"Law and Order Criminal Intent" Game Review

The objective of "Law and Order: Criminal Intent" is simple. Find the clues, interview witnesses and suspects, and put together a case. It's a difficult genre to do well and fails in multiple ways. The mystery game is easy enough for non-gamers, but not challenging enough to keep the attention of regular gamers.

Time to get your thinking caps out! There are crimes to be solved in "Law and Order: Criminal Intent." As the Detective, you'll have full run of the case - where you go and who you interview. Each case has multiple scenes to scan for evidence, by moving your mouse over the objects. When you point over a clickable object, the mouse changes. Missing clues is not impossible, but as long as you take your time in each scene, you'll the clues with no problem.

Finding clues are important, but it's the witnesses that often point the way to the final suspect. Interviews are not difficult. You have a choice of questions to ask, the order does not seem to matter. Sometimes asking a question will open up more questions to ask. With each question, you decide the tone used. You could ask questions in a sympathetic tone or deceitful one, among other options. The tone will get a different response. My biggest problem, is that you can go through and ask them the same question in all the tones. I'd like to see, once you ask them in one tone, they remember how you treated them. If you were mean, the witness might be offended and stop answering your questions.

This leads me to another point. I wish there was a point in the case, where the crime could just not be solved anymore. I know the game needs to be easier for casual gamers, but adding a difficulty level would take care of that problem.

Unless you absolutely love Law and Order, pass on this one.