CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - Deadly Intent

Deadly Intent is the second game in the CSI series, not that it matters much as there is no direct linking between the games. It seems a bit futile to label the flaws that were present in the other games here so I will try to concentrate on those unique to Deadly Intent.

After the D-Pad/Analogue stick separation from Hard Evidence, the developers decided to go roughly somewhere in the middle with their next game. You can use either the analogue stick or the D-Pad to cycle through the menus this time, however it seems that the D-Pad has a little more power than the analogue stick. I had a continuous problem of opening a menu and trying to use the analogue stick to select a piece of evidence only for the game to cycle backwards though the evidence to the beginning.

I thought there must have been something wrong with my controller and the hardly used D Pad was getting stuck. My controller is very old to the point that my left analogue stick has lost its shape and the hard plastic underneath has started showing.  Also, the left shoulder button only works if you press on the far right of it.

You may be thinking, ‘how are Adam’s controller issues relative to CSI Deadly Intent?’ Well, considering the above paragraph, I went out and bought a new controller with the expectation of the above mentioned problem going away. It did not. Glitches that prevent you from being able to play the game the way it is meant to be played are the biggest problems with games.

So despite forking out for a new (much needed) controller, I still had to do battle with a fucking computer to select a piece of evidence that I wanted to use! Needless to say, I was not impressed in the slightest.

I know I said I would focus on the main elements of this game, but it’s tough not to mention the characters’ severe personality switches. Another brilliant one revolved around one suspect, who clearly thought they were going to get away with it, who was being really forth coming and nice to us... until we got a sniff that they were involved with the murder and then started being really uncooperative and demanding legal representation.

Achievements – 1,000 Points – 28 Achievements

Again, it is a very straight forward run through these achievements. You can net the majority of the achievements on a single playthrough and any that you do miss can be easily obtained by replying one of the cases.

That said, they commit the cardinal sin of having secret achievements that are not story related and you have to do something out of the ordinary to get them. I don’t understand why games do this. It’s like going to work and getting to the end of the day to have your boss turn around and say, ‘You were shit today, you didn’t meet all your objectives.’ which I would then follow with, ‘what didn’t I do?’ for him to then say, ‘I can’t tell you, it’s a secret.’ Fuck. Off.

Downloadable Content – N/A

Bugs and shitty controls aside, it is an easy 1,000 points but the menu control error thing sucked any kind of fun out of playing the game. The series does show that they improved the games as the series went on though. Fatal Conspiracy is by far the best in terms of cleanness, variety and character development and that’s enough to encourage me to get the next instalment, if one is ever released.