This time around, Lennie is joined by his partner Ed Green (played by Jesse L. Martin), another L&O regular. Rounding out the cast once again is assistant DA Serena Southerlyn (Elisabeth Röhm) who, I'm sorry to say, is the only casualty among the game's new character models. Lennie looks much smoother than in the previous games, and Legacy did a nice job portraying Ed, but poor Serena is looking kind of pig-faced. The supporting cast looks pretty good—more detailed than before, with much more fluid ranges of motion. There's still room for improvement—a lot of the witnesses have permanent frowns, and Lennie's eyebrows arch to an alarming degree even when he's not being cynical—but overall, a job well done.

Some fan must have complained that the previous L&O games didn't have enough "locked box" puzzles, because this game is chock full of them. Every location you investigate has at least one padlock to get past, and the combinations are easily found somewhere on the premises. I have mixed feelings about these puzzles. On the one hand, the additional puzzles make Justice Is Served more of a game and less of a simulation, which is how some players classified Legacy's previous attempts. On the other hand, as in so many adventure games, the puzzles are obviously there for the sake of giving the player something to do. (One of the more bizarre examples involved arranging a collection of Russian dolls in a certain order on a storage locker shelf. Somehow, I just don't see the real Lennie and Ed putting up with it.) Sure, contrived puzzles have been around almost as long as adventure games themselves, and I can't say these puzzles bothered me in Justice Is Served, but they did remind me that this was just a game I was playing—not an actual police investigation, not even an episode on TV.

The game has almost as many handwriting and voice analysis puzzles as padlocks, but these are much more organic to the story. There's even a rather amusing slider-type puzzle where you guide a bird's-eye-view Lennie through a messy closet full of boxes. But, of course, the bulk of the gameplay is collecting evidence, questioning witnesses, and piecing together the mystery. I'm sorry to say that the investigation isn't always logical. In fact, several times I found myself doing the L&O version of scrolling through inventory items—visiting every witness with the hope that my visit may trigger a new cutscene. A few times this actually worked; suddenly a witness had something new to say, that I never would have anticipated from the way the story had been unfolding. My advice: don't be ashamed to get a hint or look at a walkthrough if you're stuck. There's a reason Law & Order episodes wrap up neatly at the end of the hour. This is not the type of story you should devote months of your life to.

Like the previous two games and the TV show, Justice Is Served is set up as part "law" (police), and part "order" (district attorney), but even the "order" half of the game has a fair amount of investigation thrown in. Although what happens in the courtroom ultimately decides whether you convict the suspect (and win the game), the trial is essentially just a series of cutscenes triggered by your questions to the witnesses, with a few objections now and then. Anyone who's apprehensive about trying a Law & Order game because of the "order," don't be. Most of the game is spent outside the courtroom.

That said, I do have a few complaints about the courtroom sequences. I'm one of those dorks who was on the mock trial team in school instead of playing a sport, so I know a little more about courtroom procedure than the average person. In the L&O games, this puts me at a disadvantage. I was taught that a lawyer should never, ever ask a question he or she doesn't know the answer to. Apparently no one in Law-&-Order-land ever learned this rule because not only do they do this—constantly—but the game requires it in order to get a conviction. What's worse, knowing something about objections and courtroom procedure can hurt you. More than once the defense attorney asked a question that called for hearsay or was of questionable relevance, but when I had Serena object all she could come up with was "leading," which I know full well is admissible during cross examination. I'd at least like to know what's going to fly out of Serena's mouth before she says it, with the chance to cancel out of an objection before the judge gives me that dirty look. To some extent, I've had these feelings about all three L&O games, but I don't remember the witness examinations being as unrealistic or the objections as annoying in the previous two installments as they are in Justice Is Served. The majority of players may not mind the TV-style courtroom drama, but if you have any experience in a courtroom, be prepared for a half-baked portrayal of how things really work.

When I finally got a conviction—after first having the case dismissed for lack of evidence and then having the suspect found not guilty—I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I'd received a high enough score to view bonus material on the game's official website. But the bonus content isn't even the best of Justice Is Served's extras. Legacy has also included a full version of their first L&O game, Dead on the Money, in the box. Granted, I played this back when it came out, and a lot of you reading this review have probably already played it, too. That's not the point. When was the last time you found anything fun or unexpected inside a game box? These may be small gestures, but for some reason they really make me feel appreciated as a customer. Legacy's attention to the players reminds me of the way Sierra worked so hard to earn our loyalty in the eighties. The bonus game is a smart move on Legacy's part, too. Next time I fall into a conversation with someone who loves the Law & Order TV show as much as I do, I don't have to stop at "Hey, have you played the game?"—I can hand the unsuspecting L&O fan a copy, passing along Legacy's good deed, and maybe even bring another recruit into the adventure gaming fold.

I think even the biggest fan would agree that, while fun television, Law & Order is not on par with an Oscar-winning movie. That's fine; watching L&O reruns on cable is still a good way to spend an evening. I feel the same way about this game. Justice Is Served follows the L&O formula very well, from the opening conversation between two innocent bystanders, to the final wisecrack after the lawyers have won their case. Along the way there are plenty of plot twists to keep the story moving and the player guessing. Granted, Justice Is Served doesn't end with a bang the way I like my adventure games to end—the screen just fades to black, much like at the top of the hour on television—but considering how many adventure games promise a big payoff then fall short, this more subtle and formulaic ending is rather refreshing. At least when I sit down to play an L&O game I know what I'm getting into, and so far Legacy Interactive has always delivered. I may not be thinking about the story for weeks to come or talking out its finer parts on the forums, but Justice Is Served held my attention and kept me entertained long enough for me to reach that final wisecrack—just like a good hour of TV drama.