Customer Reviews

Crime Scene

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

 

 

I just received this game today and have enjoyed the story so far, but the forensic tool controls are hard to use and extremely frustrating, with the swab being the worst tool. There is no real instruction on how to use the tools to collect the clues. Your point meter goes down after every failed tool use attempt and will end your game when it drains your point meter just because you don't know how to work the freaking tool right. You can't move on in the game until you collect all the evidence, which has to be done correctly and analyze the clues. If it weren't for the bad controls, I think it would give it a 4 or 5 rating.

Those who have played the various CSI games on the Nintendo DS or the Wii will be familiar with the basic operations in Crime Scene, a new game for the DS by South Peak Games. Developed by White Birds Productions, Crime Scene is a mature-themed, point and click adventure that puts you into the shoes of Matt Simmons, a rookie crime scene investigator

Your first case opens with an apparent murder suicide. As in all games of this type, Matt has a full arsenal on investigation tools at his disposal including various swabs for collection DNA samples, brushes and transparent tape for dusting and collection fingerprints, scalpels, tweezers, UV Light and UV spray, etc...Back at the office you have the full facilities of the crime lab available for analyzing your collected evidence. You have DNA sequence analyzers, fingerprint databases, ballistics tests, etc...The game goes about this with a series of mini-games where the player has to perform a variety of actions with the stylus or blowing into the DS mic at the right time for a successful test. Fail your test and it will lower your detective score or bar; more about the bar in a moment.

But it's not all about collecting and analyzing evidence. You'll need to interview the various suspects and persons of interest. You'll need to take mini case review quizzes in order to obtain search warrants and arrest warrants. Your character is one of the better aspects of the game. He's a personable guy as is his partner Peter Wayne and that lends to the feeling bonding you have. Unfortunately all is not so rosy with the rest of the department. Adding to the story elements is that Matt will have to put up with department corruption as he goes about his investigations. This provides Crime Scene with a unique element apart from others of its ilk, but at the same time you begin to question the motives of those involved, as it seems to add little more than hindering your work.

I mentioned the detective bar earlier. Successfully gathering and testing evidence and completing the mini case reviews will raise the meter while failure will lower it and herein lies the biggest problem with Crime Scene...its frustrating controls. Now sure a real CSI tech has to know how to lay tape down just right to lift fingerprints but I cannot imagine it is as difficult in real life as it is in this game. This same annoyance applies to just about all the other evidence gathering such as trying to use the scalpel to cut something or the tweezers to pickup a small fragment. You'll find yourself having to repeat the actions over and over again and with each failure, your bar goes down. Once it's depleted you're fired! This is a process that is repeated over and over during the game but as much as you try, success or failure often seems completely arbitrary so practice definitely doesn't make perfect.

Graphically the game is perhaps a bit too cartoonish for its subject matter. It's hard to be a gritty crime drama when a lot of the characters look like they are out of an old 8-bit game. The crime scenes and environments fare better in this area, however, displaying a greater sense of realism and providing the player with a lot of places to visit and investigate. The audio is nominal. There's a couple of different soundtracks that play throughout that add nothing but don't distract either. Not much in the way of sounds but this isn't the type of game that lends itself to extensive sounds and music anyway.

Crime Scene has its strong points in terms of characters and overall story and a lot of things to do, but it is ultimately done in by poor and repetitive controls.

First off, if you do not have a lot of patience, do not purchase this game. That being said, I am really enjoying this game, despite the bad controls (more on that later). The storyline is great! There are several cases and in the end they all tie together. The graphics are nice and the music isn't too overly annoying.

Now, for the tools. Learning how to use the tools is frustrating. There is poor control over them, but with a little practice and patience, you can master them. However, I suggest that before you do anything in this game, ie collect evidence, answer questions, check your evidence, etc. you save your game! This will save you a lot more frustration. It often takes several tries when using a tool, because the controls are so off. Each time you make a "mistake", the game deducts from a meter and when it runs out, you are are essentially fired and have to start over at the last save. Therefore, I simply save before I do anything major just for that reason. I learned the hard way!

In order to use most any tool, you have to use your stylus plus the left or right button. That means after awhile you get a really cramped hand from holding the DS in such a way you can perform this. After I spend an hour or two playing it, some of my fingers are literally numb.

Breakdown of the tools:

Hand - this collects certain evidence, very easy to use.

Blue Spray - spray this to find blood evidence, very easy to use.

UV Light - scan an area to find trace evidence, very easy to use.

Scalpel - used to cut out things, very hard to use (hardest tool in the game). You have to follow and arrow precisely to cut an object out. However, you have to start right at the edge of the arrow (the game is very picky) and follow inside the lines. Most of the time the scalpel drops and you have to start over.

Cotton Swab - cleans off your scalpel. It often slips from your grasp or has very jerky movements, but eventually it does the job.

Tweezers - picks up hairs, small fragments, etc. While it's not the easiest tool to use, it's not the hardest. You have to trace arrows here again, but the game is not as picky with this tool.

Brush - brush dust on fingerprints for lifting. This can be very easy, but if you have a piece of paper with two fingerprints, then it becomes hard. The first fingerprint will work without incident. The second fingerprint takes several tries. You have to keep moving the paper around until the game accepts that you are actually dusting the fingerprint (even though you have been all along). Very annoying.

Adhesive Tape - pick up fingerprints, the game is very picky and will either tell you it's too long or too short. Once you get the right size you have to quickly rub it all over to make it stick, the game doesn't always accept that you've rubbed it enough either.

Electrostatic Dust Lifter - used for picking up shoe prints. This is pretty easy, again the game may tell you it's too short or too long. The problem comes when you have to use the scalpel afterward to then life the shoe print.

Microscope - I find this very easy, you simply put your samples on the microscope and then use a laser to get rid of the unwanted stuff.

DNA - the most frustrating part of the entire game, this is nearly impossible. If you follow the directions, it's nearly impossible, if you find a away around it, you can do it. The objective is to watch the DNA go down the side and then use 4 symbols to the left to match the strains (4 strains of 4 symbols, so 16 in all). However, it goes very fast, too fast to really see. Every time you fail you lose on the meter. I found a way around this. When the time comes to start tapping symbols, tap as fast as you can back and forth (left to right and then right to left) across all 4 symbols and it will automatically fill in the correct symbols for you. You only need 75% to move onto the the next screen.

Ballistic Analysis - also very easy, simply click the circles when they appear to make the flash go off.

There are other things like comparisons, which are simply matching fingerprints, etc. which are also easy to do.

I read a lot of people quit playing this game because the controls are frustrating. They are frustrating, however, like I said before, with practice you can master them and my DNA trick. I myself nearly quit and traded the game in but I persevered and I'm glad. I am really enjoying the game now and the storyline.

I gave the game 4 stars because the frustrating of the controls does take away from it being perfect. However, it has a lot of content. This game takes a long time to master. This is not a game you'll sit down, play, and it's done. Especially when you have to stop playing because your hand hurts or your fingers have gone numb!

I hope my review helps you. Remember, you don't need to quit this game, just have a little patience and you can master the awkward controls!

As mentioned in several reviews the controls on this game are just too difficult. Although I got used to them, the level of accuracy needed to get to the next task drove me crazy. This made the game tedious and that word shouldn't be in the same sentence as "game".

I tried to play this on dsi but couldn't find a way to use the swab since the game calls for L and R buttons. I like the idea of the game and the graphics. Just wish I could get all the way through.

I love this type of a game but, using the tools are a bit frustrating. The booklet does not explain how the tools are suppose to be used if you fail after so many tries the game is over and you must start from the beginning. It took me quite a few tries to handle the use of the swab. This game is a challenge and I guess thats what it's suppose to be. I would give a 5 if they had explained or given a demo on the intro.

I finally finished Crime Scene, and I must admit that I have very mixed feelings about the experience. Though the plot was ridiculously convoluted, the story was still interesting overall. I also liked that the five chapters were linked, rather than just five independent cases, allowing players to get to know the characters better and allowing the game to build up to a dramatic final conclusion. (Sort of like some of the cases in the Phoenix Wright series are linked, though the characters in Crime Scene are far less compelling and there is no intentional humor.) There is quite a bit of dialogue, and there are some scenes in which you question suspects and some scenes in which you must answer a series of questions about the case you are working on. However, the heart of the gameplay in Crime Scene is evidence collection and analysis. Basically, you search various rooms and other settings for areas of interest, using the various forensic tools at your disposal to collect and analyze evidence. This sounds like fun, and it sometimes actually is...when the controls work properly, and this is the most significant problem in the game. The controls are incredibly problematic and tricky. Lots of people have mentioned having problems using the swabs. Personally, I did not have a problem with those most of the time (generally, if the swab was breaking, then I was trying to use it in a place in which they actually wanted me to use a different tool). The scalpel tool, on the other hand, was sometimes practically impossible to get right in a couple of places, as it was so incredibly picky about your initial positioning of the stylus. I finally figured it out, but I had to lose the game several times before I finally got the hang of it--and, in the meantime, I had to really fight the urge to throw my DSi across the room in frustration. :) I felt this level of frustration several times in Crime Scene, and always because of the wonky controls, so it's hard to recommend the experience to others without significant caveats. By the end of the game, the various data collection and analysis start to feel a bit too repetitive as well, so even though I'd really gotten the hang of the controls by then, it was less fun anyway. Overall, Crime Scene is a solid game, but it could have been much better if the controls had been handled properly. If you love point-and-click adventures, mystery stories, and the entire concept of crime scene investigation, Crime Scene is not an entirely bad option, but prepare to have your patience tested.

By the way, another reviewer mentioned that this game does not work on a DS Lite, but that isn't true at all. I just tried it out on my DS Lite, and it worked fine, so I'm guessing the previous reviewer either accidentally purchased a bootlegged copy of the game or just got a defective cartridge.

This game doesn't work on a DS Lite. Cannot comment on the game because it can't be played. Graphics are nice though.