~2 minute readAfter Hours
High-Tech Sleuthing With Infocom's Sherlock
Infocom’s Sherlock: The Riddle of the Crown Jewels pits you against Sherlock Holmes's nemesis, Professor Moriarty. Her Majesty's Golden Jubilee is only two days away, and Moriarty has stolen the Crown Jewels. The Queen must wear the jewels for the Jubilee; their loss is a disaster. Moriarty has left plenty of clues, clearly intending to lead Holmes into a trap. In order to derail the Professor's plans, the Great Detective introduces a random factor by putting you, Dr. Watson, in charge of the investigation.
Solving Professor Moriarty's poetic clues requires some knowledge of English history. For example:
For two-score years I reigned alone.
A virgin queen on England's throne.
My navy caused Armada's shame.
And with me died the Tudor name.
You'll find other clues in the package. Infocom supplies a map of London and the previous day's "London Thames." Do look beyond the obvious places for clues — at least one important clue is found only in the Instruction Manual. You must find and solve the clues in order to figure out what to do next.
Sherlock features Infocom's new on-line hints. These are an electronic version of the "Invisiclues" hint booklets available for older games. With them, you can solve Moriarty's verses even if your historical knowledge is limited to King Arthur and Princess Di. Of course, the list of questions is a clue in itself, so the game advises against using hints. In fact, you can turn HINTS OFF to avoid temptation.
Every time you enter a command, time passes. You have just 48 hours to find the stolen jewels and save England's pride. If you run out of time, simply start over. With the knowledge you've gained, the next time will go faster. When you know exactly what you're doing, you can solve almost all the clues in less than 12 game hours. Certain events happen at fixed times, so the final minutes will always be a frantic rush.
Sherlock is the first of what Infocom calls its "Immortal Legends" series, based on familiar characters from English literature. It’s an auspicious first offering, and one that Friends of the Great Detective and adventure gamers alike will enjoy.
List Price: Sherlock: The Riddle of the Crown Jewels, $39.95.
Requires: 192K RAM, one disk drive, DOS 2.0 or later. Not copy
protected. Infocom, 125 CambridgePark Dr., Cambridge,
MA 02240. (617)576-3190.
This article appeared in
PC Magazine
28 Jun 1988
These historical, out-of-print articles and literary works have been GNUSTOed onto InvisiClues.org for academic and research purposes.
