CSI: Miami

aka: CSI 3, CSI: Kryminalne Zagadki Miami, CSI: Miami - Crime-Solving Adventure, Les Experts: Miami
Moby ID: 15603
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Description official descriptions

Adding to the successful Crime Scene Investigation detective series, this 3rd game mimics the television show of the same name.

Join the Miami investigative team from the show to solve five new crime cases in four locations. You'll use scientific equipment to analyze evidence, interrogate suspects and witnesses, watch and discuss autopsies and follow up on leads. Solve puzzles using the improved "hands-on" puzzle assembly system which gives you more interactivity with evidence and objects. Decipher cryptic clues and use high-tech crime solving tools including DNA and fingerprint comparisons. Customizable in-game help options let you receive hints on hidden evidence and in using the forensic tools.

Spellings

  • CSI: Дело в Майами - Russian spelling

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Screenshots

Credits (Windows version)

129 People (94 developers, 35 thanks) · View all

Voice Talent
Narrator
Producer
Associate Producer
Lead Designer
Junior Designers
Executive Producer
Art Director
Senior Artist
Lead 3D Character Models and Textures
3D Characters Models and Textures
Animators
3D Environment Lead Artists
3D Environment Artist
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 60% (based on 31 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.3 out of 5 (based on 17 ratings with 2 reviews)

More interaction .. more tools .. more puzzles

The Good
I am a fan of the CSI television shows, so playing as a member of their team made it exciting for me. Staying true to the theme of the CSI: Miami show, the locations and cases themselves have a definite Floridian flair. You'll visit oceanside homes decorated in tropical themes, a palm tree lined golf course, as well as a flashy nightclub (to name a few). And, hey, your first victim is an alligator! Of course, the cut scenes show snippets of the city of Miami, its beaches and boating life.

If you've played either of the previous CSI games, you'll notice some changes and improvements immediately. The "difficulty" level eluded to in the advertising actually takes away some of the guesswork and yet doesn't spoil anything. Checking "easy" on all the options does several things. For one, questions about objects you have in inventory automatically appear during conversations, eliminating the need to drag objects to that person. Also, after analysis, each evidence item will bear a "finished" tag.

Going through the tutorial is good for those unfamiliar with the series (or gameplay), but since I've played them all now, I liked being able to skip it altogether. And, it's always nice to be able to turn subtitles on or off.

They finally gave us the most commonly used tool in CSI - a flashlight! There are a couple of new evidence tools to work with also. But the most obvious change to the interface is the ability to use those tools on evidence after its been picked up. So if you missed something about an item when you found it, it is still possible to discover it.

Finding evidence is somewhat of a pixel hunt, which tests your observation skills. It's nice that the "active" green cursor disappears after you have finished in that spot. Traipsing back and forth between locations can become tedious, although that's all part of the discovery process.

I even liked the "end case" bonuses this time around! In addition to concept art, "Master" investigators get treated with a few interactive jigsaw puzzles and cryptograms. (There are several of those puzzles within the cases too, and the interface used is positively intuitive.)

Lastly, the game has a decent length. As in the last two games, the final case involves people and places from the previous cases. Although not as profound as in the first CSI game, I thought Case 5 in CSI: Miami was really good.

The Bad
I really have very little to complain about here.

Character art needs improvement to make them as attractive as their real-life persona, and I've seen better lip sync in Saturday morning cartoons.

I got tired of hearing the same responses from the lab tech, Valera. And, of course, instant lab results are unrealistic.

I had hoped that the difficulty options would let me play one step above a rookie, but not yet. Maybe in future games.

The Bottom Line
I liked CSI: Miami and would recommend it to anyone who enjoys detective mysteries, especially fans of the television series since it brings the show to life. Its easy point-and-click interface, good graphics, music and sound effects enhance the overall experience.

The five cases are interesting and keep you guessing until you've found that last piece of information, tying everything up in a nice, neat package. The inclusion of interactive cryptographic and jigsaw puzzles makes this one distinctively different than the two games before it.

Windows · by Jeanne (75956) · 2005

Will Miami surpass Las Vegas?

The Good
When I wrote this review, I warned my readers that it was five months without writing one and that I could be a little "rusty". When I finished it, I was amazed by the length of it. I've never said so much for a CSI series. I don't know why but I felt more mature for reviewing than I was before.

I know I should have reviewed that game a long time ago but I did it only after achieving my French walkthrough started in... March 2008. The review just appeared after. Is it because of the new CSI: Deadly Intent on PC or the DS version?

CSI: Miami (the game) is released for satisfying the fans of the series. Indeed, if Las Vegas is still the main town, you couldn't let Miami (and then New York) without at least a game. Well count two games now that Horatio Caine did his appearance on iPhone earlier this year.

Let's begin with the storyline. Despite being used since two games to the main gameplay of the series, the developers are still making you look as a rookie by putting you in his/her shoes. And now that you're in Miami, you're going to solve five new cases under the sun and on the beaches (not necessarily but well) of Miami, during the day, instead of the usual nightshift of Las Vegas, under the lights of casinos.

If the story itself is just the plain old rookie stuff, the stories or the cases can be interesting... And it's perhaps a strong point, you're not being bored with all the surprises going along. But if the references to previous cases are strong in the fifth case, for the first time, you don't have a victim who is still breathing. Everyone is dead (3 Dimensions of Murder, the next game of the series, took back the famous case "where the victim is still alive").

If your first case is really interesting (beginning with a dead alligator having apparently eaten some human parts and concluding with a murder without forgetting a real complicated love triangle - or a square one), after that, it's just being boring until the fifth case. Indeed, it's still murder, it's still three or four suspects, it's still the same old story and you don't have any great revelation. But when you're investigating the death of someone you met in that very case, you'll be suddenly taken into a single man's conspiracy before his death (it's reminding me the end of Rainbow Six: Ravenshield...) with the references to your previous cases... The other cases seen in that light become suddenly different and you're mentally screaming at yourself that you should have suspected something. If that fifth case were absent, it would have been a great shame for CSI: Miami...

CSI: Miami is still a Point & Click game, like the previous games - remember, the previous ones are CSI and CSI: Dark Motives -. You're always starting at the scene crime (for the first case, you're not beginning there but close to it). You have to look closely to the corpse if possible and to look after evidence. Generally, it's not obvious. I mean, yeah, that object is obviously something helping (or not but it will be revealed after analysis) but most of the time, you can see (or rarely not) a fingerprint or blood or anything else suspicious. So here enters the CSI toolcase: Detecting and Collecting. Use the Detecting tools for making obvious a trace or anything else (Luminol, the fingerprint powder, the UV light, the flashlight, etc.). And then you have the Collecting tools: the gloves, the tape, etc. etc. You can't take an evidence like that, you will use almost always the gloves. But don't be afraid, you can double-click on the evidence in your HUD (oh yeah, that annoying orange line) and use your tool in the evidence screen that appeared.

When you're on a scene or on a location, you can explore it (if you're allowed or with a warrant). You can make a 360° turn with the mouse. Also, if you have enabled some options, you will find your way easily because of the green arrow showing you that something is interesting. Also, you can speak to the people present until they're not willing to answer. You click on them and there is a list of questions. Don't forget to come back regularly after a discovery (in the scene or in the lab or from someone else) and speak with them or else, you'll be stuck.

When you're done with the locations specific to the case, you can still say hello to Valera in the lab (she's like Sanders in the previous games) and give her all your evidence for scanning or preparing your research. She can also provide answers. You have also the morgue with Alexx. You'll find many answers with an autopsy, Alexx can give DNA, blood sample or fingerprints if needed. Anyway, check her regularly because she has some answers for you. Finally you have Yelina's desk. She's acting as Brass at the difference that she will be your partner in a case. Hey, they're one person short in Miami! It's not Las Vegas! Anyway, Yelina is the one you have to contact for warrants or anything else in her domain. If you need to pursue a discussion with a suspect, you have to pass through her for it.

So if for Alexx and Yelina, it's just a matter of speaking (or collecting), in Valera's lab, you will have to do the work. Not everything but as you may know, it's better than anything else. So let's begin. You have the computer with five sections: the special research (chemical, address, numbers, blood, alcohol, etc.), the DNA analysis (where you can search a DNA or compare it to samples), the foot analysis (for shoeprints - working like the DNA part), the fingerprints analysis (same process as the DNA/Shoeprints) and the tireprints (you know how it works now). Compared to Dark Motives, using the fingerprint search is a little more difficult. Here, you don't have anymore the names appearing under the results, so you have to compare prints that are nearly identical, with sometimes no match. As for the DNA, it hasn't changed a bit: you're still having difficulties to read it. By chance, you have bigger lines as in the previous opus, so, you're focusing on them instead of comparing all the DNA. For shoes and tireprints, it's the same remark.

We'll look into the special research. Indeed, it's a tool used for everything else: chemical composition, search for an address, etc.. But what is new compared to Dark Motives is the new game consisting in decoding messages. You have to discover what is written by trying to find the right letter. It's not difficult when you can suppose where the most used letter can go or when a rare one can fit. It's just a shame that the feature was only present in two cases and not in all. It would have been more interesting.

You still have the microscope for comparing bullets, hair, etc. etc.. Nothing really changed apart the fact that no picture is analyzed anymore with it like in Dark Motives.

The real novelty in the lab is the puzzle table as I'm calling it or the reconstitution table. If it's not really used (again a shame) in the game, at least, it's being introduced with success as that part of the lab has been since in each game till Hard Evidence. You will have to reconstitute torn pictures, torn pages, even a spot glass (the harder puzzle for me). It will make the investigation advance and even reveal new proofs.

You can also play without help and it's part of the gameplay. You can disable the automatic pointer to the interesting area (the green arrow), the automatic proof following (indicating when a proof is fully analyzed), the automatic location following (indicating when a location is clean or has revealed all the secrets) and the automatic questions about evidence (which was avoiding you to drag and drop pieces of evidence on a witness or suspect).

A last thing about gameplay: asking your partner for help is making you loose points for the final result and the subsequent unlocking bonuses. If answering to the five last questions that Horatio is asking (like Grissom in Dark Motives) isn't important, asking for help is really something to avoid.

The graphic engine is the one developed by 369 Interactive, so, it didn't really changed from Dark Motives. You can easily recognize the CSI gang: generally they're looking like being in 3D when the background looks like being in 2D.

Generally, if you missed an evidence, that means that you're blind or just not attentive to the scene. I know it because I was stuck (despite knowing the stories) as usual in the same spot because I didn't pick a proof or a print or a trace.

Well, the music for CSI: Miami is just in the same register as for any CSI game: fitting to the scene, without having great tracks but still, you have ongoing music for all scenes, the sounds are good and fitting.

But I must say that what impressed me is the quality of the voice acting. As usual, it's clean, the tones used are fitting, the actors are really adapting their voices for the character (like the arrogant Troy Sullivan or Donny Bronson).

As in the previous games, when you're reaching the highest rank in a case, you're unlocking all the bonus about it: it can go from an interview of a CSI or Max Allan Collins, the writer of numerous CSI books to artwork or storyboard for the current case. And when you have done the five cases with the highest rank, you have more things to enjoy. So, yeah, if it wasn't for that, I don't think that I would have replayed the cases until perfection.

I don't really remember the time I needed for finishing it the first time I've played it. I just remember having followed a French walkthrough, hard to read, with some mistakes. But honestly, I can say that it can take between five and eight hours of your time. It can be fast if you're used to the CSI gameplay and/or to the adventure game concept as it can be long when you're just playing like that and not finding what you need for advancing. Because CSI can be frustrating if you're not finding what you need.

The Bad
I need to remind you that point: I was really disappointed by the second, third and four cases. They're not really, well, as exciting as the first one (the famous crocodile appearance) and certainly not as surprising as the fifth one. Is it because I've seen some much in the game series that I felt bored? I can remember that I already was feeling that when I played it the first time.

For those of you who need to check their cases frequently, you still have your case file with all the suspects, the victim and a triangle linking victim, location and suspect. But it's not really useful in my taste, it's just a reminder and it's not always telling you who is the culprit. Anyway, I think that it's useless but it's a way to trigger the search and question warrants.

If the graphics are correct, they're still being inferior compared to what it was done at the time and as it's the engine used for Dark Motives, nothing really changed apart the brightness of the HUD (in orange) and the bright background. After all, Miami is about a dayshift team... And that's perhaps what it's making me a little disoriented in the game: Las Vegas is somewhere having more mystery because of the "dark" (or at least because I'm perhaps being attracted by these kind of colours than those used for Miami). I've also noted that compared to Dark Motives, it is possible to see some animation in the background (like the bartender doing his job behind Ty Landon in case 5).

Fives cases... again... You know, having one more case isn't hurting... I mean, it could have been great to have a bonus mission but... CSI is CSI and it will be five cases, not more. So, unless you want badly an Expert score for unlocking the bonuses, you're not gonna replay it. So, the replay value is only high for those wanting a perfect score or for those writing a walkthrough.

The Bottom Line
So let me resume everything quickly. The gameplay didn't evolve since Dark Motives apart two or three new things that aren't really making the CSI game series take a critical turn. The graphic engine is still the same, even if now, the game is brighter because it's Miami and not Las Vegas. The storyline didn't change, the stories are boring apart for the first one and the marvelous fifth one. The soundtrack and voice acting are still very impressive.

I would add that if you want to play CSI: Miami, you have to be a fan of the series (TV or games) because when you've played Dark Motives, you can say that you have already seen everything for Miami apart two or three things. So, I think that for playing CSI: Miami, you have to be willing to do it (or you're curious - which is a good asset). I don't really recommend Miami if you were bored by Dark Motives but well, the fifth case is really an enjoyable one. But you'll not buy it only for that, right?

So, in conclusion, Miami isn't surpassing Las Vegas. That game is a clone of Dark Motives, with a dayshift team and orange HUD, it can't really claim to bring novelties for the series. Apart the stories, nothing really changed in gameplay or in graphics. If I have to recommend Miami, it will be only to fans of the series, otherwise, just avoid it unless you're curious about it. Going to Miami was somewhere fun but getting back in Las Vegas with 3 Dimensions of Murder is greater.

Windows · by vicrabb (7272) · 2009

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Contributors to this Entry

Game added by Jeanne.

Additional contributors: Sciere, Alaka, COBRA-COBRETTI, Klaster_1.

Game added November 20, 2004. Last modified January 20, 2024.