WELCO METOT HENEX TLEVEL - Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective Volumes I & II

Publisher: Sega Developer: ICOM Simulations Released: 1992, 1993

When the Sega CD was launched in North America, it was a bit expensive. $300 was nothing to sneeze at. So it made sense for Sega to sweeten the deal a bit with a generous software bundle. Along with four classic Genesis games on a single disc, a music sampler, a CD+G sampler, and a shooter from the venerable Wolf Team, those who forked over the cash to join the CD revolution were also given a copy of ICOM Simulations’ Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective - Vol. I.

Looking back on it this doesn’t seem like the most exciting pack-in ever. Considering that most of Sega’s success with the Genesis was thanks to their masterful appeal to the MTV generation through loud, in your face marketing and fast-paced games, a plodding point-and-click adventure starring a stuffy British detective whose first stories were published a century earlier didn’t really seem to fit the Sega culture.

But remember that the advent of full-motion video games was a major thrust of the marketing behind the Sega CD. How many times did we see Dano Plato flash on screen or David Underwood telling us to “relax” and “pretend it’s a game” during the launch push? Sega pretty much had to include something in the box that showed off the video playback features of the system. Considering the fact that Sega’s only two FMV games at launch were Sherlock Holmes and Night Trap (Sony Imagesoft published the Make My Video series and Sewer Shark), I’m sure the choice was an easy one. Night Trap stood to sell more units.

In Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective, you’re charged with solving three murders. Each case is a standalone game, where you bring all the resources of Holmes to bear as you attempt to figure out the murder and motive in as few moves as possible. Holmes has a list of regular contacts the player can visit for advice - from Inspector Lestrade at Scotland Yard to an ex-con named Shinwell Johnson to a local gossip columnist.

On top of that, you have access to a London Directory, where you can find any number of citizens and local businesses. In the Case of the Mummy’s Curse, for instance, you’ll most likely find yourself sifting through the directory to find local shipping companies.

If you want more information that Holmes or Watson can get on their own, you have the option to send a group of youngsters called the Baker Street Irregulars to any location. They don’t always deliver new information, but every now and then they’ll reveal a lead a witness or suspect may not have been willing to share with the world’s most famous Consulting Detective.

Finally, you have access to the London Times. Every case has a date attached, so perusing relevant issues of the Times can often reveal a lead. While you can do this in-game, owners actually got printed copies of the issues in the box as well. It was a nice nod to the PC roots of the title, where it was normal to get “feelies” in the box.

When players decide to pay a location or person a visit, one of two things would happen. If there is something relevant at that location, you’ll usually be treated to a full-motion video scene of Holmes or Watson conversing with whomever they went to visit. If there is no information to be gleaned from a particular person or location, you’ll usually see an illustration with a voice over telling you such.

Once you believe you’ve solved a case, you choose to go before a judge and answer a series of questions (usually who did it, where and why). If you’re correct you get a final score based on the number of steps it took you to solve the case, and a comparison between “Holmes’ Score,” which is basically a perfect game.

While I don’t normally bundle two games into one writeup in this series, Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective Vol. II is so similar to its predecessor that it doesn’t really warrant its own entry. This was a cardboard box release in 1993, featuring the exact same gameplay format, right down to the printed copies of the Times and the exact same intro from Sherlock Holmes.

The sequel does feature a couple of improvements, however, over and above the three new cases to solve. Whereas in Vol. I the player had no control over the video files - you watched them to the end and then chose to either re-watch or leave the scene - Vol. II features controls for pause, play, stop, fast forward and rewind during each video scene. It’s definitely a welcome edition. Likewise, the map screen and icons have been given a slight graphical overhaul.

It seems to me, however, that the sequel is a bit more stingy with video, though it is housed across two discs this time rather than a single disc in the original game. Another thing I like a bit less about the sequel is the process of visiting the judge. Here the interaction is done through full motion video, and the judge will tell you immediately if you’ve answered a question right or wrong. It feels less like you’re explaining the case and more like you’re taking a test (although I get that, technically, it is really a quiz in both games).

Along with the credit to developer ICOM Simulations on the title screen, there is also a copyright for Sleuth Publications. That’s because Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective is actually based on a board game of the same name, first published in 1981. I believe the cases included in the video games are straight out of the case books from the board games, but the game mechanics and scoring system definitely is.

ICOM is a name that console gamers in 1992 may have been familiar with, most likely due to the ports of their trailblazing Shadowgate, Deja Vu and Uninvited by Kemco-Seika on the NES. Sherlock Holmes was originally released in 1991 for just about every multimedia-capable console and computer of the time. There were versions on the FM Towns, CDTV, PC, Mac, TurboGrafx-CD, and even the Tandy Memorex Video Information System. Vol. II followed in 1992, as well as Vol. III in 1993. I’m not sure if all of them were taped at the same time, but if not, the turnaround on these releases is pretty impressive. Unfortunately, Vol. III didn’t come to any consoles.

That’s not the end of the story for Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective, though. After ICOM was purchased by Viacom and shuttered in 1998, a bunch of the former employees formed Infinite Ventures, which wound up with the intellectual rights to all of ICOM’s properties. Two of those employees, Karl Roelofs and David Marsh, subsequently formed Zojoi Interactive in 2012 and launched with a Kickstarter campaign to publish remastered versions of the Consulting Detective games. Unfortunately, the campaign failed, but Zojoi did eventually release a few of the cases featuring the original videos and an all-new interface to Windows and OSX.

Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective definitely wasn’t the most exciting pack-in of the original Sega CD software bundle, but it served its purpose perfectly, showing off the system’s full-motion video capabilities in an accessible way without cannibalising sales of more important titles like Night Trap or Sewer Shark. It’s a relaxing, intriguing way to spend a couple of hours.