221 B Baker St.

The Good
There is lots to like about this good looking & quite playable board type game from the late 80's.

The manual is quite comprehensive, & gives you a good idea of what the game is about, how to play it, & details of the mini cases. It is easy to get into the game, which contains an easy to use interface, with good clear instructions on how to play. The play area is quite lush, with bright coloured graphics, set in a board of a small town in which you have to explore. When entering a building you are shown a detailed picture inside, with clues about the game you are playing. There are 15 locations in all. The music & sound does what it needs to, & if you are lost you can draw up a map of the whole town. It is easy to get around & if you enter the Carriage Depot are able to go to any location on the map.

There is a massive choice of 30 mini adventures, all of which you can play as one of four characters. Sherlock Holmes, Dr Watson, Inspector Lestrade, & Irene Adler. Each has a story of a case to complete, in which you have to name the murderer, weapon used, & motive.

I played on my own, but one of the main adverts of the game is playing with other people, with up to four allowed. Each would have their own special code for clues, be able to lock others out of locations they visit, & have fun competition beating each other.

The Bad
There is not much not to like, but there are a few things that can be mentioned.

You spend your time rolling dice to get around, & it is just luck how you move. For some reason you need a badge to enter 221B Baker Street to solve the case, even if you live there like Sherlock, & have to get this each time you want to enter. If you get the reasons wrong, you have to go round to Scotland Yard for yet another badge. It also doesn't make much difference who you play as, as they are all the same, except the picture, The cases are also finite, in that once solved you wouldn't want to play again, though that is true of all adventure type games I suppose.

The Bottom Line
If you are looking for a good version of clue in a wider Victorian Setting controlling the great Sherlock Holmes this will be for you. All the games are quite small can be done in an hour or two, however you play & can be good fun. Solo is good, but I expect the real fun would be playing against other players. Although this is an early Sherlock Holmes game, it has nothing much in common with most others, which are usually straightforward adventures, but if you are looking to play him in a different perspective, this might be for you. This is a playable & good quality game for this period, & recommend it for short gameplays.