Customer Reviews

CSI: Deadly Intent

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Length:: 2:34 Mins

I played through Hard Evidence - I have a review up about that - and when I saw this came out, I had to play it. Mostly for the achievements, but I also enjoy the whodunit type of games. (A side note, little factoid: This game is actually longer than Halo:ODST and Modern Warfare 2's single campaigns combined!)

Anyway, if you didn't play the first CSI you will be at a distinct disadvantage in this game. They don't even try to train you on what you need to know to case a scene. There are hints and tips, plus the occasional email from your partner to guide you. But in the first game, every time you needed to use a tool, it told you exactly what that tool was and what it did, so you knew without the game having to tell you what it was for. This time around it throws you in the thick of things with little warning about it. Just be aware that it seems tailor made for those who played Hard Evidence. If you did, you'll immediately recognize just about all of the various tools from before. One small difference is that you can only pick from four tools when ever you find a piece of evidence - it's always one of the four, but you can't just pick random tools like hard Evidence. You also don't have to worry about the tweezers; they're done automatically.

My main complaint about Hard Evidence was that the cases revealed anything but "hard evidence", instead resorting to what was essentially bullying the suspect into confessing and then making an arrest based on the confession rather than proving beyond any reasonable doubt that the person was guilty of the crime. The irony is that Deadly Intent has actually fixed this quite well. This time, you'll be working so much on the evidence that there will never be doubt about who's the guilty party. In fact, when you interrogate them, you'll be presenting said evidence to them at that time. You also are required to submit evidence at the time you ask for a warrant ( they still require you to go all the way back to Brass for a warrant, unfortunately ). In short, you'll never feel as though you did a plain Jane job, and every loose end will feel quite solidly tied up.

Deadly Intent attempts to spice things up by adding little variations in the gameplay. These run the gamut from the occasional colleague asking you for assistance reviewing evidence on other cases (which you get rewarded for), to different ratings for Cunning, Skill, and Thoroughness. Depending on how you interrogate and question suspects and witnesses, you'll score high or low in each ranking. In my experience it seems to be nearly impossible to score 100% in every category on one case for some reason; maybe there's something I'm missing, but I've tried everything and just cannot seem to do it. It's frustrating, because while I can always get 100% Thoroughness (which was difficult on Hard Evidence), I can never get a high Skill rating even though I can crack DNA or fingerprints or whatever with quite good accuracy. No way to tell what they're using to measure these.

That's not to say the game doesn't have issues. First, I could swear these graphics are actually worse than Hard Evidence. I don't still have HE otherwise I would verify that, but feet in particular look absolutely horrid. Second, again, no CSI theme song. It boggles my mind why this is not being put in the game. Third, no Grissom - meaning no more bug collecting for bonuses. But disregarding all of that there is one constant irritant in the game - the controls. Oh my, the controls. I know there's something funky with the 360 controller analogs, because in FPSs I frequently find the reticule moving in one direction even though I'm not pressing anything. But it's subtle and easily stopped. I also never have a time when my actual character is moving in a given direction without my controlling them. IN Deadly Intent it's like it's hypersensitive to the analogs; the arrow moves at even the slightest twitch, plus the right analog controls left and right direction just like the left analog and the D-pad. If the left analog is being triggered (not by you, just randomly), and you try to move the right, the camera goes haywire and you feel out of control. Same with the left analog vs. the D-pad - normally the D-pad would let you navigate from button to button, but it gets overridden by the left and right analogs. Also, there are times when you need to analyze a piece of evidence so small that you really need to move slowly and carefully across the surface and cannot, because you can't slow down the arrow tracking. A setting to slow the arrow down would have been helpful, as well as one to enable or disable certain buttons so that you didn't get these issues. There is one case in particular where you have to scan one small region of a large surface and trust me - it was ABSOLUTELY frustrating.

So...do I recommend it? I do if (and ONLY if):

- You played the first and liked it, and want to do more of the same;
- You want essentially easy Achievement points;
- You like the show and the characters; and/or
- You've got nothing better to play.

That's not to say it's a terrible game. For the price it's decent. But it fixed a lot of things from Hard Evidence and made other things worse. Keep that in mind as you make your decision. You could probably beat it in a rental period.

This one's actually worse than the last game, "Hard Evidence". Of course, the show got worse with age, why not the game. Seriously, this can be fun, but it is more like a budget game rather than one based on a very popular tv show.

Great idea, poorly executed.

Moving the courser in the delicate manner required is next to impossible. It's jumpy and sometimes takes off on it's own. Sucky control.

The video is terrible in the sense that it is always way too dark. My settings are turned as bright as I can get and still there is way too many dark corners in the game where you can't see the clues. You have to just move the courser over the dark areas waiting to see the toolbox pop up - Very poor graphics!

Great idea and fun that you can play with others. But so very poorly executed.

This game is a lot of fun, and it has good replay value to try to get a perfect score! The only thing I didn't really care for was the pixel hunting involved on getting evidence on some of the pieces. Other than that, lots of CSI-based mystery!CSI: Deadly Intent

Its alot better than the previous game, not as many glitches, easier to find things etc.

Amazing game if you love CSI or law and order this would be a great gift to you. Very thorough and fantastic only down side is there's 5 cases in the game. But still worth it :D

I started out playing the newest of the CSI series of games first so unfortunately this one seemed quite slow paced and clunky in comparison. The cases were still fun and finding all the evidence was definitely tricky. In some cases the clues were so hard to find it became quite frustrating. I think that if I hadn't played the newer version first, I would have enjoyed this more. It is a fairly short game. It could easily be played through in a few hours (4 or 5) if you stick with it. And the replay value is, of course, quite low since you solve the crimes as you go. Not much point in resolving the same crimes. The graphics are okay - nothing really special. Overall, if you enjoy detective games, this one is worth a play through. And, since it's older, it's a real bargain which makes it even better in my book anyway.

i love this game it was a lot of fun. my only issue with it is i wish it had more crimes to solve if it were a little longer it would've been perfect but the game is still a whole lot of fun.