It's weird really. They tried in someways to emulate the atmosphere of the JtR but none of them rises to the same awesomness as JtR. There isn't just that foreboding feeling you got in JtR.
It's little bit brighter in general too (not necessarily a bad thing). There's also a sewer part that I suppose is meant to be tense moment but the effect is more or less "The fuck is this?".
I read in AdventureGames they hired a team of TV writers to give them advice, I believe that because there is a lot of things that DONT work.
First the fucking children ... why does the game not only starts with those little shits but also its interrupted at times by the little shits? Is this some bizare attempt to get the womenfolk to buy the game? they served no purpose besides being a reminder children are in fact rather annoying.
Then we had the whole attempt at trying to make Holmes perhaps being a "bad guy" ... I could get it if this was the first Sherlock Holmes games since there is nothing established but its not and worst, they keep referencing their other games, like Jack the Ripper so we already know that is bullshit, Watson is further made into a idiot since at the point were he should have washed the hands of the whole thing, that is when the Judge is killed by a explosion and we are lead to believe Holmes caused it ... he did not and its worst, he knew the Judge was a good guy so yep, Holmes allowed a innocent good man to die but instead GOES LOOKING FOR HIM and who the hell wrote this sure as hell did not knew when to stop because behold, we have Holmes acting as if he is a bad guy again ... all to setup that stupid suicide scene, oh and apparently the writer forgot the "Doctor" part of Watson since I dont believe he would not recognize that as being a trick, he served in Afghanistan as a doctor and the game ITSELF mentions that ... sure you can "rationalize" it as you want but Watson is NOT just Holmes idiot sidekick.
And last the fucking ending ... I mean, did someone given birth because why the FUCK we had Moriarty's daughter in this right at the end so Holmes could ... God, this game story ... no, its not like he married her (at least I hope not) but its like "and Holmes became a father and so became a balanced person", well FUCK YOU by reducing Sherlock Holmes to some angast teenager from Anime that at the end learns a valuable lesson and becomes a better person, you are a HACK WRITER ... this mist have come from those advisers, there is a reason why they are writing TV scripts you know.
Oh did I mentioned they killed Moriarty? this is now the only game they made with Moriarty as the main villain and I have to say, the basic plot is not bad but they added a ton of shit that just drags it down and I am not found of how they decided to portray Moriarty either.
And to end, the stupid death of the Bishops nephew that is just ... dumb, falling into molted steel because the dog is chasing a cat above ... real pinnacle of dark comedy.
I am going to say this is decline because their previous games were just much better, this plot is so absurd and borders into character assassination (Holmes motives to act in such a way are plain retarded) were the only good thing we can say is, it looks better that before ... thats it.