The Story Lab – Week 2: Sherlock: The Network App
I am a huge fan of the TV show Sherlock, I will say that up front, having watched my favourite few episodes more than five times each. I have never heard of Sherlock: The Network App before and after playing it, I can kind of see why. I played the first two missions fairly quickly and in full disclosure, I was fairly bored that day so it provided a distraction before I had to go out and so I bought the next few missions to see where the story. Yet, a few days later I had not gone back to it so I deleted it without bothering to discover if Mrs. Hudson was ever rescued (spoilers, she probably was). I was surprised to see that Benedict Cumberbatch and Martin Freeman had filmed short videos soley for the game which provided a nice draw for the game, but this feeling was quickly dispelled by the uninteresting missions and unengaging gameplay. Information was given through boring walls of text and the mini games were so simple to allow anyone to continue through the game without much difficulty, yet there was always an option to simply skip the challenge if you took too long.
On its surface, the app seems to be made for fan enjoyment, and while some fans may get a kick out seeing their favourite characters interacting with them through the phone and text messages, it is very clear that this is merely a glorified ad to attempt to tide fans over during the excruciatingly long waits between seasons of the show. Characters were shown through what the fans like about them most such as Watson’s exasperation at Sherlock’s abrasiveness or Molly Hooper’s crush on Sherlock to make it feel as if they are a part of the world they love seeing on screen. But a lack of effort based upon the assumption that these aspects would be enough is glaring, and while Sherlock: The Network App does work as a marketing tool to keep the show in people’s consciousness, it fails spectacularly at being something worth playing.
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