| System: PC | Review Rating Legend | |
| Dev: Legacy Interactive | 1.0 - 1.9 = Avoid | 4.0 - 4.4 = Great |
| Pub: Ubisoft | 2.0 - 2.4 = Poor | 4.5 - 4.9 = Must Buy |
| Release: Nov. 28, 2008 | 2.5 - 2.9 = Average | 5.0 = The Best |
| Players: 1 | 3.0 - 3.4 = Fair | |
| ESRB Rating: Teen | 3.5 - 3.9 = Good | |
Searching for clues is a matter of pointing and clicking. The scene is littered with clues such as fingerprints and items with DNA on it. Too keep you from trying to click on everything, the developers have devised a penalty that will cause the cursor to disappear for a few seconds if you over-click. This does tend to make you stop and think for a moment. Many of the items are red herrings, so it's not advisable to click on everything.
Once you have collected your evidence, it's time to take it to the lab. Here you will play a series of mini-games as you match fingerprints, extract DNA, piece together broken or scattered items including faces, trace blood outlines, and try to crack codes to gain information from computers and other locked sources. Most of these puzzles are very easy, but sometimes it's not always clear what you are supposed to do and in what order. There are hints that you can use, but they virtually solve the puzzle for you. You are allowed to skip two puzzles in each episode. These mini-game puzzles relate to the actual clue processing in only the remotest of ways. This sense of detachment is only heightened by these make-work puzzles.
Interrogating subjects is as easy as clicking on the dialogue on the conversation tree. There's no real satisfaction here, as you'll eventually go through all of the conversations anyway. Eventually you will interrogate the prime suspect where, during the questioning, he or she will break down and fully admit their guilt. End of episode, move on to the next one using the same techniques and procedures. Lather, rinse, repeat.
I've had CSI New York: The Game on the examining table for a few hours now, and I have concluded that its demise was self-inflicted. Pull the sheet over it and give it a proper burial.
By
Cole Smith
CCC Senior Writer
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