Review of CSI: Hard Evidence
A Flawed Xbox 360 Crime-Adventure Game That's for Patient Fans Only
CSI: Hard Evidence is pure crime-drama fan service, though laughable graphics and a slow pace will ultimately ruin the experience for many gamers.
CSI: Hard Evidence is TellTale Games' first Xbox 360 release, and to no surprise, it's a point-and-click adventure that would find a better home on the PC than a console. It features the familiar cast of the television series CSI, but because of some less than tolerable visuals, Grissom, Stokes and the crew are nearly unrecognizable.
Pacing is a Killer
On top of some sub-par graphics, the pacing of the game will have most gamers snoozing within minutes. Crime-scene analysis is sped up by quick montages while rockin’ tunes blare in the television series, but the videogame forces players to search the intricacies of items on locale and encourages diving in dumpsters and using a flashlight to locate certain items in a pixel-hunt-like manner. Adding bonuses like bug-hunting and extra points for specific searches is a good touch to encourage players to look in every nook and cranny, but spending 15 minutes in a bloody bedroom will inevitably bore the point-and-clicker to tears.
Further Analysis
Still, in spite of having to study tons of boring environments for what seems like hours, Hard Evidence manages to capture the characters – who look more like mannequins than models – through excellent voice-overs, giving you the sense that the characters really are who they’re supposed to be. The series’ actors all lend their talent to the game, and relieve some of the woe of playing this middling game. Music lightly plays in the background, though none of it is recognizably from the show.
This realism, unfortunately, isn’t any fun. It’s more of a chore to play than it is to enjoy due to the very specific linearity of investigating murder. There’s always one finite answer with no way to do things in a renegade way (such as investigating another crime-scene before finding the weapon) but such are the rules of the law. As previously mentioned, the law isn’t entertaining.
Guilty as Charged
Fans of the show should consider a rental, since it’s still interesting to look for fingerprints and interrogate people, but it never feels like you’re watching a CSI episode, which is what it should have been. There are few things more boring than narrowing down criminal searches and matching DNA in a lab if it’s not the player's real job, and Hard Evidence really feels like work. That’s really the catch of any adventure game, though, so only hardened genre veterans and ultra-hardcore fans should even consider analyzing at this crime-scene.
