CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

The Good
Since episodes of CSI have begun showing up as re-runs, I've become a real fan of the television show. So, I decided to try out all the games, starting with this first one.

The cases are varied and get a little more complex as you go along. It was interesting that two of the cases connected together, drawing upon previously found evidence and information. Hearing the voices of the real actors and actresses is definitely a plus, and they voice-acted very well.

The interface is so very easy with the absolute necessities and no frills, which I prefer. Your place in the game is automatically saved, which is nice. After you finish, you can go back and redo the cases to improve your scores (which are really an evaluation of your sleuthing performance). And, if you choose the "full installation", you can put the CDs away because they'll never be accessed again.

There isn't much music to speak of. What music there is was in keeping with the theme and played in the background.

The Bad
The graphics are not up to par, in my opinion, even for a game released two years ago. The artists tried their best to duplicate the likenesses of the real-life actors but only managed to pull it off half of the time. The locations were portrayed reasonably well, but needed more detail and exploration opportunities (even if there was no evidence to be found there).

The designers also tried to match the speech with lip movement and got close, but could not match things perfectly.

Interaction with objects and people wasn't consistent. For instance, while dragging evidence to Greg to be analyzed, one object would "light up" but the next would not. And, unlike real life, the lab results were instantaneous.

You're the "rookie" and naturally you'll need help now and then. But, asking your current team mate for help didn't give you enough information to really assist you.

After you know what to look for, actually finding it is another matter altogether. As an example, I knew that I wanted to make a cast of a tire but, even zoomed in correctly, finding the correct spot on that tire required me to click on almost every section of it.

The game's linearity had me skipping back and forth from Brass to the Lab, to the crime scene and other locations so often that it became monotonous.

The "bonus" items at the end of each case are lame. Simple line drawn sketches of characters is all you get for your hard work. I didn't even look at most of them.

I split my gameplay over several evenings, but still found it to be pretty short (say, no more than 8-10 hours of gameplay).

The Bottom Line
This first CSI game was okay, I suppose, but I wouldn't consider it a very good adventure game. Not worth 3 stars in my opinion. Certainly not up to the standards of other adventures released the same year.

Basically, I wanted more. I wanted to be able to -fully- explore a crime scene or location .. not just one room of a house, for instance. A few more lab gizmos would have been nice too. I also expected more interaction with the NPCs (the cast), and would have liked working with more than one of them at a time.

The Good
I really wasn't expecting too much of this game, more to the fact I found TV show rather boring and not much interesting. So what I really expected top is that perhaps I'll enjoy a little detective work more or less. What I really didn't expect is that it turns out to be such a masterpiece with really devious plot and extremely interesting cases. Needless to say, perhaps, this game alone captured my interest enough to start watching the series. You meet all the crew from the case, as each of them accompanies you through one of the five cases. What starts as a simple murder investigation turns out into much more intricate and intriguing puzzles to solve. The music isn't playing too often but fits perfectly with the CSI alike setting, reminding of great detective/crime shows like Silk Stalkings or Tropical Heat. A game haven't captured my interest ever since my sleepless nights over FF8 and TBW, only this game isn't long enough to dwell more than a single night over it, no matter it spans on three compact discs. The voice cast is same as in the series, which plays a plus for me as I really like Marg Helgenberger (hey, personal taste, I know, but I think she's awesome). The game isn't just trying to show if perfect crime may go unpunished, but also that gathering clues, no matter how truthful they may seam, may lead to imprisoning an innocent person. I know, that was not what they were trying to do, but it turned out really good, and interesting in a poetic kinda way. And what's best, you don't need no cd if you select the full install.

The Bad
This is really one of rare games that I don't find a single speck to rub it on, it is so brilliant in its simplicity and so much interesting to undergo.

The Bottom Line
CSI features:

The Good
Behind every good game is a great story. This game is no exception. You start out as a intern working for the CSIs and must 5 different to be “evaluated” on your performance. I like how this game’s story is set up, because you don’t actually play a character from the show, you get to be a part of it. Thus, you get to see and talk to anyone you want. The cases are great and almost as good as the TV show. They are all almost tied together in some way, but I won’t tell you how. The special bonus material you get after you solve a case is cool, but it’s just sketches of concept art and stuff. Not what I expected, but cool anyway. I also liked the simple commands to interact with the environment.

The Bad
Interacting was a bit of challenge, though. You don’t always know exactly what you’re looking for, so you end up skipping a lot of things. Well, the acting in this game is not quite as good as on the TV show. This is understandable, considering that when you’re just talking into a microphone, you can’t sound as good as when you’re in front of a camera. Some of the dialogue was a little, er, bland. Not quite as good as the show. The graphics are not what I expected, either. Not as good as they could’ve been, but this is an adventure game, and you don’t really need mind-blowing graphics to have great gameplay.

The Bottom Line
This is a pretty cool adventure game. You don’t have to watch the show to “get it” or understand it. It’s easy to learn and fairly challenging to play. I was hoping it wouldn't be as short as it was, but there’s always the sequel, I suppose.