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!

Final Grade: A-

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.