Home Games CSI: Hard Evidence

CSI: Hard Evidence

Adventure
Releases: 11.26.07
Ubisoft
Telltale Games
ESRB: Mature

CSI: Hard Evidence

Who knew being a CSI could be so annoyingly simple?

by Sarah Schutz

We all know that movie and television licenses generally make horrible video games and this was no exception. Yet my infatuation with Greg Sanders and Sarah Sidle along with my longtime love for point and click adventures demanded that I give one of these CSI games a go. The January gaming lull offered the perfect opportunity. And yet I am filled with bitter regret. Never have I played a point-and-click adventure that involved so much pointing and clicking and so very little thought.

The premise of the game will be strikingly familiar to anyone who has played any of the other CSI games. You are a Crime Scene Investigator (not one of the famous ones) working with another CSI (one of the famous ones). For each of the five cases you work with Gil Grissom, Warrick Brown, Catherine Willows, Greg Sanders or Nick Stokes (with Sara Sidle pitching in every once in awhile). Your job is to travel to the crime scene as well as various other locations, collect evidence, interview suspects and witnesses and then travel back to the lab to figure it all out.

The suspect interviews are about the equivalent of click-through cutscenes. There are no alternative paths to questioning, but only a series of preset questions that in no way change the outcome of the story. While processing the evidence with various lab equipment is a bit more fun and slightly more rigorous, it still does not involve much thought and few decisions are necessary. It is, however, quite satisfying when the various pieces of evidence start fitting together to tell a story.

My biggest problem with the game is the terrible, horrible, awful character models. If you are even familiar with the cast of the original CSI, let alone a fan, you will be offended by the dissimilar appearance of the characters. Nick Stokes is suddenly short, stocky and blonde and Sara Sidle is lacking the adorable gap in her front teeth. Captain Brass, Greg Sanders and Grissom share a bit more likeness but are still far from accurate. The character models only microcosmically demonstrate the larger problem of the game: a lack of time and effort. The Crime Scene Investigation premise offers great potential for a detailed and satisfying game, yet Hard Evidence fails to follow through. The Xbox 360 also has many opportunities for Achievement Points, yet only 5 achievements are offered, one for each case. This is yet another example of the lack of detail put into the game.

All these negatives aside (and there are a lot), the satisfaction of seeking out evidence and piecing the puzzle together propelled me to the end of the game. The stories could be worse and can even be enjoyable. While the game does not offer much of a challenge, if does offer a pleasant and somewhat satisfying diversion. If you’re a CSI fan, you might get a kick out of running your own case, but the limitations of your freedom are frustrating. If you’re looking for something to casually pass your time, this might be it.

Sorting through evidence is simple, yet satisfying.

Character models don’t look like their RL counterparts.

Name

E-mail (Will not appear online)

Homepage

Title

Comment

To prevent automated Bots form spamming, please enter the text you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly.

Powered by Comment Script