An esteemed scientist has been found shot to death in his car in midtown Manhattan. You must first take on the role of detective and investigate the crime by uncovering clues, gathering evidence and interviewing witnesses and suspects. Then, after arresting the suspect, you must assume the role of Assistant District Attorney and build a case against the defendant that will convince the jury to return a guilty verdict.

I had high expectations for Law & Order 2: Double or Nothing and looked forward to the promised improvements from its predecessor: Dead on the Money. Developer Legacy Interactive went as far as to approach the adventure community for their input on ways to improve the game’s quality and, in many ways, their advice was invaluable.

After inserting the installation CD, I was very surprised by the lengthy installation. It was a good 20 minutes before I could finally start the game [We installed the game on 3 different systems and the install time varied between 15-20 minutes – Randy]. Be patient, I scolded myself, some of the best games require a lengthy install. Anyone remember The Longest Journey?

Once installed, you must choose between two different screen modes: Full Screen or Centered. The Centered screen mode is so small that it is questionable why it was even offered and I can only assume it was to improve the game speed on slower systems or those without a 3D accelerator card. I wonder though if this was an unnecessary option as most gamers today should have machines more than capable of running this game.

Law and Order 2 is divided into two separate parts: the investigation and the court. For the first half of the game you act as a detective who must gather evidences from places related to the murder scene. You also collect statements from the people who know about the murder to support your case in the court. It was during the investigation that I was hoping for more puzzles and items to interact with, but my hopes were soon dashed. In most of the scenes - about 80% of them - you’re only allowed to question suspects. Overall, there are a total of 15 witnesses and 8 locations to search for clues, but even when there is the possibility for puzzle solving, most of the time it is limited to collecting items, unlocking a door or safe, decrypting notes or a very simple puzzle like moving a crane. In fact, there are only two ‘real’ puzzles inside the game: the encrypted note and the shredded note. This is a major drawback as interacting with items in the game world and solving puzzles are a few of the more important reasons I play adventure games. Interrogation and cut scenes are a nice addition, but if they comprise the main segments of the game then it could, and does, become repetitive. If I only wanted to listen to conversations from the stars of Law & Order, then I would just turn on the television and watch the show

There are four different skills – or strengths - offered at the beginning of gameplay. Team Work, Case Organization, Interview/Questioning Witnesses, and Evidence Collection. The first two are basically hint features that help manage the case. Choose Team Work and your colleague will provide hints from time-to-time about the on-going case through cell phones or other means. The Case Organization skill will give you hints on selecting which items could be used to support your decision to obtain a warrant or subpoena. Good Interview skills eliminate unnecessary questions during the interrogation. Evidence Collection is the most crucial skill and one that every player should use unless they can stomach some of the ugliest pixel-hunting I have ever seen in a game. Evidence Collection positions a magnifying glass icon over any object that can be picked-up or used. Without the magnifying glass icon, you are asking for major eyesore. Choose Team Work or Case Organization and the difficulty level of the game drops a few notches. Law and Order 2 is supposedly more difficult than the first game, but only if you do not use the option to choose these skills. Still if you just pay close attention to the clues and conversations you will not need these optional skills.

Legacy has thankfully eliminated the Efficiency Skill featuring a time constraint that was universally despised in the first Law and Order game. This is a great enhancement as you can now visit witnesses and locations at your own leisure. The other major improvement is the interrogation replay feature. In the first game, once you selected an incorrect response, the only way to continue was to reload the game prior to the interrogation. Now you can simply click the replay button to redo the process at the end of the interrogation.

You need not be a rocket scientist to figure out if you are on the right track as long as you ask at least most of the questions to the suspect. Response options are randomly shown after each choice until you choose the one statement that terminates the conversation. My advice – identify that one statement and avoid choosing it until you have exhausted all of the conversation options. In other words, Interview is quite a worthless skill.

Another improvement is in case management. Legacy has added additional spaces for more inventory items, but the problem is that you could end up with a messy suitcase if you do not organize items based on their functionality. It would be nice if Legacy had added a feature to organize the suitcase by functions so that witnesses, clues, lab results and evidence are not all mixed together.

A useful case log also has been added to the game. This feature is useful to keep track of your progress, but unfortunately it also logs a lot of unimportant information so be sure you know what you have been doing or you could be drowned in information overload.

There are fifteen save game slots available though you will probably only use a quarter of them - I only used three saves throughout the game. Law and Order 2: Double or Nothing is quite a short game. Overall, it took me about five hours from start to finish.

The game graphics are rich and detailed and are much better than another similar game: CSI. Even though some of the characters have disproportional body shape - the arms of some characters look too small for their bodies - Legacy has improved the lighting effects so that the graphics appear livelier and more vibrant. The voice-acting is quite professional which is understandable since Jerry Orbach, Elisabeth Rohm and S. Epatha Merkerson voiced their respective characters from the television series.

The trial part of the game is where it finally shines. You must now aid the prosecution’s assistant District Attorney to get a trial verdict of ‘Guilty’. It is divided into several sections that need to be completed in order. You can not progress to the next section until you reach the current sections goals, but there is still more variety in solving the crime than there is in collecting evidence as you can conduct ‘mini’ investigations in-between trials.

Cross-examinations are interesting as you must defend your statements utilizing all of the evidence you have collected. It is a pity though that you are not given a second chance if you fail inside the courtroom.
Law and Order 2 is - especially for the first half – an easy game. As long as you pick-up and analyze all of the items and exhaust all conversations with witnesses, a score of 100% is not that difficult. The second part is much more involving since you need to prepare yourself with appropriate evidences and witnesses for the trial. It would have been nice to have a more complex story or additional cases especially as there are no twists or surprises whatsoever and it’s very easy to figure out the identity of the ‘bad guy’.
I miss the days when a detective story required more item interaction and puzzles. The Laura Bow mysteries, especially The Colonel’s Bequest, are the perfect examples of how a classic detective game should be constructed. It also is divided into two parts, the first being items and statements collection and the second part the interview, but the game requires more hands-on involvement by the player. Law and Order 2 has taken a step forward by incorporating needed improvements from its first installment and is highly recommended for fans of the television series, but it is simply not quite ready to be compared to numerous classic detective games of the past.

Final Grade: C+

System Requirements:

• Windows 98/2000/ME/XP
• P III 500Mhz
• 96 MB RAM
• 650 MB HD Space
• Direct X 7
• Direct X 7 Compatible 16-Mb Video Card
• Direct X 7 Compatible Sound Card