Law & Order: Criminal Intent – PC – Review

In New York City,
crime flows like water and fortunately for gamers there are a few good crimes to
solve here.  Detective Goren, voiced by Vincent D’Onofrio, has a full plate with
four murders to investigate.

Fans of the Law &
Order: CI series will be pleased with this game. Not only does Vincent D’onofrio
voice the character of Goren, but Jamie Sheridan is also in the cast of players.
Also, the humorous quirky side of Goren comes out in this title. As with any
other adventure game, when there are clues to find, your mouse pointer lights
up. In this case, it lights up over odds and ends that Goren comments upon.
Another pleasure is the dialogue. There is nothing worse than playing an
adventure / mystery game with bad writing. However, a writer of the series is
responsible for this script and the dialogue flows smoothly and is well
written.  Just a warning, Kathryn Elbe doesn’t make an appearance in the game.
(Which is a shame)

Unlike a lot of
adventure games, Law & Order: Criminal Intent is very intuitive. It’s easy to
discern which tools to use and how to navigate the playing field. There’s a
floater in the river. As the mouse highlights over the body, a mini-menu pops up
so that you can determine which action to choose.  You choose to view the corpse
more closely. You notice the violent slash markings on the neck, the ripped
bloody clothing, and the scuffed shoes.  (The game is rated M for mature due to
these types of scenes.) With your action menu, you can choose to have these
clues analyzed and within a matter of minutes your crack team of investigators
has the information for you.

Speaking of tools,
the trusty Nokia PDA is a detective’s best friend. Through this tool you will
travel to different locations, analyze your evidence and store your case log.
This is also how you receive your messages and make any phone calls to witnesses
or suspects.  Another tool you receive early on in your mystery is the suspect
profiler. You drop evidence into the box and it will determine if it is useful
in profiling the murderer. Once you have a strong profile, it allows you to
determine which of your suspects is the best candidate.

Law & Order: CI
also gives you the opportunity to question witnesses and suspects. Rather than a
coined dialogue, you have the ability to choose how to interrogate. Will you be
straightforward, deceptive or flattering just to name a few.  In turn your
subjects will react either with information or a negative response. Be careful
of those negative responses. If you get too many the subject will shut down and
no longer talk to you, leaving you missing out on valuable information.
Sometimes, when you talk to a witness or suspect you will need a piece of
evidence to show them to make them talk.  Don’t panic!  This evidence (if you’ve
done your job correctly) is in your PDA. You just click on the action menu,
select use and drop it on their avatar.  It’s vital to pick up any and
everything. Talk to subjects more than once and search every crack and cranny of
the different locations that you visit. Evidence could be anywhere!

Visually, the
game’s locations are lovely.  The character graphics are disappointing. With an
ATI 9800 Pro video card, the avatars are pixilated with bugged out eyes, and
they all look similar with the exception of Detective Goren and Captain Deakins.
It is important to mention that you will need to update your drivers for
this game.

Also, this review
would not be complete without the warning of a few bugs in the system.  Save
often!  Goren will start walking off into space or even completely freeze up
therefore crashing your PC. There are no options to save over previous saves so
name your saves specifically. The list of saved games gets long. These things
can make the game frustrating and less enjoyable. However, if you’re patient
enough to deal with these inconveniences, you will get caught up in the mystery
and enjoy your time.

Gameplay: 8.5

All in all, I
recommend this title to adventure fans who like a good mystery. You cannot beat
the well written script and the challenge of these cases. They aren’t easy by
any means and the game will make you use your gifts of detection. There is no
easy out in this game. It’s imperative to find all of the clues, talk to all of
the witnesses and suspects. If you miss one thing, the game will stop and you
won’t be able to progress further.  The solutions to these cases are not
predictable. However, beware of the bugs!

Graphics: 6.5

Graphically
speaking they could be better. However they do not detract from the gameplay.

Sound :  8.0

I could listen to
Vincent talk all day. There’s a no brainer here. However, the rest of the sound
is good. It’s not distracting and the dialogue flows well between characters.

Difficulty:
Medium

Concept: 8.0

Some would wonder
if the Law & Order franchise isn’t beating a dead horse with all of the mediums
for their story. However, while the concept may be an overused one, the game
delivers.

Overall: 8.0

I’m a fan of the
TV Series. This game doesn’t disappoint. It’s as though you’re walking through
the crime scenes with Detective Goren.  It’s easy to figure out how to play and
I have a crack support team to analyze my information for me. What’s not to love
there?  With the exception of the bugs that I mentioned, this game is
compelling. When you feel the need to play a game in any spare moment (bugs and
all) you know that it’s a good game.