First Impression: CSI: Crime Scene Investigation – Fatal Conspiracy (PC) ~ Ah, CSI.

Wikipedia entry

Lately, I’m getting quite a lot into the series of CSI. I’m currently watching the original series to the end. Then the spin-offs. But the games, oh man, the games are something special. Published by Ubisoft and developed by TellTale Games. This game has mixed reviews all over the board. I have seen reviews ripping this game a new one and I have seen reviews praising this game. This is the latest PC game that came from the series. I have beaten the first two cases and I just started the 3rd case. Is this a good game in my opinion? Is this a game made for fans of the series or can it be played by everyone? Well, I took a look from both angles. So, I won’t get the criticism that I gave this game a positive review because I’m a fan of the series. So, let’s dive right into this game. And as usual, feel free to leave a comment with your opinion on the content of this article and or the game. 

TellTale made this

It’s quite clear that TellTale games made this game. The formatting is just like their other series. The game is 5 cases long. During the game, you get another partner every time. What seriously amazed me is that the characters from the show actually did the voice acting for this game.  This give me goosebumps. One of the goals of these games is trying to give you the feeling that you are part of the team. The voice acting helps a lot with this.

The writing is done on a very clever way. Some lines are left out. Information your brain can easily fill in. Questions you would ask if the game was voice controlled. This helps draw you in a bit more too.

Storywise, this game starts off quite interesting. The idea of having a storyline over the whole game instead of having five separate stories makes it very interesting. The only minor complaint I have here is that the pacing is a bit off. It distracts a bit from the case in my opinion. Truth to be told, you can’t avoid it.

 The individual cases are quite interesting. But they aren’t my favorite cases from the series. They are good but my favorite cases are from the second game in the series.

Why is it bad?

Visually, this game doesn’t look that well. This game has been released 5 years ago. I know for a fact that visually, games can look way better then this. Tomb Raider Legend, which released 4 years prior, looked way more cleaner then this game.

So, I played a little bit more of the game and found some blurring issues. It would surprise me if my computer is at fault here. I’m extremely sure it can run this game three times without slowing down my computer.

But for a licensed game, visually this game looks quite fine. Some things could have been animated to look a bit better. So, after closer inspection (see what I did there) the issue with the visuals is that some things like hair aren’t animated which giving the visuals a bad impression to a PC gamer. Thankfully, in an adventure game the graphics aren’t the priority. The actual adventure is a bit more important.

One thing I find a negative in this game is that you can’t walk around. In a previous installment, you were allowed to walk around on the crime scene. I was hoping they implemented this again. But now, it’s back to the old point-and-click interface. Which is quite fine by me, expect for one flaw. In the game you are scored on how thorough you are. A visual indication for this would be nice, there have been various times that I was searching on a spot that was actually clean. They did this in the previous installments.

Another thing I don’t understand is that they cut the lab into two area’s. It’s rather annoying when you need to switch between the two places. Also, it’s annoying to see a number showing with the evidence. I can understand that it’s to help you remember that are is something that needs your processing, but you have no visual indication which item you still need to take a closer look at. That number also doesn’t decrease when you investigate it with the proper machine.

Oh, I talked a bit earlier about the lab. Some instruction videos actually didn’t work and it played part of the intro for this game. This is the weirdest bug I have seen for quite a while.

The GUI (graphical user interface, the menus and such) in the lab is a bit lacking. In the past it was easier to switch between evidence. Now, you need to restart before you can continue.

Yet, the worst two issues is that you can barely alt+tab out of the game. Your screen will show some weird bars like a smashed LCD screen. And related to that, sometimes the sound cuts out on a scary way… as your headphones just popped.

What is good…?

Apart from the visuals, I find barely any major flaws, apart from some nitpicks here and there, in the game. The soundtrack in this game feels a lot like the series. Music that won’t go to your music library but is perfect to set the mood.

The design of the crime scenes and the locations you visit are well thought out. The “hiding spots” for the evidence are sometimes so well hidden, it’s easy to look over them. This is very lovely, since this gives the game a more challenging nature.

Also, there are achievements in this game. For the people who want to 100% this game, this is some replay value. You can try to avoid making the mistakes you made in the first playthrough.

The tips system is more streamlined. Sometimes you get mails from the night shift supervisor telling you what you should do or might overlook.

Is this game perfect? Hell no, it has some flaws that might hinder the experience. Is it good? Yes. Is it for everyone? Not really. I would recommend it to fans of the series and adventure gamers. I would also recommend it to people who like to solve crimes, virtually or in the real world.

If you are able to look past a few minor issues, this game is quite well crafted. When the developers had a bit more time, this game could be a bit better polished. That’s all I have to say about this game in my first impression. If I finish it, I might write a review about it and go a bit more in depth about certain area’s of the game.

In any case, I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing this for you guys (or girls). I hope to welcome you at another article. But until then, have a nice day and game on~

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10 most influential games (series) in my life.

I played a lot of games. On the computer, DS, gameboy and many other platforms. In this article I will talk about my list of games/game series that had the most influence on my life, game life and or style. This list is somewhat in an order, but sometimes this list can change for me currently. I won’t update this list but it might happen that I make another list with 10 influential games to me. But one thing is for sure. These 10 are the current games that have or had the most influence on me. They either made me love a game genre, a series, make me happy or made me change my personality. As experiment, I would like to know what games you guys think changed you. Drop them in the comments. Probably there will be similar games. But all these games on this list come extremely recommend. There is rule though, when I select a game from a series, I won’t use the series again in another slot. That’s why I allowed myself to pick game series.

#10: 9 Hours, 9 People, 9 Doors & Virtue’s Last Reward

I already explained why I liked Virtue’s Last Reward so much. In that review I also mentioned the game 999. This game didn’t come to Europe and I had to import this game.

I am truly glad that I imported this game for my DS. The story is quite thrilling and made me love the visual novel genre. Since this game, I got a harsh judge on game stories. I get somewhat disappointed when a game has a weak story that doesn’t draw me in. All thanks to this game.

I often listen to the music, which makes many situations intense. I often use it as inspiration when I am writing stories, whenever I have to write a trilling part. It makes the story write itself.

What I loved so much are the puzzles to escape a room. I often try the Android games where you need to escape a room. It doesn’t do the same thing to me but hey, nostalgia!

In addition to that, the different endings where genius. There were based on the path you took and really made you come back to see what actually happened.

#9:  Game Dev Story

 A fair warning, when you download this game onto your Android or iPhone, well be prepared to not put it down for quite a while.

This game is getting pretty popular to the point where GreenHartGames made a spin-off on it. But it’s this game that made me think. Are there good games on the Android market like this one? And yes, there are. I explored the Android Market and really got some fun games to play.

I was against tablets but thanks to this game I got myself a tablet for my last birthday and I sometimes continue my adventures on the Android market.

The game actually made me do something I always wanted to do. Make games and being the head of a game company. The amazing references really make the game have some humor that even make it less easy to put this game down. The other games of this studio are extremely fun and really a play worth but this game is where it started for me.

#8: Age Of Empires / Age Of Mythology

This game series was very important to me since it introduced me into strategy games. I recall many moments where I go online with the Age Of Mythology to do some matches.

It made me even go so far that when I played cop & robber with my friends that we got somehow to a version of this game. Yes, I swear that we played these kinds of things in my backyard.

This game series is nearly flawless, expect the major failure that is named Age Of Empires Online, and I still love it to this day. I follow blogs and people who make expansion packs on their own for the games and I often try them out.

This game really made me and my sister sit behind the computer for hours on end. We even asked if we could install the game on our parents their computer, so we could play over LAN. Those were fun days.

I once even entered a tournament where I lost, but I truly remember getting ready for it and trying new strategies out all day.

I’m now grown out of the game. It has been quite some time since I played one of the series. Well, maybe after this article I go get my game discs and install and play it.

#7: Halo (PC)

I hate shooters, yet I often play one. My view on shooters really changed thanks to this game. I might call myself a fan of the series. I don’t own a XBOX 360 to play the other games, and I don’t plan to. A good friend of mine told me that they are going in the wrong direction with the series.

This game I played online so often that my mother got angry that I didn’t play anything else then shooters. And I had to shut down the game for a while.

I played this game even with my girlfriend and I truly had some big fun. The story in this game was extremely well done and made me try other shooters. A genre I think is overpopulating the market now-a-days.

It also made my interests go to space for quite a while and when I heard there was a DS game under development I got extremely excited. And man, was I disappointed that this game was canceled or fake. I don’t know it for sure yet.

If you haven’t played this game, shame on you, get this game and play it after you read this article. It’s fun and after I finished this game again, I will sure to write a review on this gem of a game. But yeah, most people probably played this game already since the first XBOX got popular thanks to this game.

#6: Rollercoaster Tycoon

“Mom and dad, please don’t shut down our PC. We’ll lose our progress.”.  I don’t remember how often I told that to my parents when playing this game. The version we had, had trouble loading save files and we finished to scenario’s in one go.

My sister & I played this game an awful lot on the computer, and we actually took turns to finish a scenario. When one of us was playing this game, the other sat there watching carefully and enjoying seeing the park grow and getting more money.

As kids, we weren’t all that great in finishing this game. We made stupid decisions yet, we had some major fun.

Like with the 3rd game. I was so thrilled when I got my stronger computer for Christmas and when I was able to play this game at home. Before I had to wait when we went to my grandparents because their computer was strong enough to run the game. I even remember that I had to write on their blackboard in order to ask permission to play the game. Yeah, bad handwriting.

But I never played the 2nd game in the series. Now that my collection is complete of this series, I am going to try the 2nd game rather soon after I finish the first game.

#5: Ace Attorney series

Playing as an attorney is boring! OBJECTION! It isn’t. At all. This game actually introduced me to the visual novel series, and I am grateful for that.

Nearly everything in these games is perfect in my eyes and when I’m going to review them, I will have some major trouble finding bad things in these games.

Some quotes of the game even slipped in my vocabulary and yes, some character movements actually slipped inside my handelings.

I’m extremely excited to see the 5th game in stores since we didn’t get one game in the series.

This series truly made my love for my Nintendo DS even grow bigger and I never could put it down since then. So HOLD IT, and give this game a go. You won’t regret it if you like games where you need to think and get a great story.

#4: Minecraft

Do you truly require me to explain why Minecraft has such a big influence on me? My review wasn’t clear enough about that? Oh well, let me tell you why it’s so important to me.

First of all, it made me travel to Paris again. For MineCon, where other Minecrafters gather. I rarely go outside my house. (Let’s ignore my theatre group here)

Secondly, this game brought my friends and myself pretty close. My best friend MiseryLC & I wouldn’t be such good buddies if it wasn’t for Minecraft.

Third, this game let me do what I want. Nothing in the game is going to limit me to play the game how I want.

And last point is, I met my girlfriend thanks to Minecraft. Long story, I’ll spare you guys. But that are 4 major reasons why this game deserves such a high spot in this list.

#3: Indiana Jones and the Infernal Machine 

Surprisingly enough, this game doesn’t get the number one spot. The game that spawned my nickname. I love the Indiana Jones series and actually it’s something that has been extremely important in my life.

I remember seeing the first movie in the rental store and after I watched it as a 7 year old, mostly not understanding a letter of what they were saying, I was hooked.

I watched the other movies and once one of my cousins learned that, he showed me this game. And I loved it right away. I didn’t play anything 3D before this game and when we started playing this game, like I told, I couldn’t stop playing.

My love for the Indiana Jones games went a bit downhill once Indiana Jones and the Emperor’s Tomb was released but I prefer this game above the other one. This is a game I know nearly by heart. I often try to play it and I got me sad when I found out that I wasn’t able to finish my LP on my Youtube channel.

I played the levels in my backyard together with friends. Yes, we tried to make it exactly go like how the developers made the level in the game.

Oh, and thanks LucasArts. Rest in peace guys.

#2: Pokémon (and all their spin-offs)

Find me one gamer of my generation that doesn’t know the first Pokémon game. This game is almost so well known it might just be popular then the flagship title of Nintendo.

I really love this series, and I’m ashamed that I didn’t finished the latest entries yet (I got distracted by other games),  and I plan to replay the games rather soon.

The many spin-offs in this series really made me love the series more. I loved to draw circles in Pokémon Ranger, and I even started to have interested when I played Pokémon Pinball.

Every game in the series has an element that draws me in and makes me finish the game.I’m really looking forward to the newest games X & Y. To see what they are going to do with the series next. But now, I need to finish the latest Mystery Dungeon game.

So, what’s your favorite generation? Mine is the 3rd one. The Ruby, Saphire and Emerald games are truly my biggest favorites and recently have beaten my old favorites Gold & Silver.

#1: The Legend of Zelda

The people who know me really should have seen this one coming. I simply can’t put down a Zelda game. I truly am a big Zelda fan. When I was on my trip to America, I bought myself a wallet, shirts and other merchandise of the series.

I nearly got a tear in my eye when I was able to hold an actual NES cartrigde of the first game. (I don’t own a NES, but I have the first game as the GBA release).

I am such a big fan that I even saved up to go to the concert of the Zelda music. Wait, that’s mostly classical music and I listen to electronic genres. Yes, my dedication for the series is that big.

I own even the Zelda Historia AND I pre-ordered my DS for the only reason that there was a Zelda game released on it. It was also my first game I played and did I enjoy it.

I can talk ages about the series but I won’t. I need to finish this article.

Honorable mentions.

Let’s just write it in a list. Freddi Fish, Broken Sword, God Of War, Dragon Quest, Time Hollow, Peggle, Tetris DX, Draw My Life, Corpse Party, Hungry Shark Evolution, Kirby, Desperados, Devil May Cry 4….

I can go on for a long time but this article has run long enough. It pains my hart that I had to leave out so many great games. I might even have forgotten some great games. Oh well, maybe I write another article about this subject where I talk about 10 other games that changed my life. But like I said, these 10 games are the 10 MOST influential. Thanks for reading and I hope that I see you another time on my blog.

Cheers,

NekoJonez~