CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

aka: CSI 1, CSI: Kryminalne Zagadki Las Vegas, CSI: ŠœŠµŃŃ‚Š¾ ŠæрŠµŃŃ‚ŃƒŠæŠ»ŠµŠ½Šøя, Les Experts: Une Aventure Palpitante au Coeur Du Crime, 侦ē¼‰ę”£ę”ˆ:ēŠÆē½ŖēŽ°åœŗč°ƒęŸ„
Moby ID: 8805
Windows Specs

Description official descriptions

This game is named for and based upon the CBS television series CSI. Solve five intriguing crime cases as a member of the Las Vegas police force and work in the same settings and atmosphere as the show. Interactive parts are voiced by the actors and actresses from the series.

High-tech equipment and tools are at your disposal and must be used in combination with your wits, intuition and common sense. During your investigation you will question witnesses and suspects, find evidence and clues and discover motives to make an arrest.

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140 People (98 developers, 42 thanks) · View all

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Reviews

Critics

Average score: 62% (based on 39 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.5 out of 5 (based on 32 ratings with 5 reviews)

Well done script, captures major interest.

The Good
I really wasn't expecting too much of this game, more to the fact I found TV show rather boring and not much interesting. So what I really expected top is that perhaps I'll enjoy a little detective work more or less. What I really didn't expect is that it turns out to be such a masterpiece with really devious plot and extremely interesting cases. Needless to say, perhaps, this game alone captured my interest enough to start watching the series. You meet all the crew from the case, as each of them accompanies you through one of the five cases. What starts as a simple murder investigation turns out into much more intricate and intriguing puzzles to solve. The music isn't playing too often but fits perfectly with the CSI alike setting, reminding of great detective/crime shows like Silk Stalkings or Tropical Heat. A game haven't captured my interest ever since my sleepless nights over FF8 and TBW, only this game isn't long enough to dwell more than a single night over it, no matter it spans on three compact discs. The voice cast is same as in the series, which plays a plus for me as I really like Marg Helgenberger (hey, personal taste, I know, but I think she's awesome). The game isn't just trying to show if perfect crime may go unpunished, but also that gathering clues, no matter how truthful they may seam, may lead to imprisoning an innocent person. I know, that was not what they were trying to do, but it turned out really good, and interesting in a poetic kinda way. And what's best, you don't need no cd if you select the full install.

The Bad
This is really one of rare games that I don't find a single speck to rub it on, it is so brilliant in its simplicity and so much interesting to undergo.

The Bottom Line
CSI features:

  • five interesting cases to solve, varying in type and style
  • great script entertwining all the cases, and giving you twists and turns you'd last expect
  • voice-acting by the case from the original series
  • easy going puzzles that mostly require a hawkeye, and when the going gets tough, the tough gets going by a little help of your partners
  • the use of all the itzy-bitzy artifacts to find even the smallest fragment of a clue, and interrogating the suspects
  • searching for clues instead of the truth, you don't get to see the court or prosecution of any kind, you're just in here for the clues... though they may sometimes be misleading
  • Windows · by MAT (240569) · 2012

    I was unimpressed

    The Good
    Since episodes of CSI have begun showing up as re-runs, I've become a real fan of the television show. So, I decided to try out all the games, starting with this first one.

    The cases are varied and get a little more complex as you go along. It was interesting that two of the cases connected together, drawing upon previously found evidence and information. Hearing the voices of the real actors and actresses is definitely a plus, and they voice-acted very well.

    The interface is so very easy with the absolute necessities and no frills, which I prefer. Your place in the game is automatically saved, which is nice. After you finish, you can go back and redo the cases to improve your scores (which are really an evaluation of your sleuthing performance). And, if you choose the "full installation", you can put the CDs away because they'll never be accessed again.

    There isn't much music to speak of. What music there is was in keeping with the theme and played in the background.

    The Bad
    The graphics are not up to par, in my opinion, even for a game released two years ago. The artists tried their best to duplicate the likenesses of the real-life actors but only managed to pull it off half of the time. The locations were portrayed reasonably well, but needed more detail and exploration opportunities (even if there was no evidence to be found there).

    The designers also tried to match the speech with lip movement and got close, but could not match things perfectly.

    Interaction with objects and people wasn't consistent. For instance, while dragging evidence to Greg to be analyzed, one object would "light up" but the next would not. And, unlike real life, the lab results were instantaneous.

    You're the "rookie" and naturally you'll need help now and then. But, asking your current team mate for help didn't give you enough information to really assist you.

    After you know what to look for, actually finding it is another matter altogether. As an example, I knew that I wanted to make a cast of a tire but, even zoomed in correctly, finding the correct spot on that tire required me to click on almost every section of it.

    The game's linearity had me skipping back and forth from Brass to the Lab, to the crime scene and other locations so often that it became monotonous.

    The "bonus" items at the end of each case are lame. Simple line drawn sketches of characters is all you get for your hard work. I didn't even look at most of them.

    I split my gameplay over several evenings, but still found it to be pretty short (say, no more than 8-10 hours of gameplay).

    The Bottom Line
    This first CSI game was okay, I suppose, but I wouldn't consider it a very good adventure game. Not worth 3 stars in my opinion. Certainly not up to the standards of other adventures released the same year.

    Basically, I wanted more. I wanted to be able to -fully- explore a crime scene or location .. not just one room of a house, for instance. A few more lab gizmos would have been nice too. I also expected more interaction with the NPCs (the cast), and would have liked working with more than one of them at a time.

    Windows · by Jeanne (75959) · 2005

    Cool! You, too, can be a CSI!

    The Good
    Behind every good game is a great story. This game is no exception. You start out as a intern working for the CSIs and must 5 different to be ā€œevaluatedā€ on your performance. I like how this gameā€™s story is set up, because you donā€™t actually play a character from the show, you get to be a part of it. Thus, you get to see and talk to anyone you want. The cases are great and almost as good as the TV show. They are all almost tied together in some way, but I wonā€™t tell you how. The special bonus material you get after you solve a case is cool, but itā€™s just sketches of concept art and stuff. Not what I expected, but cool anyway. I also liked the simple commands to interact with the environment.

    The Bad
    Interacting was a bit of challenge, though. You donā€™t always know exactly what youā€™re looking for, so you end up skipping a lot of things. Well, the acting in this game is not quite as good as on the TV show. This is understandable, considering that when youā€™re just talking into a microphone, you canā€™t sound as good as when youā€™re in front of a camera. Some of the dialogue was a little, er, bland. Not quite as good as the show. The graphics are not what I expected, either. Not as good as they couldā€™ve been, but this is an adventure game, and you donā€™t really need mind-blowing graphics to have great gameplay.

    The Bottom Line
    This is a pretty cool adventure game. You donā€™t have to watch the show to ā€œget itā€ or understand it. Itā€™s easy to learn and fairly challenging to play. I was hoping it wouldn't be as short as it was, but thereā€™s always the sequel, I suppose.

    Windows · by Mullet of Death (592) · 2005

    [ View all 5 player reviews ]

    Discussion

    Subject By Date
    Case #10-Dragon and Dropping Rhonda Myers Nov 22, 2007

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    Contributors to this Entry

    Game added by Jeanne.

    Additional contributors: Tony Van, Unicorn Lynx, Frederic Hutow, UV, Stratege, Zeppin.

    Game added April 5, 2003. Last modified March 2, 2024.