CSI: Crime Scene Investigation
And in some ways, the game does the show justice. The five cases you’re asked to solve are similar to what you’d see in a typical episode, and the scripts are well-written and aimed at the same mature audience. The dialogue is a particular strongpoint, with lots of genuinely witty banter exchanged.
That said, while the acting of the supporting characters is generally quite good, the main characters deliver their lines with all the emotion of Mr. Spock. I guess the remuneration for participating in the game didn’t compare to their weekly paychecks, and their lack of enthusiasm shows. These performances let down the game’s script-writers as well as the show’s fans.
The biggest letdown, though, is the gameplay, which is simplistic even for casual gamers. Solving a case basically consists of finding all the clues at each location (the cursor changes color when you move it over a hotspot), exhausting all the dialogue-tree options for each suspect, showing all the evidence you collect to Greg Sanders in the laboratory and/or Al Robbins in the morgue, and occasionally using a computer or microscope to examine or compare certain evidence. Every clue is spoon-fed.
It’s a shame, too, because the potential is here for a challenging investigation based on clever detective work. You have a whole slew of tools to help you, such as a print-lifting machine, an odor-sniffing device, luminal for finding blood at the scene, and many more. Instead of having to figure things out on your own, though, your partner (one of the stars from the show) will tell you exactly what you should do in almost every situation.
If you’re a complete bonehead and still can’t figure out what to do, you can ask your partner for a clue, but at the cost of some points, which are used to determine how successful you were at solving the case (and “rewarding” you with concept art as a bonus). A little more freedom would have been welcome, especially since the hint system was already put into place for those who required more hand-holding.
The building blocks for a good game are certainly in place, but it seems like the developers took the easy (fast) way out more often than not. Take the low-res graphics, for instance — while they’re certainly acceptable (except for the Godzilla-movie lip synching), that’s as far as they go. The cases are straight-up and lack tension or development.
I really don’t know if this game will fully appeal to anyone: it’s too shallow for gamers, and the stars’ lackluster effort may disappoint the show’s fans.