Introduction

Every
crime scene tells a story. It can be in a shred of fabric, a drop
of blood, or a simple footprint. Connecting the dots and finding the
truth is never easy. Every detail is important. Nothing can be overlooked.
It takes a keen eye to see past the mundane and reveal the vital clues.
It is a good thing you do not have to do it all on your own. As you
carefully scan every corner of a crime scene, your partner Detective
Burton handles the interrogations. The lab technicians Pete and Anja
help you analyze samples. As a team, you can solve any case and track
down any criminal. It is time to grab your camera and start searching
for evidence. Welcome to Casebook.

Developed by Areo, Casebook
is an episodic adventure game series featuring photorealistic environments
and full-motion video (FMV) clips. The first episode of the series,
called Kidnapped, was released in 2008. Since then, Areo has added
two more chapters to the Casebook saga. As development
continues on the fourth chapter, the first three episodes are now
available as a special edition trilogy pack.

Episode I – Kidnapped

The series opens with a
kidnapping case. The two Birchermann children, Harry and Greta, have
been taken from their home in the middle of the night. The kidnapper
is demanding a hefty ransom. You start surveying the crime scene,
looking for connections. Who could be responsible for this? The children’s
father, Larson Birchermann, is the chairman of Slade Forestry. Could
it be the work of a competitor? Is it a disgruntled former employee?

As
you delve deeper into the case, you realize neither Larson nor his
wife Sylvia appear to be telling the whole truth. What are they holding
back when their children are missing? It’ll be up to you and
Detective Burton to unravel the mystery. Harry and Greta’s lives
depend on it.

The first episode of Casebook
tells a compelling story. The investigation takes you to four different
crime scenes. What starts out as a straightforward kidnapping case
turns into something more elaborate. It may not be terribly difficult
to predict the ending by the time you are a little more than halfway
through the episode. However, ‘Kidnapped’ still delivers
an enjoyable introduction to Casebook.

Episode II – The Watcher

The second episode begins
with a gripping video of a young man falling off an apartment building.
You arrive at the scene early in the morning, Detective Burton at
your side. You find out that the young man was an Egyptologist called
Francis Salt. He was living alone. Many of the neighbors didn’t
even know his name. Francis stopped working several weeks ago. Nobody
knows why he went on leave. At a cursory glance, suicide seems plausible.
The reclusive young man certainly fits the profile, but did he really
kill himself? Could someone have pushed him out of the window? Who
would want Francis dead?

You walk into Mr. Salt’s
apartment to discover a camcorder sitting next to a window. Evidently,
Francis had a habit of watching his neighbors. Memory cards scattered
throughout the apartment are full of cryptic recordings. In the meantime,
Detective Burton questions the rest of the tenants. They seem a little
too eccentric. Perhaps it is not a coincidence this building used
to be a psychiatric hospital. It is clear that there is more to the
story. You’ll have to let the evidence guide you.

The
second episode of Casebook delivers three new crime
scenes to explore. The central plot involving Mr. Salt’s death
is rather intriguing. Between the quirky tenants and Francis’s
strange videos, the story remains engaging throughout the episode.
It is a good thing episode III is included in the special edition
package, because ‘The Watcher’ does have something of
a cliffhanger ending. While the investigation about Francis is completed,
one portion of the storyline directly ties into Episode III.

Episode III – Snake in the Grass

The third episode has you
and Detective Burton operating outside your jurisdiction. You follow
the trail of a mastermind to a small town called Garden. A man has
been brutally murdered inside the town’s chapel. The police
have already arrested a young man who confessed to the crime. The
evidence appears to confirm the confession. Yet Burton is convinced
there is more to the story. Is your partner simply blinded by his
unfinished business from the previous case? Can you trust his instincts?

‘Snake in the Grass’
provides a conclusion to the storyline from the second episode of
Casebook. Working outside your jurisdiction zone
changes the tone of the adventure. Burton’s obsession with the
case makes you doubt your partner’s motivations. Episode III
also sets the course for the next chapter in the Casebook
saga. As with episode II, your primary investigation will be completed,
but the conclusion of ‘Snake in the Grass’ does give you
a couple of reasons to come back for the next installment.

The Trilogy

Viewed
as a whole, the first three episodes of Casebook
deliver a significant amount of content and an enjoyable gaming experience.
The fundamental game mechanics do not change between the episodes.
However, the compelling storylines, interesting characters, and the
addictive nature of hunting for evidence make the trilogy well worth
your attention.

Each episode of the game
is divided into two segments. First, you search the current crime
scene for objects that might be relevant to the investigation. You
move around the scene by turning toward the desired direction and
clicking on the left mouse button. It is also possible to move by
using the WASD keys on the keyboard. A right click on the mouse brings
up your camera. You use the camera to take pictures of objects that
might be used as evidence. A red rectangle appears around objects
that may be important for the case. The game displays a message if
you are too far or too close to the object you are trying to picture.
The mouse wheel is used to zoom in and out, bringing the item to focus.
A single left click takes a picture. The camera holds up to eight
pictures at a time.

Once you have one or more
pictures to analyze, you can leave the scene and go to the ‘crime
van.’ The van has a computer that can be used to upload your
pictures. As you upload photographs, Detective Burton or one of the
lab technicians will comment on them. Some of your pictures will not
be relevant to the case and get discarded. Others will be saved as
evidence. Sometimes, the object you photographed will require further
analysis. For instance, you might need to powder a doorknob to reveal
fingerprints or you may need to centrifuge a chemical to determine
its components. This type of analysis is performed through mini-games.

For
the most part, the mini-games are rather simple. Your task might be
as easy as moving the mouse in a circular pattern to make the centrifuge
machine work. There are also games designed for identifying fingerprints,
separating chromosomes in a DNA sample, and restoring videos. All
of these puzzles represent some form of evidence analysis. They are
easy, but at least they feel appropriate for a game where you play
as a crime scene investigator. You will not find any random slider
puzzles or weird contraptions keeping doors locked for no apparent
reason.

However, by the time you
complete the three episodes, you may find yourself yearning for a
little more variety and complexity in the mini-games. The straightforward
puzzles start to feel a little redundant. After all, there are only
so many times you can have fun as you watch the chemicals in a test
tube boil or click on three buttons to extract DNA from a cell. Fortunately,
the mini-games are not the focus of Casebook. Given
the game’s strong storylines and distinct process for gathering
evidence, the somewhat tedious puzzles do not significantly detract
from the experience.

When you upload all of
your pictures and finish the appropriate mini-games, you can go to
your ‘evidence folder’ to look for connections. The folder
provides a picture of all the individuals associated with your investigation
at the top. You can click on these pictures to see a brief description
of the character. The main portion of the folder contains all the
evidence you accumulated from taking photographs and conducting lab
tests. The clues are sorted based on the crime scene where you obtained
them. There is a separate tab for each scene. You can select each
piece of evidence and drag it on top of another clue. If it is possible
to make some kind of connection between the two items, they become
linked. For instance, if you have a shred of fabric and a piece of
clothing, you can try to combine the two items. If the fabric came
from the piece of clothing, the items will become linked.

The evidence folder also
contains a tab for ‘exemplars.’ The exemplars are specimens
obtained from the suspects associated with the case. For instance,
if you find a fingerprint at the crime scene, Detective Burton may
automatically collect samples from the suspects. You can compare the
fingerprint you found to the exemplars. This will help you determine
if any of the individuals were at the crime scene.

After
examining a set of clues in the crime van, you typically need to return
to the scene and look for more evidence. Each scene is full of items
you can photograph. Not every item is relevant to the investigation,
but you may not always know which objects are important until you
analyze them in the van. As such, it takes a significant amount of
time to search through each room. As you work through the case, hunting
for evidence does take on a life of its own. You may find yourself
trying hard to find every last important item in each location.

The storyline progresses
as you take pictures, process photographs on the computer, and make
connections using your evidence folder. As you comb through the crime
scene, Detective Burton interrogates the suspects. He may ask questions
based on the objects you discovered. The game also gives you specific
objectives to complete at each scene. For instance, you might be asked
to find pieces of trace evidence that links a certain individual to
a location. As you complete the objectives, the plot advances through
FMV sequences. During the vast majority of these movies, you are merely
a spectator. You’ll watch the case unfold as Burton interacts
with the other characters. However, at key points in each episode,
you will be asked to make decisions. These decisions have some impact
in the ultimate outcome of the case.

Since
the FMV sequences are such a vital part of the Casebook,
it is worth noting that the videos are generally very well produced.
The scripts feel carefully constructed and the atmosphere is certainly
fitting for a crime drama. The characters are often intriguing and
the dramatization is consistently believable. In particular, Julian
Temple seems well suited for the role of Detective Burton. He is convincing
as a rugged cop and a loyal partner. It is clear that a good deal
of effort has gone into producing the movies. Watching the storyline
develop is enough of a reason to play the game. There are a few spots
where the acting may leave something to be desired, but these are
rare and do not break the mood.

As you complete key portions
of the investigation in each episode, Casebook shows
you a scorecard. The scorecard indicates how many pieces of evidence
you successfully collected and how many mini-games you completed.
You receive an overall ranking based on how thoroughly you were able
to examine the crime scenes. You can also see your progress at any
time by accessing the ‘Stats’ option from the game’s
menu. This will help you keep track of the amount of evidence you
need to find during the current section of the game.

Casebook
does have a few features to help with your investigation. While you
are visiting a given location, you can hit the ‘I’ button
on the keyboard to use your intuition. This will turn you toward an
object that is relevant to the case. You can then take out your camera
and photograph the item. ‘Intuition’ is also available
as an icon on the evidence folder. Clicking on the icon shows you
a pair of clues that you should try combining. Finally, you can use
a button to skip any of the mini-games. While these options may help
you work through the case faster, they all have a negative impact
on your score. If you want to achieve the maximum ranking, you’ll
have to avoid using them.

The
first three episodes of Casebook deliver a significant
amount of content. Playing at a casual pace and occasionally using
the intuition feature, you should expect to spend several hours on
each episode. The trilogy should take at least twelve to fourteen
hours to complete. The episodes have some replay value as well. After
completing the cases, you can revisit them to make different decisions
and see how the outcome changes. You could also look for any evidence
that you missed during your first attempt. Unfortunately, Casebook
does not have a save game feature that would make this process more
convenient. Each time you take a photograph or analyze a picture,
your progress is recorded automatically. You cannot create save files
on your own. If you quit the game before completing the episode, you
can resume from the last autosave. This was most likely a deliberate
design choice to prevent cheating. With a conventional save system,
players could use the intuition button and then immediately load a
save file. Nevertheless, it would have been nice to have the option
to return to specific points in the investigation.

Casebook
also appears to have some minor stability issues. For instance, there
were a couple of times where the game got stuck just as I finished
analyzing pictures in the crime van. It was not possible to leave
the screen and go back to the crime scene, forcing me to use task
manager to terminate the game. Fortunately, this issue was encountered
very few times during the three episodes and did not cause significant
trouble.

Overall,
the first three episodes of Casebook deliver a very
distinct and enjoyable gaming experience. The crime scenes are cleverly
designed and entertaining to explore. The process of finding clues
and making connections is engaging, making you feel involved with
the case. The videos are professionally produced and .the storylines
are consistently interesting. The mini-games do get tedious and there
are a couple of technical glitches, but the problems are relatively
easy to overlook. If you like detective stories or FMV adventures,
you should certainly consider giving the Casebook trilogy
a try. The special edition trilogy delivers a solid amount of content
at a reasonable price and offers a good way to catch up on the Casebook
saga before episode IV is released.

If you are still on the
fence based on the review, you can also consider trying Episode 0
of Casebook for free. While the storyline is nowhere near as complex
as what is offered in the trilogy, the free episode is a great way
to test the game’s core mechanics. It can be downloaded here
(http://www.casebookthegame.com/episode-0—free-demo.html)

System Requirements:

• Operating System: Windows
  XP SP2 (and above) / Windows Vista
• Processor: 1.5Ghz CPU
  (Core 2 or equivalent or newer)
• Memory: 1GB (2GB recommended)
• Video: 128MB DirectX
  9.0c & Shader Model 1.4 support (256MB recommended)
• Sound: DirectX Compatible
  Sound Card