I have the privilege to review this full edition game, The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes and I have to say, I love every bit of the challenge it gives me even though it took me many hours if not days to solve all the mind-bending puzzles. After all I am a working Papa even at home . Please do not mind my imperfect English. I tried my best to present the review in the most basic words I know.

The game is about you as one of Sherlock Holmes elite team together with a few familiar faces such as Doctor Watson, Mycroft, Inspector Lestrade and many others to solve the 16 mystery cases which involves theft, murder, spies, forgery and more. Most of all, the game test your ability to observe, memorize and use your own thinking to solve more than 100 visual puzzles, sudoko style puzzles, anagrams, cryptograms and many more.

First of all, I am sure you know who Sherlock Holmes is, right. He was the greatest detective of all time, well at least fictionally according to the author, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. You can find more info of Sherlock Holmes at Wiki. I tell you in advance, the game is not as easy as you thought. However, this also leads to the interesting and challenging points it gets from the player. I gave it 5 stars rating!

Anyway, as a starter, The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes is the first computer game officially licensed by the Conan Doyle Estate and Legacy Interactive is the Provider. The title is rated at E-10+, in short, for everyone 10 and above! You can download the game, The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes at http://legacygames.com/download_games/394/the_lost_cases_of_sherlock_holmes for $19.95. You can use credit cards or Paypal for the payment. Be warned though it is no tiny weeny game. The full download size is at around 124.39MB. The system requirement is only:

• Operating system: Windows Vista / XP / 2000 / 98 / Me
• Processor: 800 MHz Pentium III Processor
• Memory: 256 MB RAM
• Graphic card: Any Direct3D 7.0

It is safe to say all current and even the one PC that you thought is ‘old’ for any worthy games nowadays, is still capable to play this game. Yes, even playable on your laptop / notebook.

I like the option that it can be played “WINDOWED” unlike some games. This allowed me to keep with my other program applications open and operation as normal (Yes, I multitask a lot. ). I have my laptop monitor resolution set at 1280×800 and setting the game option windowed, it will default to 800×600 resolution. The window boxed game is still viewable and the detail is still intact with no distortion horizontally as in the case if I choose the ‘FULL SCREEN’ option.

Here the first screen the moment you click the “PLAY” button. It displays all the 16 cases that you need to solve and it look like books lined up side by side on the cabinet. Well, actually this is the screenshot that you will get after you finish all of them, all the 16 cases (minus bonus round).

Your first case will be to find the Precious Zouch Emerald mysteriously disappeared after tea time. Your time is only 25 minutes. Well as you can see from this screen shot, it’s already solved and my first case solved at best 12:00 minutes. I am sure you can beat that

Here your first look at the famous Sherlock Holmes with his famous cap on and together with Dr. Watson chatting and discussing their next move. Do not click the “Skip” button on the right if you really want to feel as one of their team. You already chose to play this game, might as well “feel” and act as one, like Sherlock Holmes himself. Be curious, be meticulous and most of all Be patience.

The first location will be at the “De La Zouch Estate”. The one on the top left corner, blinking image. Your first look of the map. get used to it. You will be seeing a lot of it.

Click this picture below to see your first puzzle. Comparing between this two look-alike rooms and finding the difference can be really frustrating at times. Please read my tips and tricks to complete this and the rest of the 16 cases at the final paragraph.

After you have done that, you will facing this puzzle again. Another time consuming, eagle eyes sharpness needed here.

Another mini puzzle but this one seem to be simple enough. Just keep clicking the dial!

When all the puzzles above solved, it’s time to go back to 221b Baker Street. This is the place, where you together with Sherlock Holmes and Watson gather all the suspects facts and using the power of deduction, eliminating the irrelevant, the culprit will emerge by itself.

Here the one I hate most, memory puzzle. This is just on the first case and already challenging enough for me. This is actually the easiest. As you are progressing through the lost cases, this memory game can be really irritating. You have to memorize up to nine faces with nine different evidence attached to them.

Finally here the screen shot for my second time finishing this first case. As you can see, the ‘Best Time’ is now lower than before. Check the fourth image above. Now this is not entirely due to the fact that I have seen the puzzles but because I get accustomed to the way to solve it. Please remember, the puzzle keep changing. What I mean is, the location of stuffs are not the same all the time. You still need to look for it real hard.

To cut thing short, here are some pointers, I mean Tips and or Tricks for you to finish every puzzle and every case including the bonus one. This is indeed a spoiler

• Use the Magnifying Glass. Trust me it really helps. I have played this game on bigger resolution and still does not help in the identifying stuffs puzzles.
• Try find the ‘Red Pipe’. That ‘Red Pipe’ is an additional hint for you. At default, you will get only five (5) hints and believe me at some point, you will need every hint you have to solve the harder puzzles. I once left only 1 hint at the later cases out of 7 hints I had.
• Find the Sherlock Cap!. This is so important if you want the last Bonus case. You need all 16 Caps in order to open the Bonus Case. I forgot about it that I had to do twice some cases in order to find the Sherlock Cap.
• Last but not least, Remember some of the Shape that keep appearing on most of the spot-the -difference puzzles. You going to need that image that stuck in your mind at the final round.

Alright, I think that is enough for now. That is just one case out of the sixteen that you need to solve. Trust me, this game can be addictive. Once you got the hang of it, you will be glued to your monitor direct, non-stop full 2 hours just probably to solve one case!! Imagine having this much fun while you are working in the office and you have forgotten there is one small black dome shape camera at your back, up on the ceiling, watching everything you do. LOL. That is just me of course.

Enjoy it and last but not least, be proud that you have solved each one of the cases without using any of the tips and tricks I mentioned above. Haha.

Last picture from me, finding the last glove at one of the case which I stuck for quite so long. I have 6 hints (bottom left side) at my disposal but I hold myself from using them. You cannot believe where the damn glove is! It took me the whole day!!

Do not forget, go download at http://legacygames.com/download_games/394/the_lost_cases_of_sherlock_holmes.