Sherlock Holmes: The Mystery of the Persian Carpet
- May 9, 2008
- Frogwares
- 3h median play time
"Sherlock Holmes: The Mystery of the Persian Carpet" is a single-player point-and-click mystery game set in 1896 London. You play as Holmes and Watson, investigating a painter's murder found inside a unique Persian carpet. Explore crime scenes, interview suspects, and analyze evidence to solve the mystery and unravel the carpet's significance. While having a good story, be prepared for some grinding elements during gameplay.
Mac OS
PC
Reviews
- The deduction board mechanic is an interesting way to connect clues and suspects.
- Some puzzles are enjoyable and provide a decent challenge.
- The game can be a fun experience for fans of hidden object games.
- The hidden object scenes are frustratingly difficult, with many items being too small or blending into the background.
- The game lacks voice acting and has minimal dialogue, making it feel static and unengaging.
- Many assets and locations are reused from previous games, leading to a sense of repetition and laziness in design.
- story60 mentions
- 27 % positive mentions
- 67 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The story in the game is generally perceived as weak and underdeveloped, with many players finding it basic, confusing, or unengaging. While some appreciate the intriguing premise and puzzle-solving elements, the lack of character development, voice acting, and coherent narrative detracts from the overall experience, leaving it feeling shallow and uninspired. Overall, the game may appeal to those who prioritize puzzles over story, but it falls short for players seeking a compelling narrative.
“The plot was intriguing, and most of the puzzles were fun!”
“The story is the strongest point of the game, a reasonably nice investigation, though that’s not to say it’s spectacular.”
“I'll recommend this game for the story & for the suspect's picture investigations & linking clues.”
“Without much story or characterization to provide context, the whole ordeal feels quite uninspiring.”
“The story isn't entertaining, nor is it told well as Holmes and Watson say nothing about what's going on, leaving the player to figure out this mess of a crime on their own.”
“The story was so poorly set up and rushed that I didn't care for the investigation or finding objects.”
- music32 mentions
- 13 % positive mentions
- 78 % neutral mentions
- 9 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with many players noting that it consists of a limited loop of classical tracks, often leading to boredom due to its repetitiveness. While some appreciate the quality and period-appropriate feel of the music, others criticize it for being recycled from previous titles in the series, lacking variety, and contributing to a monotonous gameplay experience. Overall, the absence of voice acting and reliance on a small selection of tracks detracts from the game's overall immersion.
“The music sounds good and establishes the time period, and it's one of the best things about this whole game.”
“I enjoyed doing a few puzzles alongside repeating classical music.”
“Music is quite good but only one or two tracks.”
“The music is actually a continuous loop of two short classical music pieces, which means that after playing for some time you could start to wonder if adding a couple more would not have yielded a better user experience.”
“The environments and music are 100% recycled from the Secret of the Silver Earring, which came out years earlier.”
“My experience with this game: get bored, fall asleep, play some more just because I can't leave the game unfinished, get drowsy (music is sending me to sleep again), fight through sleepy piano music to finish the game.”
- gameplay27 mentions
- 19 % positive mentions
- 67 % neutral mentions
- 15 % negative mentions
The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it frustrating due to poorly designed hidden object mechanics and confusing controls. While some appreciated the puzzle-solving elements and the deduction system, others criticized the lack of depth and repetitive nature of the gameplay, leading to a general sentiment that it does not justify its price or time investment. Overall, the game seems to struggle with balancing engaging mechanics and player satisfaction.
“The locations still look great and the mystery was pretty decent with good puzzles and an interesting deduction mechanic.”
“Despite it, this goes in a way with more deduction and investigation focus, and in order to be more enjoyable, this game presents a new mechanic of deduction, which permits making links between evidence, suspects, scenes, and weapons.”
“To be precise, I wasn't impressed by the 'hidden object' mechanics, but by everything else, including puzzles, riddles, and especially the suspect-clue-victim linking system.”
“The hidden object gameplay was presented in boring areas and tried to make up for it by hiding objects in frustrating to look areas (such as dark patches in the levels) or making you look for very small objects or other frustrating to find things such as barely visible drag marks and footprints.”
“While the puzzle solving is great fun for a while, it can get frustrating and without any other type of gameplay like dialogue or walking, it gets repetitive.”
“I would like to be able to comment on the storyline in the game, but I was too distracted by the terrible gameplay to even notice what was happening.”
- graphics16 mentions
- 19 % positive mentions
- 63 % neutral mentions
- 19 % negative mentions
The graphics in the game are generally considered low quality, with many users noting that they are outdated and lack movement, making it difficult to find hidden objects due to poor visibility and design choices. While some appreciate the art style and music, the overall consensus is that the graphics do not meet the standards set by previous titles in the series, leading to frustration during gameplay. Overall, the graphics receive mixed reviews, with a score around 6/10 reflecting their adequacy for a budget game but highlighting significant shortcomings.
“Graphics and music are actually quite good considering this is a casual game from 2008 (2010 for Apple, haha!).”
“Still giving this a thumbs up for the gameplay, logic-based detective work, and 2008-era graphics/music.”
“The case of the silver earring has great voice acting, great graphics, less pixel hunt frustration, and a much more interesting story.”
“The 'find the hidden objects' part of it was absurd as some of the things were either half covered that you couldn't make out the shape of it at all and therefore not spot it, or it was so submerged in the graphics that you really couldn't see it (example: brown dirt on brown floor).”
“Due to poor graphic choices, I couldn't find some items even with the gamma turned up to max, so I had to resort to using walkthroughs just to move on to the next stage.”
“Graphics is low quality, fonts are just ugly.”
- grinding10 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The grinding aspect of the game is widely criticized for being tedious and repetitive, leading to a lack of immersion and enjoyment. Players find the hidden object puzzles and overall gameplay to be boring, with many expressing that the experience feels more like a chore than fun. Despite some appreciation for the art style, the tedious nature of the game significantly detracts from its appeal.
“It's tedious and repetitive, and the stakes are so low that it's hard to really get immersed in the mystery here.”
“The hidden object aspect of it is just too tedious.”
“Given the price and tedious gameplay, this game wouldn't even suit mobile phones.”
- stability1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
Overall, users express dissatisfaction with the game's stability, indicating that even if fixing issues is part of the gameplay, the experience is still not recommended due to persistent bugs.
“If fixing the game is part of your puzzle (which I am partial to, if it is not clearly just buggy), then I still do not recommend.”
“The game crashes frequently, making it nearly unplayable.”
“I experienced constant lag and glitches that ruined the overall experience.”
- emotional1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of the game is criticized for being shallow and lacking depth, with reviewers finding the story unengaging and boring.
“It's just a shallow game with a boring story in text form... skip.”
“The emotional moments felt forced and lacked any real depth.”
“I didn't connect with the characters at all; their struggles felt superficial.”
- atmosphere1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game effectively captures a Sherlock Holmes atmosphere, enhanced by classic tunes and a clear investigative purpose. Players appreciate the intriguing puzzles and a unique linking system for suspects, clues, and victims, contributing to an immersive experience.
“Overall, I appreciated the game; the Sherlock atmosphere, with classic tunes and a clear purpose (investigating a crime), created an engaging experience. The game also presented some interesting puzzles, including some tough ones, and featured an intriguing suspect-clue-victim linking system.”
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