CSI: 3 Dimensions of Murder hands-on archived preview
If we're to believe what we see on TV, there's an awful lot of crime in Las Vegas. Not just your run-of-the-mill muggings and murders, but weird cases involving poison, larvae, and severed body parts. These crimes aren't suited to any old detective; no, in Las Vegas, only a team of highly-skilled forensic experts are capable of navigating the twists and turns to bring down these clever killers. Seems like a good setting for a game, doesn't it? Unfortunately, the three CSI games released since 2003 have met with lukewarm response from adventure gamers, largely due to their lack of interactivity and uninspired gameplay. The upcoming CSI: 3 Dimensions of Murder could change all that.
The new game is being referred to as CSI 3, but it's actually the fourth game in the series (the first two took place in Las Vegas, the third in Miami). In this installment we're back in Vegas, and the strip is looking a bit different than it did the last time around. That's because the franchise has a new developer—Telltale Games, who are already known in adventure gaming circles for their first Bone game and acquisition of the Sam & Max license last year. Although the basic format hasn't changed, Telltale has put a 3D spin on the CSI world that promises to deliver a richer, more cinematic experience for hungry players.
CSI 3 uses the same engine Telltale developed for Bone, but with a first-person perspective instead of third. As in Bone, the cameras are fixed; you don't have free reign over the 3D environment. In fact, the game's navigation is fairly similar to its node-based counterparts: you pan side to side from a fixed point, and move around or switch to a close-up view by clicking on hotspots. So what's the big deal? For one thing, the 3D treatment immerses the player better than the static screens in the other CSI games. Instead of close-ups appearing as still shots, in this game you can pan around in the close-up view to find evidence you might not have noticed at first glance. Your collection and detection tools are now animated: the glove reaches out and grabs when you click with it; the fingerprint brush twists and turns. Pieces of evidence can be examined close up and rotated to find hidden blood stains or fibers. And last but not least, more cinematic camerawork brings this game a lot closer to an episode of primetime TV.
The game's format should be familiar to players of the previous installments. You are an anonymous first-person investigator, with one of the CSI bigwigs as your partner. To crack the case, you must comb the crime scene, question witnesses, evaluate evidence in the lab, and haul people in for questioning. (Okay, you don't actually do any hauling—that's Capt. Brass' job. But you get to ask most of the questions in the interrogation room.) I'm not an avid CSI watcher, so it's hard to comment on how true-to-life the characters are, but their depictions are at least as good as in the other games, if not better. The facial models are extremely detailed, and even if they don't look exactly like their human counterparts, they look like real people, which is no small feat in 3D. Not surprisingly, the voice acting is quite good. The voices for the male cast members are provided by the TV actors; Catherine and Sara are voiced by "sound alikes."
Telltale wrote 3 Dimensions of Murder's five cases in collaboration with a CSI scriptwriter. I played one of these in its entirety, and portions of two others. All three had the feel of TV episodes, with a heavy emphasis on forensics, a couple of surprise twists, and plenty of "reconstruction" cinematics to reinforce the gory nature of the crime. Although the cases I played aren't as over-the-top weird as some in other CSI games, they're well written and kept me guessing. (One in particular, which takes place at a gaming convention and centers around a highly-anticipated game's cancellation, will be especially amusing to adventure fans.) The cases are also longer and more detailed than in other CSI games, an improvement Telltale made in response to player feedback.
After visiting the first crime scene, you have access to the lab, the coroner's office, and Capt. Brass' office. As before, Brass is your go-to guy for any non-forensic police work such as researching suspects or obtaining warrants. At the coroner's you can look at the body up close and hear how the unfortunate victim met his or her demise. The lab's where you'll spend most of your time when you're not in the field, so it's fortunate for players that Telltale has beefed up the challenge in this area.
There are five different areas of interaction in the lab, and there's no lab tech doing the work for you this time. (Greg, who was the lab tech in the previous Vegas games, is now out in the field and serves as your partner in one of the cases.) Lab tools include a trace analysis computer (for evaluating evidence such as fingerprints and tire treads), a DNA database, a chemical analysis machine, a comparison microscope, and an assembly table on which certain pieces of evidence can be assembled or disassembled for closer inspection. Although it's definitely more interactive than before, the lab work isn't particularly difficult. The computer and comparison microscope work the same way they did in previous games; the difference is that this time, you get to decide which evidence to try on which machine. At points in the game, you have access to a mobile lab, which is essentially the same as the regular lab but in the back of a van. The gameplay isn't any different when you use the mobile lab, but analyzing forensic evidence in a parking lot makes the investigation feel a bit more immediate, not to mention raising the coolness factor a notch.
The interface has been tweaked slightly, but maintains the same basic look and feel. The case file now stores the movie clips that play as you and your partner reconstruct what went down at the scene; you can replay these at will. In addition, the case file contains the evidence trinity, a visual representation of the investigation so far that links the suspect and the victim to the crime scene and to each other. When you have strong enough links, you can seek warrants from Capt. Brass. The trinity is not a new feature, but its presentation is; unlike in the other games, where the trinity was a sort of progress meter that filled up arbitrarily as you moved through the investigation, it now shows exactly which pieces of evidence and information are making your case.
CSI 3 has difficulty levels that can be switched at any point during the game. This is essentially the same system introduced with CSI: Dark Motives, but Telltale has added a welcome "tool assist" option. When this option is turned on, tools that can't be used are grayed out, which prevents you from having to cycle through every tool on stubborn pieces of evidence. (At most, you'll be given a choice among two or three similar tools, and your partner tells you if you're wrong—there's no chance of contaminating your crime scene by using the wrong item.) Another nice addition is that the cursor changes to a toolbox when you mouse over an area where you can use a forensic tool, which cuts down on the guesswork from previous games. As before, your performance is evaluated, but the scoring has been simplified. It's now only based on how many hints you get from your partner during the investigation, not on how much of the evidence you have collected and processed.
3 Dimensions of Murder is not going to revolutionize the genre, or even the CSI franchise. In many ways, it's more similar to its predecessors than not. But Telltale has implemented a number of small changes that add up to a much more dynamic experience for the player. CSI fans will enjoy it, and adventure gamers who haven't played a CSI game yet may now have a reason to start. So start packing for Vegas—CSI 3 will be on store shelves this month.
