It isn't long into the evening when we first get the call. There appears to be a new victim, traumatized by something that's holding it back on the market. I grab the necessary tools for the job and make my way down to the crime scene, and, like always, it simply isn't pretty. What I find down there is CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, a new game for the Xbox from the folks at Ubisoft. The victim's not very old in age, seeming like a fresh pup on the scene and yet bearing a familiar mark of its parents, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation and CSI: Dark Motives for the PC. I immediately take hold of my Xbox controller and decide to see just what did the little one in.

The history behind CSI is one of fascination, although it's easy to see why. The game was based on the popular CBS shows of the same name, although it seemed to concentrate on the popularity of the first one introduced years ago, featuring William Petersen and his cast from Las Vegas. It focused on a crack team of analysts who are called to each crime scene to investigate what really happened, and even the most minor of clues, like broken glass, skin fragments, or even a tiny hair that someone would consider as a slight case of dandruff, made all the difference in putting the right person behind bars.

I can see what the problem was with the game's motivation. It was so busy trying to mimic its parents that it just failed to strike a beat of its own. All the game consisted of are the ten cases that were originally in the PC games, each with their own set of puzzles and things that need to be located. It even had the nerve midway through the game to re-introduce you to the cast you've already grown used to, evidence that points to a quickie PC port. I'll have to stow that in the plastic bag and take it to the lab for further examination.

The interface seems easy enough to follow. Upon further look at the game through my microscope, I can see how CSI was trying to utilize the formula the show is known for. You're given access to a number of different devices that made the show so popular, including a magnifying glass and UV light for full examination. The only problem is, even without the help of assistance from one of your digital cohorts, it's still way too easy to come across the evidence and then take it from point A to point B. It would have been a lot more interesting to actually travel to places in real-time and unravel a mystery rather than get a generic mystery where everything is resolved for you with just a few movements of the controller. But that would have involved some kind of effort, something I don't think this little one was ready to put forth.

Upon deeper examination, I can see that the CSI developers even went as far as to include interrogations, where you could ask a number of questions to suspects to try to get them to crack or to simply learn more information that wasn't provided at the crime scene. But, again, its presentation fails to provide any game play sparks, simply giving you a list to run down and then watching the results. Obviously, there's better interrogation results with THQ's The Punisher, but again that involves innovation that's just beyond CSI's limited reach.

Worse yet, it seemed like its life span just wasn't meant to be anything lengthy. CSI only contained ten cases to solve, and doesn't offer any new ones to download once they're done. There's not even a "make your own case" option where you could build new cases to investigate. The game clearly then becomes a rerun, and not even an exciting one at that. Even the $20 price tag that the game tried to attract us with looked like an overcharge.

I did notice something good, however. CSI did succeed with some of its presentation, as it used the same voice actors from the TV show (including Petersen and Marg Helgenberger, two big draws), who follow some well-written dialogue that follows the formula each individual series is known for (you can thank one of CSI's writers for that). It's just too bad that the graphics never rose up to the occasion, with muddy colors and bad lip-synching that showed signs of failure to do anything new or even worthwhile.

So upon completion of this analysis, I have come up with the following conclusion. CSI: Crime Scene Investigation simply wasn't worth the purchase and, as a result, succumbed to its own failure of entertainment. Fans of the show may be interested in giving it a rent to see what kind of life it led, but, honestly, they appear to be better off watching any given version of the TV show and saving $20. Not to sound shrewd, but sometimes the truth hurts.

Our Final ScoreBad

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