CSI Miami (Jewel Case)
by Ubisoft
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Video Game Reviews of CSI Miami (Jewel Case)
Customer Review: If you are worried that this game is too short or too easy--don't.
Summary: 5 Stars
Regarding my background, I have seen one episode of CSI (Las Vegas) and one episode of CSI: Miami. Although I am not a "fan," the game looked interesting. I generally like FPS and RPG styled games, but wanted something for a change of pace that did not involve combat. After trying demos of many adventure games, I settled on CSI: Miami, which is the first game in the series that I have played. Although I have read some reviews elsewhere that state how excessively easy and short the game is, that is not my impression at all.
The quality of the game is good. Each of the five cases contains a number of locations (rooms in homes, patio decks, outdoor areas at golf courses, offices, etc.) where you find evidence and interact with suspects. One location in each case has a 360 degree view--giving you a "3D" feel. The game has a tutorial, and although it is good, I continued to learn more about it in each case--even including the end case. I believe it is reasonably intuitive, but there are a lot of tools and a lot of information to consider, and it takes a little while to acquaint yourself with all of them, since they are not all used equally in each case.
The game is partially nonlinear and partially linear. It contains story elements where you have to uncover a certain amount of information via evidence and interviews to move on, although the way you collect and analyze the evidence and the order in which you talk to people is your choice. I suspect that no two people will play the game exactly the same.
The plot development is very good, probably the same as a series of five television shows. I found it very difficult to predict the guilty person in each case, although one case becomes reasonably obvious about half way through. That was the one exception.
Although I would not say the game is difficult, it is a "thinking person's" game--especially the final case, which is primarily dialog and many interviews that involve many of the characters from the previous cases. It is not a matter of clicking on things as others have claimed, but rather putting together a progression of stories, alibis, and occasionally tall tales to come to a conclusion regarding what actually happened. Although I did not time myself, it took me many hours of play on four "days off" to compete, so I suspect I spent perhaps 5 hours on each case.
I also liked the game's realism with regard to how the puzzles and evidence are handled and what evidence you get from them. Using a mouse, you drag the evidence to the tech and the results are "transferred to the computer or microscope." This is not completely realistic, but is pretty versatile for handling the wide variety of documents, DNA, fingerprints, lab results, shoeprints, and a variety of other dissimilar information.
Regarding the difficulty, I think it was about right. They have a hint system where you can ask the CSI that accompanies you to most locations for advice. It is supposed to affect your final rating, but I ended up being rated as "master" on every case, so I do not think the requirements are that steep. I needed 6 hints during the entire game, which averaged just over one a case. In any event, I liked this hint system a lot as a way to keep from being frustrated if you just don't understand what the game is looking for at that point.
CSI: Miami had two design issues that I didn't like, although I did not consider either to be serious. At the opening of some new locations and when you bring someone in for questioning, a dialog often follows automatically when the scene changes. If you are distracted during that time by something external to the game, like a family member coming in and asking a question, you will miss the dialogue and will have no opportunity to hear it again unless you start the entire case from the beginning. I tried quitting the game and restarting the scene, but the saved game starts (at best) after this opening dialog. Of course, you can get the basics by reviewing the case notes, but the notes are terse one-liners listing various facts, and you will only be able to guess what the conversations were like. The second design issue was that the game requires to you "discover" evidence in a certain way. For example, if you see a gun in between some rocks, you may not be able to pick it up or examine it. After cycling through the detection tools, you learn that you need to use the flashlight on it first to "see" it (or so the game thinks), and then you can pick it up with the gloves. Although not a serious problem, this is an annoyance at least, and more importantly can cause you to miss less obvious evidence.
Summing it up, I rated CSI: Miami 5 stars overall, although 4 ? stars may be more appropriate if you consider the two design issues I just mentioned to be important for you.
Customer Review: CSI Miami Review
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a very good criminalistics game. I liked that its a very challenging and very fun game to play. I own all CSI games and this one is the one with the greatest fun factor. I really liked it.Customer Review: CSI: MIAMI
Summary: 5 Stars
I really like the CSI games. They let you fingerprint and take pictures. Also you collect the blood and compare it, or match the dna. This game is awesome!!!!!!