CEGiven
10-18-2004, 08:52 PM
Product Type: Puzzle Game
Manufacturer: Everett Kaser Software http://www.kaser.com
Where to Buy: http://www.kaser.com/sherwin.html
Price: $14.95 USD for PPC version, $29.95 for PPC/Windows bundle. Trial versions for both PPC and Windows are available.
http://www.CraigGiven.com/images/sher_game_screen.gif
Pros:
• Extremely addictive
• Very close to PC version
• Highly configurable
• Thousands of puzzles
• Adjustable difficulty
• Undo option for thick fingered or thick headed :oops:
• Desktop Combo bundle
Cons:
• Easy to confuse Pink and White house
• No timer option
• Menu button may be too small for some players
• Only one alternative image set delivered
Summary:
Sherlock is an addictive puzzle game named after the detective's famous quote "When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." Using visual clues you determine where each person and item resides in a grid as large as 6 x 6.
Introduction:
My favorite game has been a serious addiction since 1995 -- in the old DOS days: Everett Kaser's Sherlock. So when I bought my first PDA (an iPAQ 4155), I was excited to find that EK offers a Pocket PC version of this classic.
http://www.CraigGiven.com/images/sher_title_screen.gif
Title Screen
Sherlock gets its name from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. This penultimate sleuth is famous for his logical conclusion that "When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." (The Adventure of The Blanched Soldier -- the most famous of the six quote variations). In the game Sherlock, you deduce the location of each item using visual clues. One such graphical clue might be interpreted as "The bald man lives in a red house, which is next door to a cherry tree." But unlike the word puzzles of this nature, the graphic version makes for great fun.
http://www.CraigGiven.com/images/sher_clue_help.gif
Clues Explained (Help Pages)
Selectable Difficulty:
Puzzles can range in size from 4x4 to 6x6, and can have selectable handicaps. I prefer the challenge of the 6x6 puzzles with a handicap of zero. There are over 65,000 puzzles (the free trial version offers five puzzles which can be played with various settings for more permutations). You can also adjust the difficulty by using hints, enabling auto-complete, clue sorting, and error blocking. The latter is especially nice on the PPC since it prevents you from accidentally deleting a tile (quick tap) when you meant to expand a tile (tap and hold). Such mistakes become more frequent at 3AM as you mutter "just one more puzzle."
Faithful Rendition:
For Sherlock players of the DOS and Windows versions, the PPC version is nearly identical. The differences are to accommodate the PPC platform and are well chosen. First, there is no timer. I understand the author's choice, but wish it had been included as an option. I like trying to beat my own time, and you could play competitively using the hot-seat method. But on the PPC screen it's harder to play at top speed, so a timer's not as necessary. Also, when played at the highest difficulty, a puzzle can take more than 15 minutes to solve -- at least for someone of my IQ :) So, I frequently turn off the PPC and resume the game an hour or even a day later. I wouldn't want those scores on file!
http://www.CraigGiven.com/images/sher_help_menu.gif
Online Documentation
The second difference is the size of the menu. To accommodate the playing field (thankfully in landscape) the menu is accessed through small slivers of buttons at the bottom of the screen. They look difficult to use, but I haven't found them to be a big problem – and that despite a fat Bellagio case using a fat Belkin 4-in-1 stylus.
http://www.CraigGiven.com/images/sher_main_menu.gif
Main Menu
Highly Customizable
The option screen allows you to configure Sherlock in every major aspect. As previously mentioned, I wish there were an option to time games. Also on the main menu you can select an alternate image set for the puzzles. On the other hand, the Windows version of Sherlock has a dozen image sets for downloaded from the EK website. The lack of image sets is probably not an issue for most players, and even so it's not too big of a barrier. The image sets are a single BMP file in the IMAGES directory where the game is installed (I put it on my storage card where it consumes about 2.2Mb).
http://www.CraigGiven.com/images/sher_options.gif
Options
The default image set is simple and colorful, and it's my favorite of all the alternative sets (Windows or PPC versions). I occasionally have a problem confusing the Pink and White houses. In their small state (indicating "possible" locations) they can be hard to distinguish. But I can't fault EK for this problem, since it's partially due to the infamous iPAQ's yellow haze when viewed from an angle. Compounding the issues is a cheap screen protector that I got at the local office supply. So, to deal with the irritant I copied the delivered SHERLOCK.BMP to CEG.BMP and edited the pink house so that it's now a black house. I put my customized BMP into the IMAGES folder, and voila! Issue resolved. For more industrious types, radically different image sets could be created using a simple paint program.
http://www.CraigGiven.com/images/sher_graphic_files.gif
Alternate Image Set
Another "back door" customization that's easily accessible is sound. They are simple WAV files in the game's main directory. But since Sherlock is my diversion of choice in boring business meetings, I've used the options menu to turn off sounds :)
Conclusion:
I'm extremely thankful that EK ported this awesome game to the PPC. It nearly went undiscovered since it's only available directly from the author. The strength of game play has endured this classic for more than a DECADE! You can enjoy the desktop version as well, and can save money by purchasing the combo pack. But if you're like me, you'll be surprised to find that you're playing the PPC much more often than the Windows version![/url]
Manufacturer: Everett Kaser Software http://www.kaser.com
Where to Buy: http://www.kaser.com/sherwin.html
Price: $14.95 USD for PPC version, $29.95 for PPC/Windows bundle. Trial versions for both PPC and Windows are available.
http://www.CraigGiven.com/images/sher_game_screen.gif
Pros:
• Extremely addictive
• Very close to PC version
• Highly configurable
• Thousands of puzzles
• Adjustable difficulty
• Undo option for thick fingered or thick headed :oops:
• Desktop Combo bundle
Cons:
• Easy to confuse Pink and White house
• No timer option
• Menu button may be too small for some players
• Only one alternative image set delivered
Summary:
Sherlock is an addictive puzzle game named after the detective's famous quote "When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." Using visual clues you determine where each person and item resides in a grid as large as 6 x 6.
Introduction:
My favorite game has been a serious addiction since 1995 -- in the old DOS days: Everett Kaser's Sherlock. So when I bought my first PDA (an iPAQ 4155), I was excited to find that EK offers a Pocket PC version of this classic.
http://www.CraigGiven.com/images/sher_title_screen.gif
Title Screen
Sherlock gets its name from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's fictional detective Sherlock Holmes. This penultimate sleuth is famous for his logical conclusion that "When you have eliminated all which is impossible, then whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." (The Adventure of The Blanched Soldier -- the most famous of the six quote variations). In the game Sherlock, you deduce the location of each item using visual clues. One such graphical clue might be interpreted as "The bald man lives in a red house, which is next door to a cherry tree." But unlike the word puzzles of this nature, the graphic version makes for great fun.
http://www.CraigGiven.com/images/sher_clue_help.gif
Clues Explained (Help Pages)
Selectable Difficulty:
Puzzles can range in size from 4x4 to 6x6, and can have selectable handicaps. I prefer the challenge of the 6x6 puzzles with a handicap of zero. There are over 65,000 puzzles (the free trial version offers five puzzles which can be played with various settings for more permutations). You can also adjust the difficulty by using hints, enabling auto-complete, clue sorting, and error blocking. The latter is especially nice on the PPC since it prevents you from accidentally deleting a tile (quick tap) when you meant to expand a tile (tap and hold). Such mistakes become more frequent at 3AM as you mutter "just one more puzzle."
Faithful Rendition:
For Sherlock players of the DOS and Windows versions, the PPC version is nearly identical. The differences are to accommodate the PPC platform and are well chosen. First, there is no timer. I understand the author's choice, but wish it had been included as an option. I like trying to beat my own time, and you could play competitively using the hot-seat method. But on the PPC screen it's harder to play at top speed, so a timer's not as necessary. Also, when played at the highest difficulty, a puzzle can take more than 15 minutes to solve -- at least for someone of my IQ :) So, I frequently turn off the PPC and resume the game an hour or even a day later. I wouldn't want those scores on file!
http://www.CraigGiven.com/images/sher_help_menu.gif
Online Documentation
The second difference is the size of the menu. To accommodate the playing field (thankfully in landscape) the menu is accessed through small slivers of buttons at the bottom of the screen. They look difficult to use, but I haven't found them to be a big problem – and that despite a fat Bellagio case using a fat Belkin 4-in-1 stylus.
http://www.CraigGiven.com/images/sher_main_menu.gif
Main Menu
Highly Customizable
The option screen allows you to configure Sherlock in every major aspect. As previously mentioned, I wish there were an option to time games. Also on the main menu you can select an alternate image set for the puzzles. On the other hand, the Windows version of Sherlock has a dozen image sets for downloaded from the EK website. The lack of image sets is probably not an issue for most players, and even so it's not too big of a barrier. The image sets are a single BMP file in the IMAGES directory where the game is installed (I put it on my storage card where it consumes about 2.2Mb).
http://www.CraigGiven.com/images/sher_options.gif
Options
The default image set is simple and colorful, and it's my favorite of all the alternative sets (Windows or PPC versions). I occasionally have a problem confusing the Pink and White houses. In their small state (indicating "possible" locations) they can be hard to distinguish. But I can't fault EK for this problem, since it's partially due to the infamous iPAQ's yellow haze when viewed from an angle. Compounding the issues is a cheap screen protector that I got at the local office supply. So, to deal with the irritant I copied the delivered SHERLOCK.BMP to CEG.BMP and edited the pink house so that it's now a black house. I put my customized BMP into the IMAGES folder, and voila! Issue resolved. For more industrious types, radically different image sets could be created using a simple paint program.
http://www.CraigGiven.com/images/sher_graphic_files.gif
Alternate Image Set
Another "back door" customization that's easily accessible is sound. They are simple WAV files in the game's main directory. But since Sherlock is my diversion of choice in boring business meetings, I've used the options menu to turn off sounds :)
Conclusion:
I'm extremely thankful that EK ported this awesome game to the PPC. It nearly went undiscovered since it's only available directly from the author. The strength of game play has endured this classic for more than a DECADE! You can enjoy the desktop version as well, and can save money by purchasing the combo pack. But if you're like me, you'll be surprised to find that you're playing the PPC much more often than the Windows version![/url]