CSI:
Crime Scene Investigation was one of the best-selling pc
games of 2003, so a sequel was inevitable (as will be the many more
that will surely follow).

The CSI games
are meant to appeal to the mainstream gamer who is a fan of the popular
CBS television series. Each case takes about an hour to complete which,
not so coincidentally, also happens to be the length of the weekly
show. This unique approach persuades fans of the show to feel as if
they are actually participating in an episode.

Hardcore
adventure gamers, many of whom grudgingly admitted liking the first
game, also complained loudly about the ease and the shortness of each
case.

It’s still too early
to give an honest evaluation on whether the sequel’s difficulty
level has been ramped-up, but there are now three levels of gameplay
available: Beginner, Expert & Advanced. At the Advanced Level
all options are turned-off – Active Hotspots, Evidence Tagging,
Location Tagging, Auto-Evidence Questions & Tutorials –
for a much more realistic and investigative experience. For those
of you who, like myself, can be a little dense at times, the Beginner’s
Level keeps all of the helpful options turned-on. Nor does it currently
appear that all five cases will link together as they did in the original
game, but this could change in the final version.

There
are five more cases from the Las Vegas files this time around: ‘Daredevil
Disaster’, ‘Prints and Pauper’, ‘Diggin’
It’, ‘Miss Direction’ & ‘Dragon and Dropping’.

For this preview, we had
a full version of the game but only two cases were playable. In ‘Miss
Direction’ the lead actress in a musical is killed during rehearsal
when the blanks in a prop gun are replaced with live ammo (shades
of Brandon Lee!).

In ‘Daredevil Disasters’
stuntman Ace Dillinger breaks almost every bone in his body when a
motorcycle jump goes astray and instead of landing safely on the opposite
ramp, his bike veers out of control. An accident you say? Not in the
world of CSI.

We
played both episodes on the Beginner and Advanced Levels and while
they play the same, you definitely need to strain your grey cells
on the Advanced Level. If the entire game follows suit, then concerns
about the game being too easy should be resolved. Each episode, is
also considerably longer in length than were they were in the original
game.

Another nifty new feature
is the Evidence Trinity. It describes key linkages between the three
elements of a crime: the suspect, crime scene & victim and is
especially useful when you are stumped

Once
again the actors from the television series have lent their talents
to the game so the voice-acting is top-notch. Other carry-overs from
the first game include the option to replay an episode for a better
score, an option to ask your partner for help (though Grissom frowns
on this) and The Big Picture – a nicely animated cinematic in
which the entire murder is acted out.

So dig your forensic tools
out of your closet, pull on those rubber gloves and get ready to search
some body cavities for clues.