Who hasn’t heard of Sherlock Holmes? Wouldn’t you want to be on an adventure just like him?

The Jim and Frank Mysteries ($0.99)

The game is embedded with twisted puzzles and tasks for you to rattle out of. From the graphics to the engaging story, this is possibly one of the best puzzle games I’ve ever played.

Presentation

All the art in the game is beautifully hand drawn, it feels like if I were watching a cartoon, or playing a Disney game, because of the quality of the drawings. The game features some limited voice overs, but full narration of the game via text. The game is very polished, almost DS quality if you will.

Controls

The controls are simple. You can tap where you want, depending on what puzzle or minigame you are on things can vary. But usually it’s based on normal iPhone controls. Drag something here, tap here, slide here, etc. The controls are quite fun and perfect for the iPhone’s touch screen.

Gameplay

The game starts off with your grandfather sending you out on an odd quest on your birthday with your best friend. It all starts out with a simple riddle. You could compare the game to a Professor Layton game on the DS. There are different puzzles and tasks you have to complete. If you’re stuck you can buy a hint using the game’s “currency”, eureka. Eureka bills are hidden in the levels, when you see one you can tap it, or alternately, you can buy it as IAP.

The puzzles range from math puzzles, to just logic puzzles. Sometimes you’ll get puzzles like the wine one, in which you have to separate 10 liters of wine into 5 and 5 using a 7 and 3 inch container. Other times it’ll be logic puzzles, like when have to use a scale to weigh apples and find the fake one.

Tossed along the way are a serious of mini-games, like chopping wood among other things. This helps keep the gameplay a bit more fun and mixed. Overall Jim and Frank is probably one of the most fun games I’ve played on my iPhone, a DS quality game for sure.

Suggestions

There’s an iPad version. Surely they could update the game to have, oh say, iPhone 4 graphics?

Conclusion

The Jim and Frank Mysteries – The Blood River Files is one of the best games I’ve played on my iPhone lately. It’s good to see a DS quality game among other apps on the AppStore. Highly recommended.