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.

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation - Hard Evidence

Being a stickler for playing a series of games in order, I’m shocked at my own lack of research. Hard Evidence is the first in the series and that is evident (ha-ha) straight from the off.

Released in 2007, the controls show a real return to the dark ages. It took a little while to sink in, such was my shock but, you have to use the D-Pad to go through the menus which I found really alien after years of using an analogue stick.

Other than that, the controls are essentially the same as Fatal Conspiracy, although the forensic science bits are a lot simpler which is to be expected from an earlier release. In order to finish the game, you have to complete five cases. Unlike Fatal Conspiracy, these cases are not linked with an overarching story and they don’t really increase in complexity.

The characterisation throughout the game leaves a lot to be desired. You can tell which characters are guilty by talking to them when you don’t have any questions left to ask – they each have one blanket response so if someone is cooperating at the beginning of the case, you know they are going to become hostile because their ‘one-liner’ will be overly aggressive and out of character.

It is also very linear. You can’t progress cases if there is one piece of evidence left outstanding, meaning there is only one way to solve a case. It’s nowhere near as bad as NCIS’s approach of A=B but B≠A, but several times I had missed one tiny thing and couldn’t progress the story. One of the cases, I was required to go and talk to the doctor for a second time in order to progress and the only reason being that it triggers a cut scene, but I didn’t get any prior clues to this and it was just random luck that I happened to look in the one place where there was guaranteed to be no additional evidence! What was he going to do? Perform another autopsy?

Also there were two unexplained game crashes where the game seemed to get confused about whether the menu was open or not and, like all games, when it doubt, completely freeze. This wasn’t too bad because the auto-saves are generally quite good meaning that I didn’t lose loads of progress.

There is a side part to collect bugs in the various crime scenes which does really make a lot of sense from a reality perspective. When you get to the end of a case, you get evaluated on your performance and part of that evaluation is a thank you for collecting bugs for your boss’s collection. This is a great way to suck up but I have to ask the question – how many different bugs can you possibly find (inside luxury hotel suites and casino floors, may I add) that are uncommon?

Achievements – 1,000 Points – 5 Achievements

There is nothing major to add here. 5 cases; 5 achievements. You don’t have to do very well at the cases, just getting to the end is enough.

Downloadable Content – Not Applicable

It’s a relaxed kind of game where the only element of frustration is the controls. Although I pointed out the errors with the characterisation, is it a nice relaxing 1,000 points but won’t give you much of a sense of achievement, which kinds of defeats the point of achievements.