles. In the role of the renowned private detective Sherlock Holmes, your task is to catch the culprit of a mysterious murder by investigating clues, interrogating suspects and making the right deductions to connect the killer with the weapon and the motive.
However, finding the truth is not enough: to win the game, you must be in the right place at the right time to be summoned to testify in court. You must then answer a series of ten questions correctly to convict the guilty party and win the game.
Unlike most text adventures, The Vatican Cameos is turn-based: the clock keeps ticking whether you make a move or not, and you will lose the game entirely if time runs out. Although the game is purely text-based, The Vatican Cameos has more in common with point-and-click games than with traditional parser-based games. This is because you can only form short commands from a small menu of verbs like MOVE and ASK.
The writing is solid, although it strikes me as overly pretentious, as if the writer is trying too hard to emulate Sir Doyle's style. One nice touch is that suspects move through the game in real time, forcing you to deduce their agenda in order to intercept them for questioning. Some suspects lie and withhold information until confronted with evidence, and clues are scattered throughout the story. There are also plenty of false leads to throw you off, so it's crucial to save them often.
With a decent plot, solid writing, and some interesting characters, The Vatican Cameos is worthwhile for mystery fans. The game's very limited interface unfortunately prevents it from being too interactive, but if you prefer games like The Scoop to full-on text adventures, this little-known may prove entertaining.
