The Word Is In On 'CSI: Hard Evidence'

The latest CSI: Crime Scene Investigation game gets mixed reactions.

During the course of CSI: Hard Evidence, the player interacts with the various characters from CSI, although Wired said that "the in-game cast looks very little like the real-world version." Variety said that the voices of the characters, on the other hand, will be mostly familiar to fans of the show:

Most of the actors from the show, from William Peterson [Gil Grissom] on down, are on hand, and do solid voice work. However, Ubisoft was able to secure only the male voices from the series. Soundalikes provide the voices for Catherine Willows (Marg Helgenberger) and Sara Sidle (Jorja Fox), though they do such a good job that only those who look at the credits may notice.

According to Xbox World, CSI: Hard Evidence has "five all-new cases this time around, including a cab-driver set on fire, a murdered eye-surgeon witnessed by a blind woman, and an 80s hair-metal band electrocuted on the eve of their big come-back." Adventure Gamers said that "[e]ach of the cases is a good old-fashioned mystery with lots of twists and turns to uncover as you slowly unpick the story." However, the game also had a weakness when it came to the cases, according to Wired:

It's impossible to come to the wrong conclusion in Hard Evidence. Simply ask every suspect every possible question you can, then find every piece of evidence available, and eventually the bad guy will end up in jail. The cases have some clever plot twists, but with no chance of failure, solving them just isn't that satisfying.

Despite the linear simplicity of CSI: Hard Evidence, the reviewers praised the game's ability to make the cases interesting. "It's actually quite impressive that the game can encourage you to form your own initial conclusions and then make you question them whenever new evidence is uncovered," said the reviewer from Xbox World. The simplicity of the game also serves a purpose. As Adventure Gamers pointed out, "making the game easy and simple to play is understandable, as it's designed to appeal to fans of the show, not gamers."

You can purchase CSI: Hard Evidence from Amazon.com.

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