Guard Me Sherlock

Alrighty. Remember how I thought I'd take another stab at Guard Me Sherlock after the combined Dear Otome app from the Shall We Date? people came out? No? Well, I did. And I'd decided that I would refrain from passing judgements on a game until completing at least one route. Because sometimes, one route is utter crap and in the Wheel of Fortune of life, I often seem to pick those first. I dunno why.

So. Yeah. There's a few things I like about this one and a lot of stuff I don't. Your mileage may vary. At this point, I've nearly completed three routes: Inspector Lestrade, John Watson (Season 1), and am nearly done with their current release of Edward Hyde (of Dr. Jekyll & Dr. Hyde fame).

What I like about it...the heroine is pretty plucky and proactive and has opinions of her own and the guys all treat her like an intelligent asset to whatever investigation is going on.

Um...that's mostly it.

Okay, not entirely. In the one route that I enjoyed (John Watson), the story was pretty engaging and mostly made sense (kind of). The characters had some chemistry together and it was nicely romantic.

But, apparently there are two types of stories in this app -- the earlier (?) ones where it's one character on a route (like the John one). And then these later ones (like the Edward Hyde one I'm on now and the Inspector one) where it's sort of like pitting the character you're after vs. Sherlock...except there's no way to actually pick Sherlock? It doesn't really make sense. And it winds up quite annoying as Sherlock sort-of vies for your affection at the same time as the other dude but correct character answers only lead in one direction. I'm not sure if they were going for a Love Tangle type of quandary but it really just doesn't work.

After I finished the Edward Hyde one, IF I play another route, it'll only be the single character things. The other ones are too annoying.

Anyway, things that I don't like...

A random example screen. The reason I had chosen the Inspector (centre) as my first route was because he was the most attractive option out of what was available. But he's kind of a bumbling idiot. And a couple of the dudes look more like ladies (like Hercule over there). Which I don't mind, but then I'd rather they were ladies that looked like ladies. And there's a kid who's supposed to be the landlord (?? in London? hahaha) and there's a route for him too? Grown up a bit but, yeah, it's kinda weird

The artwork is...well...kind of crap. Most of the guys don't look attractive at all. Mycroft is probably the worst. I literally cannot imagine a situation where I would try his route. All other otome games and routes have mysteriously disappeared from the world? I dunno. Of course, it doesn't help that he's pretty jerky, which is how he's always portrayed but...um...here too? Bleh. And half of your options are really bad guys (Moriarty and his henchmen who, you know, kill people...)

And besides the normal gacha stuff, the point thing you have to do is sort of stupid and annoying and very slow. It's like a hide and seek where you just randomly click things and get these "kiss points" and then you have to click the character to "kiss" him and earn points/tokens. It's hard to earn enough of the points/tokens this way. Takes forever AND is boring.

Then they throw this extra bonus thing in where they randomly insert little brain teasers into the storyline where you can earn extra stuff or tokens/cash. They break up the story, which is annoying, but also most of them are kind of stupid. I realise they were going for something to tie into the Sherlock / Solve a Mystery thing but it's so random that it's very off-putting. Take the last one I did...they were literally running away from someone who wanted to bodily harm them but somehow they have time to stop for a random quiz? Like, really?

Then there's the stories themselves...they...um....they don't make much sense and they aren't very clever. Take the Edward Hyde one. You're an actress and you go to Sherlock because you're engaged to a man and you think maybe he's not what he seems. An old acting friend (Edward) shows up and sort of goes all crazypants and destroys the room when he finds out you're Gilbert's (?!) fiancé because he's seen Gilbert do sketchy things. Anyway, everyone gathers together to investigate because, I guess, it's not enough for you to just hear that the dude is sketchy + your gut feeling.

As you investigate, it becomes pretty clear that the dude is sketchy as all hell. Though, to be fair, so is your good friend Edward. But we're supposed to like him, even though he's randomly violent and uncontrollable. There's a big scene at Gilbert's house where dude is literally acting all evil, polite mask removed, etc. and trying to freaking KILL you. You escape with some evidence on a USB stick. But why the F-ettyF do you even need to see what's on the USB? Dude just tried to KILL you all. With a knife. And extreme malice. But she's all, oh good now I have evidence and can break off my engagement lalala. It's just so stupid.

Anyway. Can't say that I particularly recommend this one. They also set the thing in London and then get stuff wrong about the city all the time (especially directionally and distance-wise). That annoys me, since it's my city.

Though, the John Watson route was decent. It wasn't groundbreakingly noteworthy, but it was nice. So, I guess, I'd say this app is ok...if you stick to the single character routes and not the weird Sherlock vs. someone ones.