He’s back! London, 1899. Inspired by the writings of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Frogwares, Ltd. of Ukraine has produced the latest in an ever popular series of adventure games featuring Sherlock Holmes. If you enjoy puzzles (environmental puzzles and “puzzles” puzzles), you’ll like this game. Sherlock has been summoned by his cousin, Elizabeth Montcalfe. Her father disappeared six months earlier under questionable circumstances, and the local authorities believe he committed suicide. Elizabeth strongly disagrees and asks Sherlock for an investigation. The entire game takes place in Montcalfe’s manor. It’s a very large structure and there’s loads to do.

This is a very challenging game! It’s the traditional pixel hunt with a morphing cursor. The game allows for large, medium, and small installations. I played the “large” and my CD hardly spun at all. The graphics are average, cut scenes quite good, and the music and SFX are excellent. The Mystery of The Mummy has no NPCs at all. The only conversation you’ll hear is Sherlock talking to himself and talk during the cut scenes. So if you’re a dialog junkie, this game may not be your cup of tea. However, if you enjoy the challenge of puzzles (ranging from easy to extraordinarily difficult), this is your game! Should I use the dreaded “S word”? Okay – there are two slider puzzles in the game (gulp). One is fairly easy, the other, ahem, challenging. The game is played in first-person mode and is very linear. Frogwares has done a great job of presenting plot relevant puzzles. I enjoy puzzles – I enjoyed the game. Towards the end of the game you’ll encounter the “mother of all puzzles”. It’s called a Nonogram. What’s that? Well, its 899 small black and white tiles. You must place them exactly correctly on a grid of 899 squares in order to form a picture. Trust me, there is no way you can do this on your own – even given a thousand years! The good news is there are and will be hints and walkthroughs which will show the correct pattern. Luckily (thank you, Frogwares), you can “drag” tiles onto the pattern – you don’t have to place them one by one. I know this sounds daunting, but don’t be intimidated by it – you’ll get help. I have a feeling those upstanding folks at Frogwares or The Adventure Company just might “spoil” you here. Right, guys?

One of the most enjoyable parts of the game for me was the “rotating room”. Basically, you can’t get there from here. With every step you take, the room rotates. Simply trying to get yourself to a door can be challenging not to mention disorienting. How come when someone says “not to mention” something THEY MENTION IT? That would be a good one for George Carlin! Heh heh.

The game interface is a snap – a satchel for your inventory and a “notebook” for saves, loads, etc. One problematic area for me, however, was that there are slots for only six saves. There are some timed sequences in the game and you’ll definitely want to save, but you shouldn’t do it too often since you may not be able to “get back” to where you want without starting a new game. Other than the “save” issue, I found this to be a very professionally produced and enjoyable game. If you enjoy puzzles, this game is for you, and given the relatively low MSRP, there’s a lot of bang for the buck.

Final Grade: B-

System Requirements:

• Windows 98/2000/ME/XP
• Pentium II 350 MHZ or equivalent
• 64 MB RAM
• 16MB DirectX compatible video card
• DirectX compatible sound card