Law & Order, the TV series, is currently enjoying its 12th season on television. It has been so popular, it's spun off three other successful brand series. Between prime time network airings and cable repeats, it's estimated that the franchise averages over 80 million viewers a week. It's a winner. How about a PC game based on the series starring three principal actors in "voice-over" roles playing their 3D animated characters? Our own Harriet Gurganus was able to secure an interview from the principal characters: Jerry Orbach, S. Epatha Merkerson, and Elisabeth Rohm right here at Just Adventure and they sounded excited at the prospect of the opportunity. Okiedokie, it's just been released. How does it measure up?

If you've a veteran gamer, you've seen many games based on other media - motion pictures, television, and books. Some have fared well and some……well, haven't. I'm trying to be diplomatic here - however strong the urge to use the word "coaster" - I won't. Randy, my esteemed editor, will have fun with that statement. Heh heh.

Drum roll - this metamorphosis is a definite winner! Check out the website dedicated to this game at www.lawandordergame.com and check the very active company moderated forum there (hints also). The production team has really pulled out the stops on this one. There is some very cool and sophisticated stuff there. But decide for yourself.

The PC game is designed to be very much like the TV show. The cinematic intro is just about identical. You'll feel right at home. Upon starting the game you'll be offered detective and lawyer tutorials delivered by Jerry Orbach and Elisabeth Rohm respectively. Once a new game is begun, you may select two of four character strengths (interview, evidence collection, teamwork, and efficiency). By all means, click the "evidence collection" attribute. By enhancing that attribute, your cursor will morph into a spyglass when passed over evidence items in the environments. Without it, no morphing cursor - you'll be flying blind clicking on everything. Yipes!

The case evolves around a Wall Street murder (actually written by a Law & Order series writer). I won't divulge any of the plot, but it is complex and diverse - just like the TV show, except this time, you're in control. The first half of the game you'll play the Jerry Orbach character (Detective Lennie Briscoe) finding evidence and witnesses. The interface allows you to send off evidentiary items to the crime lab for analysis. You'll be notified by your cell phone when the analysis is complete. Ditto character background checks, surveillance requests, psychiatric evaluation requests, subpoena requests, etc. As Det. Briscoe, you'll confer with Lt. Van Buren ( S. Epatha Merkerson) at Headquarters quite often. When you believe your investigation is complete, you arrest the suspect and you'll need to specify which witnesses and which pieces of evidence you'll provide for the second half of the game - the trial phase.

During the second half of the game, you'll play the Elisabeth Rohm character (Asst. District Attorney, Serena Southerlyn). You'll be able to question the witnesses and reference the evidence provided you by Det. Briscoe. But be on your toes, that dork of a defense attorney will object to many of the questions you might ask. Likewise, during his cross, you may - and must - object to some of his questions, so listen carefully. Hey, check the PC on Serena's desk - you'll find valuable lawyer tactics. Occasionally, the judge will corral you two to her bench for an "up close and personal". If Briscoe and Southerlyn are on top of their game (yep, pun intended), you'll have caught the right suspect and put him (or her) away for a long, long time.

One thing that amazed me about this game was the realistic clarity of the faces of the characters. Awesome! I sometimes thought I was playing an FMV game. Almost photo-realistic. I subsequently learned that during the voice-over sessions, the production team took front and side photos of the speaking characters and then made computer models of the character's faces as they spoke. Then they "tweaked". It worked! Key product features include 25 voice-over actors, 30 locations, 200 unique scenes, and 2500 sound files.

It is obvious to this reviewer that this game was a labor of love. Legacy Interactive has broken some new ground here - graphics, delivering items for lab work or investigations, handing off of witnesses and evidence to the prosecuting attorney, outthinking the defense attorney by asking the right questions and objecting to his outlandish questions.

No doubt about it, this is a thinking gamer's game. With unlimited saves however, you can "experiment" to your heart's desire. One thing to consider, however. The game employs a timer. The investigation phase and trial phase are both subject to the timer. An unnamed high level source has informed me that "so many minutes" are deducted for each action you take (trip to interview a witness, analyzing evidence, etc). Call me naïve, but I thought investigations and trials were pretty much "open ended". Personally, the clock did not affect my play. It's my understanding that most players are finding the timer challenging but fair.

So how DOES it measure up? Very well! This is a quality game, fun to play, and with such a low MSRP………. If you're reading this review, you're probably into adventures and mysteries. This is a game you should play!

Note to Universal Studios: An anomaly to report. Until I received this game to review, I had never watched Law & Order. Once playing the game, I started watching the TV series. I'm hooked. Go figure!

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS:

WIN 95/98/2000/ME/XP
Pentium II 400 MHz
96 MB RAM
12X CD-ROM drive
High color, 16 bit capable 8MB video card

New Law & Order Patch!
Legacy has released a patch to effectively slow down (really turn off) the timer in the game.