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For those of you who are not familiar with the series... CSI:NY is a TV series about crime scene investigators of the New York Police Department. These folks come to the crime scene, and using the smallest clues left and a lot of scientific and other investigations, they uncover the truth. And this game lets you be Mac, the leader of CSI:NY, investigate this story of apparently suicide... or is it? Young woman fell head-first from 42nd story window right through windshield of a taxi.
The game gives you some pointers like objectives, as well as a few hints like "how many pieces of evidences to collect" counter. But basically, you move from location to location, process the location for every last bit of clue available, talk to the suspects for information, and then go back to CSI lab to process the evidence gathered, which will give you new leads to follow and rule out old ones. Using the right tool to gather evidence is the key to getting a good rating, as well as doing good lab work (i.e. playing the minigames well).
When you have enough evidence, suspects will be detained and brought to precinct HQ for interrogation. Sometimes, presenting the right piece of evidence will cause the subject to loosen their tongue. At other times proper use of good cop or bad cop technique will also help, as are techniques like repeating the question (which may catch the subject at a lie, or get more information). The ideal case would be a confession, but that doesn't always happen.
You must complete the game at regular difficulty to unlock the hard difficulty, which isn't really that much harder, just no more prompts like "flashing bits of evidence" when you're supposed to find them, and a bit more time to play the minigames.
Graphics are typical of CSI games from gameloft... The digitized characters are prefect, and between the scenes you get a 'saying' from each character, usually something profound-sounding, like "I'm no longer surprised at anything I see." Controls are responsive, though sometimes you'd swear the controls are cheating you when you're playing the "DNA Extraction" minigame (which is related to Zuma/match 3). Sound is okay, but not too surprising. What is surprising is they added a 'sniper' minigame to the story, and I'm not going to say any more about it as it may spoil the story.
All in all, CSI:NY is a highly polished police-investigative game that follows the formula well enough, and it feels like a CSI:NY episode, and that is a compliment.
Overall rating: 7.5 out of 10
Pros: feels like an episode, lots of twists and turns
Cons: nothing really new here, seen it all before
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My only suggestion with this game is to ABSOLUTELY purchase it as a subscription as the plot is identical every time you play it so there really is little joy in replays. There is also a glaring flaw in the plotline (after the judge tells you he's met his daughter's boyfriend, the boyfriend responds that he doesn't recognize the judge's photo...instant ??? but one the game engine does not let you follow up.)
ReplyDeleteI found the game pretty boring...there basically is NO way to not solve the crime...you cannot "miss" any evidence as you cannot really move on until you find it all. Not really challenging...you'd have to be a huge fan of the show to even remotely enjoy this game, otherwise it's just chewing gum for your brain.
Yes, there's no "alternate solutions" to this game. However, at higher levels it IS possible to miss some clues if you don't pass the cursor through every single pixel on the screen.
ReplyDeleteYes, the part about the discrepancy is a bit of a plot hole that makes sense only after the big reveal. The only "point" is to beat the score, and that means play at the higher level, but you've already seen the clues, so you know where to go. That sorta defeats the purpose of it all.
However, within the confines of the game, it fits the motif of the episode, it is entertaining if a bit short, it has pretty good graphics and decent writing, which is why it got 7.5, but no higher.