Categorizing games in these days of ever-blurring gameplay lines is a bit like delving deeper into the Amazon rain forest and finding new orders, new genera, even whole new species everywhere you look. Sadly, I've not been granted the authority to name any new sub-genres of games, but I do have the responsibility to play those that look like adventures, sound like adventures, and even claim to be adventures. Two such games released recently are The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes and Women's Murder Club: Death in Scarlet, and while both prove to be a little too "casual" to be deemed full-fledged adventures after all, they're certainly in the same family, sharing more than a few similarities that should appeal to both adventure gamers and casual players alike.

This resemblance shouldn't be considered all that surprising, given the subject matter and pedigree behind the two titles. Fictional crime mysteries are a staple of the genre, Sherlock Holmes a frequent guest, and Lost Cases is from Legacy Interactive, better known for their Law & Order adventure games before turning their attention to the casual game market. Death in Scarlet, meanwhile, is the first game based on James Patterson's popular Women's Murder Club novels. It also happens to be designed by none other than Jane Jensen, creator of the acclaimed Gabriel Knight thrillers who went on to became the co-founder of Oberon Media and a leading proponent of casual games.

Of course, referring to "casual games" isn't overly descriptive in its own right, as it's simply an umbrella term for any pick-up-and-go experience that can range from twitch-based puzzlers to life sims, from crosswords to solitaire. Deeper into the genre jungle we must go, then, to the "hidden object" phylum. Or seek-and-find games, if you will. Kind of a Where's Waldo? mother lode. For the uninitiated, the central task of such games is simply to find a series of random items concealed in densely designed backgrounds, generally including a few standalone puzzles to vary the gameplay and a loose storyline tying the experience together. They're simple, single-mindedly goal-oriented, and surprisingly addictive. They can also be remarkably different from one another, as these two prominent recent additions will attest, so a closer look is in order.

The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous detective has starred in many adventures over the years, and The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes is marketed as a "lavish mystery adventure game", but the new game shouldn't be confused with the likes of Frogwares' ongoing series or the classic, similarly-named Lost Files of Sherlock Holmes titles. It does happen to be the first game officially licensed by Doyle's Estate, though this distinction doesn't seem to make much practical difference. The use of Holmes as a central protagonist, however, does offer an appealing narrative lure and more importantly, a different spin on the familiar hidden object gameplay formula.

The game is split into 16 distinct chapters, with each revolving around a new crime to be solved, from murder to blackmail to cat burglary, and plenty in between. New cases are introduced through a non-interactive dialogue establishing the details of the crime, often treating players to visits from old favourites like Inspector Lestrade and Sherlock's brother Mycroft, and of course Dr. Watson as the trusty sidekick. Surprisingly for a casual game, these dialogues are fully voiced, and the solid vocal performances all do full justice to the famous characters they portray. The hand drawn portraits during these sections are designed nicely, but a little too simplistic and cartoony in comparison with the rest of the game.

The graphics throughout the hidden object portions of the game are appropriately detailed, covering 40 different historically accurate locations from Victorian era London, with stops at the Diogenes Club and 221b Baker Street for good measure. A few higher resolution options would have been preferable, but what's provided is certainly acceptable. Many of the items to find are small and hard to spot with the naked eye, but here Lost Cases makes good use of one of Sherlock's familiar detective instruments. With a quick button click, you can activate the magnifying glass, which makes a big difference in picking out details you'd otherwise miss. While both necessary and admirable in concept, however, I'll admit to not being too fond of using it. The area covered isn't particularly large and yet it's highly magnified, so the exercise feels less like scanning specific items up close and more like sweeping the screen for indiscernible lines and patterns.

Along with the magnifying glass, the most distinctive difference from most hidden object games is what you're looking for. Usually you're tasked with finding a list of objects seemingly pulled from a hat, which would make no sense at all in a serious role like Sherlock Holmes. There are still a handful of such searches (and they're every bit as out of place as they sound, despite a rather weak attempt to justify them), but for the most part you'll be examining two images looking for differences. The screen is split in half horizontally, with the top and bottom representing before-and-after contrasting scenes. What you're trying to find, then, are objects that exist in one and not the other, or are slightly altered in some way. A similar comparative exercise is used for specific items occasionally, like paintings or guns. This is totally in keeping with logical investigative technique, and feels more organic to the process.

On the flip side, the mandatory time limit feels completely contrived. Only once in the game did I come even remotely close to running out of time, but the pressure tactics detracted from the experience, especially as speed was never rationalized by the story ("Quickly, before the killer strikes again!"). Some hidden object games have wisely dispensed with time limits or made them optional, and Lost Cases would have been better served following suit. Still, there are a reasonable number of hints supplied, so most players shouldn't have any difficulty getting through the levels in the time allotted.

There are plenty of other puzzles to solve when not scouring crime scenes, some worked in more seamlessly than others. Experienced adventure gamers will find a laundry list of familiar puzzles, including the likes of sliders, jigsaws, cryptograms, anagrams, and various Simon-like challenges. You can bypass a limited number of these puzzles entirely if you wish, but at the cost of a fairly significant time deduction. Fortunately, since most are quite manageable in difficulty, this shouldn't be much of an issue. Each case is concluded by arranging suspects in a thematic Sudoku sort of puzzle, and then "deducing" the culprit. I use the word loosely, as there's no real deduction involved, just following a pre-determined process-of-elimination memory minigame until Holmes surprises everyone with a convoluted resolution only he could have reached.

In fact, the lack of any sort of actual case analysis is one of the bigger disappointments throughout the game. Suspects, increasing in number from six to twelve as you progress, are simply announced upon discovery of a particular object that somehow incriminates them. This is done through an intrusive text box that brings the game to a screeching halt often enough that you'll start to resent them. There is an option to switch this feature off, but then you end up with a group of suspects automatically compiled with no explanation at all, which detaches you further still from the already slim narrative.

Of course, by the time you've finished the game in five or six hours (add a couple if you're more Watson than Holmes), you'll have long since adjusted any false expectations going in. This is not a traditional adventure, after all, so lay to rest any hopes of deep plot, freedom of exploration, character interaction, or even consistent puzzle integration. As a casual title, however, The Lost Cases of Sherlock Holmes is a solid hidden object game with some clever gameplay twists and a nice use of the license, and the biggest challenge may just be resisting the next case… and the next… and the next…