My DBA obsessed friend Julian invited/forced us around to his place desperate for a game with me. Unfortunately he did not reckon on Kirsty and Vanessa insisting on us playing Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective as a group instead. The poor guy was frustrated, but he took it gracefully. It’s not as if SH:CD is a poor choice anyway.
Sherlock Holmes: Consulting Detective is one of the only two games that I have awarded a perfect 10 at the Geek. It’s a paragraph based game, meaning that it plays similarly to the Fighting Fantasy books I played as a boy.
You can play cooperatively, with players reading the paragraphs together, or competitively, with players reading solo. I prefer cooperative as players interact and the game is faster.
As it is cooperative, the game feels more laid back than normal board games – you can play lying on the sofa. On the other hand, it’s extremely tough. Last night we failed to get to the bottom of the mystery and that made it a bit frustrating. The stories have many strands and false paths. There is no luck involved, just deduction.
It’s almost like an RPG, but has more structure without the weight of rules and preparation. Finally, it’s very literary and makes you feel immersed in the flavour of Victorian London and the stories of Sherlock Holmes.
I can’t recommend this gaming experience highly enough. This is the most cooperative game I can think of, more so than RPGs, and it is much more satisfying than Knizia’s Lord of the Rings.