Since the inception of
Sherlock Holmes, mystery lovers have alternately marveled at sharp-witted
sleuths and wondered if they could crack
the case themselves.
This makes adventure games and crime series’ like Law and Order a perfect
match. Now Legacy Games is betting on yet another great fit: adventure games
in downloadable form.

What this means is that
Legacy Games is taking each of the four episodes within the original
CD-Rom version and offering them one
at a time as stand-alone games, with the final episode tying them
all together. The first episode up for offer is The Vengeful
Heart,
and this is the one I’ll be reviewing today.

This episode has the lovably
eccentric Detective Robert Goren investigating the brutal murder
of a bank executive. You’ll play Goren third-person,
beginning in the victim’s home and following the trail of family,
co-workers, friends, and other suspects just as in the television
series. Now, one aspect that separates Criminal Intent from the other
Law and Order series’ is Goren’s penetrating insight
into the human psyche. It follows that a game revolving around Goren
would be driven more by dialogue and observation than inventory,
and this plays true in the game.

Yes, you’ll collect evidence and send it to the crime lab
and research center, but you’ll use it to build your profile
of the suspect in order to make an arrest. The profiler is a handy
tool you’ll receive just as you’re handed your assignment
by Captain Deakins, believably voiced by Jamie Sheridan himself.
It looks like an ordinary laptop, and you use it by dropping key
pieces of evidence or suspect reports into a designated slot. If
the evidence advances the case, it appears under one of three columns:
Criminal Characteristics, Criminal Personality, and Criminal Motive.
Once you have all slots filled and your profile is strong, it’s
time to bring the suspect in.

But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. In order to navigate
Goren, you’ll point and click as with most adventure games.
Evidence is collected in the same way, but you’ll have a variety
of actions to choose from depending on the item. You can view it
up close, send it to the Crime Lab and Research department, or use
it. Suspects can be sent to Surveillance as well as to the Research
department. Most of the actions are automatically routed to the correct
places when you click the analyze icon, so this is never a source
of confusion.

With the exception of
the profiler, everything you need is in Goren’s
PDA. You’ll receive messages from team members letting you
know your reports are ready, you’ll be able to store files,
witness reports and inventory, and you’ll have access to a
map. This is also where you save games, change your options, and
exit the program.

Dialogue can sometimes
be difficult, but this is inherent to the game. Goren is known
for being able to play his suspects, which is
why you won’t have the traditional dialogue tree to work with.
Instead, face icons indicate five different approaches you can take
to each subject: confrontational, deceptive, straightforward, empathetic,
or flattering. Choose the wrong tactic enough times during a dialogue,
and your witness may shut down. That simply means you’ll have
to come back later. Thank goodness computer game characters have
short memories!

As I mentioned before,
Captain Deakins is voiced by Jamie Sheridan, just as in the television
series. The only other star voice is that
of Vincent D’Onofrio playing Detective Goren. Unfortunately
his performance leaves much to be desired. Perhaps D’Onofrio isn’t
comfortable performing in a sound booth or interacting with people
he can’t see. For whatever reason, it sounds like he just phoned
it in. His voice is flat, with little or no inflection, and at times
it’s little more than a mumble. This is a shame, because D’Onofrio’s
rushed, almost Shatner-esque delivery is what really makes Goren’s
character come alive in the series.

Other performances within the game are very well done, except maybe
for the too-perky voice of Jennifer in Research who forgot to leave
her commercial voice at home. Lay off the coffee already, Jennifer!

The graphics in The
Vengeful Heart won’t take your breath
away, but the backgrounds are very realistic. There’s a somber
grittiness about the game that’s very appropriate. You can
almost see the flickering of fluorescent lights at Major Case Squad.
The characters are pretty realistic overall, but the hunched figure
of Goren was a little flat. Kind of like his voice!

While the game ran pretty
smoothly, I did have a couple of issues. Goren (there he goes again!)
would act up occasionally, performing
what appeared to be jumping jacks with his arms. I couldn’t
see any point in the game where this would be a viable action, but
he did it nonetheless. There was also a single instance where he
got stuck in a corner.. This was easily remedied by opening my PDA
and selecting another location on the map, then returning to my intended
destination.

As adventure games go,
this one isn’t extremely puzzle-intensive.
If memory serves me correctly, there were only two traditional puzzles,
and neither was extremely difficult. There’s even a built-in
help system that pretty much eliminates the need for a walkthrough.
Of course, to some extent the game’s difficulty is determined
by settings you choose in options. I played in “normal” mode
and was only stumped a few times.

With the ease of downloading
this game, its placement with more casual games, and the accessibility
of Criminal Intent characters,
The Vengeful Heart is likely to have more mass appeal than traditional
adventure games. The real question is, will there be enough here
for seasoned gamers? If you like the series and you enjoy a realistic
who-dunnit, I think so. But if you’re in the mood to strain
your brain with difficult puzzles, you’ll want to choose something
else.

As for the price point,
Legacy Games is offering this download for $19.99. Not as expensive
as many games out there, but not exactly
bargain-bin material for the length of the game. A moderate gamer
might complete this in two or three short evening sessions. I guess
the bottom line is: if you find yourself game-less on a Sunday night
and need something to fill the void, Law and Order Criminal
Intent: The Vengeful Heart is just a click and a credit card number away.
It’s absorbing enough to keep your interest, but not frustrating
enough to rob you of a night’s sleep.

Final Grade: C+
(find out more about our
grading system)

System Requirements:

• Windows® 2000/XP
• 800 MHz Pentium® III processor
• 128 MB RAM
• 2 GB available hard
  disk space
• Sound card, keyboard
  and mouse
• 64 MB DirectX® 9 compatible video card
• DirectX® 9b or higher
• 12x CD-ROM drive