Metascore
73 out of 100

Mixed or average reviews - based on 26 Critics

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 13 out of 26
  2. Negative: 0 out of 26
  1. One of the best adventure titles I have ever played.
  2. Sherlock Holmes‘ latest case is probably his darkest adventure. It’s a great game and I can recommend it to everyone who’s looking for a thrilling adventure.
  3. Good show yet again, Mr Holmes. The master detectives latest adventure pits him and doctor Watson against the nefarious killer Jack the Ripper in a dark and dangerous adventure of creative and interesting puzzles based on detective work. Might be a bit too easy for veterans of the genre though. [Feb 2010]
  4. Overall, Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper is a nice enough adventure if you’re interested in the Jack the Ripper murders.
  5. 80
    In spite of some mediocre voice acting, a bit of wooden animation and a strangely out of character climax, Sherlock Holmes Versus Jack the Ripper is a fascinating re-imagining of the Whitechapel murders.
  6. But for the rest of you adventure fans or for those who have ever dreamt themselves detectives, Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper should not be missed.
  7. 80
    Jack the Ripper proves to be an able adversary for Sherlock Holmes, and the pursuit of him makes for a great adventure and a ripping yarn.
  8. Up until the finale, Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper is a compelling adventure game that largely does things right to appeal to both fans and non-fans of point-and-click games.
  9. Sherlock Holmes vs Jack The Ripper is a good adventure with some nice investigative sections set in a suggestive London. Despite some technical problems, It still worth the price.
  10. More suspense, less predictability, and Frogwares will finally create an ideal Sherlock Holmes adventure.
  11. A decent adventure game with a lot of historical nuance, and one that most will enjoy. Better integrated puzzles and more thoughtful clue finding missions would improve the overall quality, but what is here is still fun.
  12. Frogwares offers us a great virtual adaptation of what happened in Whitechapel in 1988, with the adventures of Sherlock Holmes. A great story, with amazing puzzles all throughout the adventure.
  13. The whole contest is greatly recreated, but the puzzles and riddles are not that smart.
  14. It doesn’t advance the adventure genre very far beyond tradition, but hunting a vicious murderer and solving puzzles along the way is mostly satisfying.
  15. Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper is a good adventure with a motivating story, exciting investigations, mostly decent voice action and an atmospheric world. The game suffers from it's wooden animations, its linearity, poor 3D controls and some really annoying minigames and puzzles though.
  16. It may look a bit dry and Whitechapel could have been filled with more life, but it's fun to hunt Jack the Ripper with both Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson. Watson is more than just a sidekick this time, even though both heroes are played quite similar. The best Sherlock Holmes game from Frogwares so far.
  17. There is no other comparable work then to hunt for the Whitechapel butcher. At least all of the videogames, books and movies are still far far ahead. This great game is pulled down by boring investigation and routines not related to the main story. [July 2009]
  18. The game is okay for adventure fans but it suffers from bad visuals and clunky controls.
  19. The Victorian era's greatest fictional sleuth takes on its most infamous real-life villain in an adventure that alternates between generic and gripping.
  20. Sherlock Holmes vs Jack the Ripper is a good graphic adventure, full of funny gameplay Sadly, the technical aspect is poor and feels some 10 years old, but if you can live with that, a good storytelling and plenty of exploration and problem solving will keep you busy.
  21. Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper is an unexpectedly sedentary and thoughtful game, and it’s far from bloody awful, if not quite the ripping good yarn it could have been.
  22. Puzzles slay the sense of urgency and tension as quickly as the killer does people.
  23. Sherlock Holmes versus Jack the Ripper is a well constructed adventure, but the necessary linearity and dependence on following a pre-established timeline do hinder the overall effect of the game and rob it of much of its suspense.
  24. Sherlock Holmes vs. Jack the Ripper is not without its shortcomings. Some of the puzzles make you want to hurt people, some of the acting and writing is laughably bad, and its poor 3rd person controls are incredibly annoying.
  25. It's just not good enough and, crucially, makes Holmes and Watson do things they just wouldn't do in the books. Which is, at the end of the day, the biggest flaw. [Apr 2010, p.89]
  26. The game starts explicitly telling you the answers to questions mere moments before asking the questions. [Oct 2009, p.79]
User Score

Generally favorable reviews- based on 18 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 8
  2. Negative: 2 out of 8
  1. 10
    If you enjoy games such as Dear Esther, then you will enjoy Jack the Ripper. Frogwares did a great job on the atmosphere of this game. A well told narrative, interesting characters and an overall atmosphere that genuinely conveys the horror of the time. If you play adventure games to savour the atmosphere, then Jack the Ripper will not disappoint. Full Review »
  2. Best adventure game i ever played. Normal adventure will let u slove some silly puzzle and most of them r no connection to the story. But this one different, many of the puzzle r reasonable and will have player to think abt the case, just like u r the detective to deduct the crime scene. The atmosphere is also a great job, u will feel that u jus in the time 1888, and even some of the historical suspect include in the game. NPC and the street not so 'detail' bcos it is not sand box game like GTA or Elder Scroll etc, so u hav no reason to complain it. And finally it gave a good conclusion to the killer and his motive. If u r very enjoy playing adventure game and not some fastidious person, this one will surely not disappoint u. Full Review »
  3. This game is a very competent game, and ends nicely too. Get it for cheap though. Unfortunately, some decisions made at the development time reduces it's fun value substantially, and may mean that it will not stand up as well as other point-and-click games over time (Syberia, Longest Journey etc.). The music brings nothing to it (to the extent that I found listening to Ambient channel from di.fm a good substitute). They put dev effort into NPC's walking in circles, a better choice would have been to stretch the graphics and bring in weather effects (smog/fog??), wind, moving windows etc. The walking NPC's bring nothing to the game. The puzzles are decent and easy enough (apart from one slight buggy ellipse one, google a solution), all in general work within the storyline too. Dev effort went into supplying both first and third person views, fail, because neither are done especially well. In fact, the third person view is often unusable. And without any toon or HUD on display, the first person view makes you feel like a box walking around. Finally, if all good and imaginative games are journeys, this alas isn't one until the last hour of play, where it picks up speed nicely to it's conclusion. There is no sense of urgency (even in the game, weeks go by between actions). That may have been so then, but for a game, it makes things lag quite a bit. For me, each session play lasted about 45 minutes until I got bored and left it for the next day. Worth getting for less than $9, enjoy it for it's ending, and use your own music. But I do not see myself picking up another SH game any time soon. Full Review »