Law & Order: Criminal Intent

I have never really watched a Law & Order show.  Sure I’ve seen bits and pieces of the show from time to time but it’s never been “Must Watch TV” for me.  But I have played some of the Law & Order PC games.  The games have been entertaining point and click adventure games that must be doing very well.  Law & Order: Criminal Intent is based upon the TV show of the same name but instead of just reusing one of the previous Law & Order games the developers have decided to shake things up just a bit. 

The game will still be very familiar to fans of the other games, but LW:CI uses a third person perspective for the game.  You will always be able to see the main character of the game at all times instead of just during the key scenes in the game.   Talking to witnesses in the game has also been changed to more reflect the personality of the LW:CI show.  Instead of just simple questions and answers, now you can choose a ton of how you want to answer the questions.  If a witness doesn’t like the way their being asked the questions you will need to come back later to talk to them.  This is a nice change that should please some gamers.  When talking to a witness you will have two different meters to let you know how well the questioning is going.  If the red meter is full you won’t be able to ask anymore questions.  But if the green meter is full then you will probably get the necessary information needed from the witness. 

Another change for LW:CI is the option of multiple murders to solve.  At the beginning of the game you will be presented with three cases to choose from which is another welcome change in the game.  Once all three murders are solved another murder will appear that links back to one of the previous cases you just solved.  There should be enough gameplay to keep you busy for a while (Legacy is saying to expect at least 20 hour). 

Look for LW:CI in September of this year.  If all goes well then I’m sure there will be more games coming out based on the show.  The previous games based on the other shows were good games for their genre.  LW:CI should be another nice addition to the Law & Order family of games. 

For All E3 2005 Previews