Law
& Order: Criminal Intent is an interactive version
of the TV show. It's one step closer to reality but
it also illustrates just how different things can
be when taken out of their element. by
Darwin Chance
March
7, 2006 - Law
& Order makes a great show. It would even be better
to play detective in real life but things don't always
work out like they do on TV. Just try to get a parking
spot in front of a law court complex during the day
and you'll know what I mean. It would also be nice
if we could just scan an area with a cursor and have
it highlight all of the valuable clues for us as the
videogame does.

Law
& Order: Criminal Intent is a point-and-click
adventure game. You enter into a scene which is filled
with potential clues where you wave the cursor around
like a metal detector. When it detects a clue it will
change color whereupon you have the option to click
on the item, investigate it and include it in your
inventory if you think it's important. The clues can
be notes with names and numbers on them, bullet casings,
potential weapons, blood and other stains, hair samples,
carpet fibres and just about anything that would hold
a fingerprint. All of these clues will be processed
later in the hopes of bringing the perpetrator to
justice. The downside to this is that you're not the
one doing the processing. You might as well bring
along the coffee and donuts as well Joe boy.
An
overview of the gameplay goes something like this:
You are assigned to investigate a murder. Upon arrival
at the scene you begin to look for clues. During this
time you will also interview witnesses and obtain
their names and phone numbers should you need to contact
them later. More detailed analysis of clues with the
help of the Medical Examiner and the Crime Lab will
help narrow down your list of suspects which you will
be able to call in for interrogation. If you can get
them to talk you will further narrow your list down
or even get the perp to make a confession. At this
point your case is about as airtight as possible and
you make your arrest. It may all seem so simple, and
in this case it is.
In
an effort to keep the player challenged and also to
keep the game from appearing too straightforward,
there are various obstacles such as puzzles and some
mini-games that are thrown in to obstruct justice.
We all know that puzzles are part of the point-and-click
genre but in this case they don't always relate to
the matter at hand. There is just no good excuse for
a tile-sliding puzzle in a murder investigation -
unless it's Batman trying to solve a clue left by
the Riddler.

Another
bothersome aspect of the game is the travelling to
and from the various crime units, labs and law departments
to hear their opinions and what they have discovered
from the clues. Once you drop off some clues you have
to return to find out what the team has learned. You
do have a phone but the developers thought it would
be better if you visited these places in person -
via your avatar. Some players might be disappointed
to learn that that the level of interaction is rather
shallow. I would have liked to have a hand in examining
the clues instead of trying to solve some arbitrary
code puzzle.
In
one case, a body washes up in the East River. Another
case involves a banker that is found bludgeoned to
death. A masseuse is the focus of the third case.
She's got some secrets to reveal so don't rub her
the wrong way. The fourth case will be unlocked after
you've solved the first three, which can be tackled
in any order. A cast of characters are involved in
all three cases and for the most part it's not that
difficult to identify the culprit, but you still have
to go through all of the procedures.
One
of the procedures is interrogation. You ask the witness
or suspect a series of questions. You can project
different emotional states to get more cooperation
out of the interviewee. You can be sympathetic, condescending,
complimentary or aggressive. If you manage to pick
the wrong mood, the witness or suspect will shut up
and you won't get another word out of him or her.
There are two circles that appear at the beginning
of the interrogation. If you pick the wrong mood the
red circle will begin to fill and conversely if you
pick the right mood the green circle will fill. If
the red circle fills up first the interrogation is
over. As the green circle fills, more questions will
be presented until you finally fill the meter thus
successfully ending the interrogation. Too bad there's
nothing that includes rubber hoses and phone books.

There
are three difficulty levels. They vary in the hints
that you are given to help solve the puzzles and process
the clues. There are some gameplay mechanics that
also conspire against you to make the game more challenging
but these are largely unintentional. I experienced
crashes as well as the disappearance of some of the
items in my inventory.
There
is also a problem with the animation, clipping, collision
detection and slowdown. The animation is terrible.
The transition animations of Detective Goran are missing.
He moves abruptly from one position to the next, sometimes
getting caught in the environment where he relentlessly
marches behind a couch or doorway until you can get
him in the proper position. He will also get in the
way of the cursor when you're looking for clues. But
not only is Detective Goran touchy, he's ugly. Compared
to the environments that are realistic looking, the
sprites are aliased, distorted and poorly animated.
Goran's face is recognizable but his head is too small
for his body. All of the characters suffer from this
phenomenon which is even made more macabre by the
animations which makes them look like zombies fighting
off the effects of rigor mortis.
The
environments do contain a lot of items but a lot of
these are incidental things such as furnishings and
garbage. There are a lot of seedy areas where you
have to search for clues among the trash. Sometimes
the shade of the cursor can be difficult to detect
in the dim lit areas. The labs and offices are sterile
but realistic looking, in sharp contrast to the murder
scenes. The music captures the perfect mood especially
when investigating a dark location where a crazed
murderer could jump out at you at anytime.
The
PDA interface is your main link to the game. Here
you can store you clues and the list of witnesses.
It will also access your phone and the map. It will
be confusing to use at first since there are no specific
instructions indicating exactly what the PDA does
and how to access it. You'll just have to experiment
with it for a few minutes. It's all in there but it's
really inconvenient to have to guess where everything
is.

Obviously
there are some oversights with Criminal Intent. Even
if all the bugs were fixed it would still not be a
very deep and engrossing game. It's nothing more than
an interactive version of the TV show, and possibly
even less exciting. At least there are no commercials,
but with the long load times, I would have killed
for a commercial or two to watch.
By
Darwin Chance
CCC
Freelance Writer
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