Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper review for Xbox 360

I love Sir Arthur Conan Doyles' books about the great London Sleuth. So I was pleased when I heard that they would be releasing a puzzle game based on the infamous Jack the Ripper case from 1888. If this introduction to the review seems very basic and bland then it's because the game is just that!

+ I'm gonna start with the positives........which won't take very long. A few of the puzzles are genuinely enjoyable. That's it! Now onto the bad things. This could take a while so you'll have to excuse if I rant.

GRAPHICS

- Graphically the game is beyond poor. I would expect this from a PS2 launch title and even then the graphics would suck! Everything from lighting to textures, character models, scenery. It's all bland and un-inspiring. The character animation is so lazy it beggars belief. I clicked on a light-switch in one point of the game which was shoulder-height with the character. He reached upto the ceiling! The game developers haven't even tried putting effort into this!

SOUND

- Sound. Oh my god! What the f**k were they thinking? It's not even passable as 'Resident Evil B-Movie cheese'. It's just horrible. I could be here all day trying to explain but it wouldn't even scratch the tip of the iceberg. Holmes sounds like he's got a blocked nose, Watson sounds like he couldn't care less and please, for the love of all you hold dear, don't get me started on the children in this game. My ears are still bleeding from awfulness of it all! The game does have sub-titles, so if you do play this tragedy of a game, turn the volume down. Music is repetitve and cliched and the ambient sounds of Victorian London are virtually non-existent.

GAMEPLAY

- Gameplay......HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!!! *Ahem* Yeah right. What bloody gameplay? This is meant to be a point and click. I'm a huge fan of point and click games. Broken Sword, Monkey Island, Beneath the Steel Sky are all amazing games. This is not! You move your character manually and only click on clues which couldn't be any more obvious if they had a big neon sign above them. There's no 'run' button so you move at a snails pace everywhere you go. You would've thought that with a psychotic killer on the loose, they'd move a lot quicker.

- The game is also ridiculously linear with no exploration of any kind. The puzzles, as mentioned before, are sometimes enjoyable but for the most part are just bloody stupid! For example, I came across a door that was locked. In order to unlock it, you need to pick up some tarpaulin from the ground and use it on the door..........WHAT THE HELL?! Wire maybe but tarpaulin?! What were the developers thinking?

- There is no replay value. Trust me, you wouldn't want to play this through twice. I honestly can't explain how bad this game is. I wouldn't pay for this if it came out on the PS1. Seriously, it's THAT bad! One of the worst games I have ever played.

SHOULD I BUY?

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! Don't even rent this garbage. Instead, put your efforts into getting a petition going so we can burn every single copy of this piece of crap!!

Hours played 8+. I want those 8 hours of my life back. Achievement difficulty: 2/10.