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CSI: CRIME SCENE INVESTIGATION (XBOX)
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Publisher: Ubi Soft.
Developer: Radical Entertainment. Released: February 2005 (Europe). Genre: Investigation. Other versions: PC. Posted 3rd September 2024. By Shane Battams © 2024 |
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With CSI: Crime Scene Investigation proving a show of enduring popularity (and occasional controversy) during the 2000s, you could safely bet that video game adaptations would follow suit. While two games had launched previously on PC, Xbox owners would be gifted CSI and its follow-up Dark Motives in one bundle. Offering ten cases of mysteries to solve with aid from characters you know and love, it sounds like a steal on paper. However, as the investigators would find on the show itself: once you dig deeper, evidence mounts to the contrary. A litany of issues unique to this port, along with the mediocre quality of both games in question, ensure this is one mystery that’s better left unsolved.
Each game sees you taking the role of a trainee at the Las Vegas-based crime scene investigators as you attempt to solve crimes ranging from arson to cold-blooded murder. These revolve around you exploring a variety of scenes and collecting key evidence. As you work alongside characters from the show, returning to base allows you to analyse clues in the lab, inspect the body if the case is a murder, and ask Brass to search databases and issue warrants. There is some attempt to capture the spirit of the show, but a lot of the cases lack memorability and often feel forgettable or predictable. That being said, the main cast reprises all their roles, and while some perform better than others, a majority give faithful reads that lend the game some authenticity. In contrast, the voicework from side characters ranges from acceptable to downright bad. There is some attempt to capture the quirkier side of the show too, with a few moments that offer intrigue and scenes which are more noteworthy.
CSI sees the cast of the TV show lending it some authenticity, but the cases are too often routine to play
CSI is a tale of two games and, sadly, neither is very good. The first feels like a treatment for insomnia at times, with its quintet of cases lacking challenge or longevity. You could easily clear these in a single sitting, and while sometimes progression is blocked by missing the odd clue, most lie in plain sight and make exploration more of a snooze than enjoyable detective work. Ironically, Dark Motives has the opposite problem, instead falling victim to some of the genre’s worst tropes. Backgrounds can be murky and make spotting certain key clues incredibly difficult, progression can be blocked if certain items aren’t used in a specific order and it becomes a frustrating exercise in combing over your items, talking to key persons and repeating the process in every new area.
It doesn’t help that the interface and exploration feel rather cumbersome. Perhaps due to the truncation of the interface to fit with a console controller, picking a tool feels more exhausting than it should. You can magnify vision, dust for prints and use a UV light along with a good dozen other tools, but picking them requires sifting through two separate wheels and then clicking where you wish to use them. It never feels natural, and moving between scenes is just as awkward. Not only do you need to bring up a menu, but you must then sift between two more: one for locations of interest and another for CSI locations, such as visiting Al in the Morgue. It proves a nuisance in the first half, and little short of a nightmare during later cases when you inevitably get stuck. When swapping between multiple interrogation suspects, you’re forced to back out to Brass’s office and then choose another suspect. It’s little moments like this which become grating as you make progress.
It doesn’t help that the interface and exploration feel rather cumbersome. Perhaps due to the truncation of the interface to fit with a console controller, picking a tool feels more exhausting than it should. You can magnify vision, dust for prints and use a UV light along with a good dozen other tools, but picking them requires sifting through two separate wheels and then clicking where you wish to use them. It never feels natural, and moving between scenes is just as awkward. Not only do you need to bring up a menu, but you must then sift between two more: one for locations of interest and another for CSI locations, such as visiting Al in the Morgue. It proves a nuisance in the first half, and little short of a nightmare during later cases when you inevitably get stuck. When swapping between multiple interrogation suspects, you’re forced to back out to Brass’s office and then choose another suspect. It’s little moments like this which become grating as you make progress.
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Worse still, CSI might be one of the worst ports the Xbox would see, in terms of presentation. The rendered backgrounds and models range wildly in quality, with main cast members looking acceptable, but the side characters looking disturbingly odd. You can tell some compression was needed to fit everything onto a single disc. Worse still, there’s a frequent recurrence of distracting visual bugs. Red bars around characters, incorrect textures between characters and backgrounds, animation bugs and mismatched voices stick out like a sore thumb, often producing unintentional comedy. The final case’s showdown with the culprit makes an attempt at drumming up suspense, except the antagonist’s mouth doesn’t move and at one point, the voice of an NPC comes out of Grisham’s mouth. It’s hilarious, but clearly the opposite of the tone that was intended. Even the audio isn’t immune to bugs, with music tracks sometimes duplicating over each other.
Unfortunately for crime buffs, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation’s only foray on the original Xbox is a mess. While the two games didn’t exactly set the world alight when they launched on PC, this ranks among the worst ports the console would see. Cumbersome to navigate, riddled with presentational bugs and generally not a great deal of fun to play, the only mystery here is: why you should waste your time playing it? Even if you’re a fan of the show, point ‘n’ clicks, or both, you’ll have a tough time enjoying this game.
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VERDICT
"Cumbersome to navigate, riddled with presentation bugs and just not a great deal of fun to play, CSI’s only foray on the original Xbox is a mess." OVERALL: 3/10 |
OTHER INVESTIGATION GAMES REVIEWED
CSI: Hard Evidence (2007, Xbox 360)
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Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc (2014, PlayStation Vita)
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