Sherlock; Riddle of the Crown Jewels - Infocom œ24.99

I  know what you're thinking.  You can't get Sherlock on the  ST. 
Quite  right;  but you CAN get it on the PC and run it on the  ST 
using PC Ditto!

You'll  need a fair amount of patience because the  program  runs 
very slowly. But, if you're as big a fan of Infocom adventures as 
I  am  and  if you were equally miffed  that  they  have  stopped 
releasing  games for the ST,  you will probably be able to  stand 
the lack of speed without too much cursing.

That isn't too bad when you are first exploring but even I  found 
it a bit of a pain if you have to replay a large chunk or if  you 
have  to  make use of the WAIT command for any  length  of  time. 
Another time when it drives you mad is when you type an incorrect 
command  or misspell something and know you have to sit and  wait 
for  it to tell you it doesn't know what you're on  about  before 
you can have another try! 

So,  was it worth all the hassle?  Luckily,  yes. It isn't one of 
their  harder games but it can still cause quite a bit  of  hair-
pulling.  I  would  imagine that Americans would find  it  a  bit 
harder  than  we Brits as a certain elementary  (couldn't  resist 
it!) knowledge of British history comes in handy to solve some of 
the clues.

In the adventure,  you play Doctor Watson, Holmes' companion. The 
story  starts  with you outside 221b Baker Street during  one  of 
London's  infamous pea-souper fogs.  Gaining entry to the  house, 
you  meet  Mrs  Hudson who tells you that she  is  worried  about 
Holmes;  he  hasn't eaten or slept for three days and  there's  a 
visitor waiting in the parlour to see him on important government 
business.  No trying to sneak past her to see who the  mysterious 
visitor is; she won't let you past till you go up and see Holmes.

Upstairs,  you can see the problem. Holmes is sitting on the sofa 
with a phial of colourless liquid in one hand and his other  hand 
resting on a hypo in a morocco case. Things look pretty bad.

If you can snap Holmes out of his stupor,  you will find out what 
the visitor wants Holmes to do. The Crown Jewels have been stolen 
with  only  a  couple  of days to  go  to  the  Queen's  Jubilee. 
Naturally,  he  wants Holmes to recover the missing  regalia  and 
return  them  to the Palace before the festivities start  as  the 
crime  cannot  be hidden after that time.  The only clue  to  the 
theft is a set of verses.

Of course, it would be pretty boring trailing around after Holmes 
as  he carries out his detective work but luckily Holmes  decides 
that it will put the thief off the scent if you lead the way. The 
game is afoot!

In  the course of the adventure,  you will travel round  a  large 
section of Victorian central London, collecting clues and finding 
yet  more cryptic verses which have to be deciphered so that  you 
know where to go next. A basic map of the area is supplied in the 
packaging.


As Infocom is an American company, it is quite interesting to see 
not only an American's view of London,  but an American's view of 
Victorian London.  Generally,  the atmosphere is pretty good  but 
there  are a few errors,  notably a sign on the Tower  of  London 
informing  you  that the Tower is shut but adding  "have  a  nice 
day". Hmmm.....

However,  the puzzles more than make up for such lapses.  If  you 
should get stuck, there are built-in hints which can be called up 
during play.  Unfortunately,  this is a bit too tempting when you 
get stuck.  When playing the PC version,  you do tend to get  put 
off  experimenting as often as you would normally with a game  as 
you know it will take so long to replay if you go wrong.

Though  Sherlock  isn't one of the better Infocoms,  it  is  well 
worth a look. I would rate their earlier games higher though that 
opinion  could  be affected by the slowness of  the  program.  It 
won't  keep  you going for as long as most of their  other  games 
(Plundered Hearts being a notable exception) but it is still very 
enjoyable. 

It remains to be seen whether it will be possible to play the  PC 
versions of the latest Infocoms (Zork Zero, Journey etc) using PC 
Ditto. I think it is doubtful because of the graphics. If they do 
run,  they  will certainly be even slower than Sherlock  and  you 
might  need a 1040 as well.  I know that PC Police Quest II  will 
run extremely slowly on a 1040 though it fails to load completely 
on a 520.

                                        Sue