I’ve played several Sherlock Holmes games but Sherlock Holmes: Nemesis is undoubtedly my favourite. It seems the inimitable detective may finally have met his match as he goes head to head with French master thief Arsène Lupin.  Lupin is on a mission to steal five priceless artefacts from across London in five days.  This point and click adventure sees you take on the roles of both Dr Watson and Sherlock Holmes throughout the game as you endeavour to capture the enigmatic thief.

The game begins at 221b Baker Street, where Watson and Holmes discover a letter Lupin has left for Holmes, issuing a challenge.  Lupin leaves clues to his first target and Holmes’s challenge is to find the target before it is stolen.  Much of the game is played out in this cat and mouse way, with Lupin proving to be a particularly worthy adversary as he sets out puzzles and mysteries for Holmes to solve.

The game covers many familiar locations, including 221b Baker Street, Buckingham Palace, the Tower of London and the British Museum.  There’s a visible improvement in graphic detail when compared to earlier Sherlock Holmes games.  The level of illustration is extremely high and locations are vivid, eyecatching and often beautifully portrayed.  In addition, a varied range of characters have been included in the game, including Queen Victoria herself.

The voice acting in this title is also superb, with Holmes and Watson the embodiments of ‘true English gentlemen’, all the more fitting considering there is a strongly patriotic element to this game: you’ll note from the locations above that Arsène Lupin is targeting places of great significance to English culture.  Although Watson has some excellent dialogue, the real mastery is in the way Holmes’s eccentricities and dry wit have been portrayed.

Naturally Sherlock Holmes: Nemesis is crammed full of puzzles to solve, which range from codebreaking to finding items to safecracking.  There is a range of difficulty levels throughout the games but at times it is particularly challenging.  Good general knowledge is helpful but more important are good numeracy skills as well as a good memory and a keen attention to detail.  I’d be lying if I said that there weren’t one or two frustrating moments in the game for me but it’s a credit to the game that it has so much variety that there’ll probably be something to stump everyone at some point or another!  It does make it much more satisfying when you finally reach the game’s conclusion.

This being Sherlock Holmes you would expect the unexpected: twists and turns and more questions than answers for huge chunks of the game.  The ending is particularly enjoyable and not what I anticipated, though I won’t spoil it by giving it away!  In general this is just everything that an adventure game should be: a superb storyline, supported by a wide variety of puzzles, great characters, excellent locations and plenty of gameplay.  Now available from Focus Multimedia for just £9.99, this is without doubt one of the best value adventure titles you’ll pick up in 2010 and well worth every penny.