NCIS (PS3) Quick Review
My wife and I are HUGE fans of this TV series, and all the crime-solving ones that are similar. So when we discovered there was a game for it, we picked it up in an instant, and it's been hovering in our house waiting for us to play it (with constant pleas from my wife that "she wants to play as Abby"). Well, we recently got to fire this one up finally, and I'm here to share it with you guys!
Unlike the original CSI games on PC that put you in a 1st Person perspective of a new rookie on the team, NCIS puts you in control of the whole team from the TV show It is your job to find the evidence, analyze it, and put the right person behind bars to pay for what they've done. Are your investigative and deduction powers good enough to slap the cuffs on the right person?
What's Good?
- Full Team Access. Like I just mentioned above, you actually get to control the team members themselves. If there's an autopsy to be performed, you become Ducky. Need to do some lab work? Strap on Abby's boots and get under the microscope. Collecting evidence at the crime scene? You'll float between Ziva and Tony to bag everything, and lastly you'll sit at McGee's desk for any hacking that you need to do. If you're a fan of the show, this is a huge plus because instead of just interacting with your favorite characters occasionally, you get to be them in their natural habitat.
- Styled After TV Show. Every case is an episode, and it all runs exactly like an episode from the show. It's broken up into segments, and each segment starts off with the stylized flash of a black-and-white still image of where things will end before the next "commercial". So it actually ends up feeling like you get to interact with an episode from the show.
- Mini-Games. Collecting the evidence isn't just as simple as finding it and clicking. Each piece comes with it's own specific mini-game. When you need to take photos at the crime scenes, you have to aim the camera and get it into focus when you take the shot. During autopsies you need to spin the body around and find the areas related to the victim's death. Hacking as McGee requires locating the password, or tracking a victim's cell phone puts you on a GPS map actually tracking the signal. What's greatest about these is that none of the mini-games seem really ridiculous, each one makes sense for the bit of work required with it, so it keeps things feeling more natural.
What's Bad?
- Not Really Challenging. The one thing I remembered the most about the old CSI PC games was that it was possible to miss evidence and, because of that, pin things on the wrong person. In this NCIS game, it's not possible at all. Every crime has it's specific perp, and it's not even possible to leave a crime scene without collecting all the evidence there. There's even a little bubble at the top of the screen that fills up with your progress through each specific room. Even if you try to leave through an exit, you'll be stopped in your tracks and told to get back to work.
- No Helpful Hints. While you may know how much you have left to do at a scene, not everything is easy to find. When you're there, you're never alone, and unfortunately the game doesn't do much to give you a nudge you in the right direction if you're missing one small thing. Nothing even along the lines of "Maybe you should check behind the counter". Your partner will just snap at you "There's three shots fired and we need to find all the bullets". There was one case in particular we got a little stuck on where this got pretty annoying.
- Camera Angles. The game utilizes a semi-fixed camera angle while you play. You click to walk, and the camera adjusts for where you are placed in the room. This ends up obstructing your view of some evidence unless you happen to walk to precisely the right location. Bad camera angles combined with the above point, makes for a realllllly frustrating combination.
Is it Worth it?
It's far from a GotY contender, and it's definitely only geared towards the narrow demographic of fans of the show. As a game itself, it's really nothing special at all, and isn't worth a minute of your time, nevermind the $10 it would cost to snag a copy from your local GameStop. However, if you happen to love the show, then you will most definitely love the game. Like I mentioned earlier, it feels like it's pulled right from the show, so you'll fall right into this one. So...fan of the show? Definitely get this game. Don't like the show? Stay away.
We have finished the first 2 cases in this game together, and will probably be wrapping up the last 2 cases (there's only 4) in the coming days. We love the show and are currently binging it on Netflix, so it's no surprise we're hooked on the game. <3
HG
Unlike the original CSI games on PC that put you in a 1st Person perspective of a new rookie on the team, NCIS puts you in control of the whole team from the TV show It is your job to find the evidence, analyze it, and put the right person behind bars to pay for what they've done. Are your investigative and deduction powers good enough to slap the cuffs on the right person?
What's Good?
- Full Team Access. Like I just mentioned above, you actually get to control the team members themselves. If there's an autopsy to be performed, you become Ducky. Need to do some lab work? Strap on Abby's boots and get under the microscope. Collecting evidence at the crime scene? You'll float between Ziva and Tony to bag everything, and lastly you'll sit at McGee's desk for any hacking that you need to do. If you're a fan of the show, this is a huge plus because instead of just interacting with your favorite characters occasionally, you get to be them in their natural habitat.
- Styled After TV Show. Every case is an episode, and it all runs exactly like an episode from the show. It's broken up into segments, and each segment starts off with the stylized flash of a black-and-white still image of where things will end before the next "commercial". So it actually ends up feeling like you get to interact with an episode from the show.
- Mini-Games. Collecting the evidence isn't just as simple as finding it and clicking. Each piece comes with it's own specific mini-game. When you need to take photos at the crime scenes, you have to aim the camera and get it into focus when you take the shot. During autopsies you need to spin the body around and find the areas related to the victim's death. Hacking as McGee requires locating the password, or tracking a victim's cell phone puts you on a GPS map actually tracking the signal. What's greatest about these is that none of the mini-games seem really ridiculous, each one makes sense for the bit of work required with it, so it keeps things feeling more natural.
What's Bad?
- Not Really Challenging. The one thing I remembered the most about the old CSI PC games was that it was possible to miss evidence and, because of that, pin things on the wrong person. In this NCIS game, it's not possible at all. Every crime has it's specific perp, and it's not even possible to leave a crime scene without collecting all the evidence there. There's even a little bubble at the top of the screen that fills up with your progress through each specific room. Even if you try to leave through an exit, you'll be stopped in your tracks and told to get back to work.
- No Helpful Hints. While you may know how much you have left to do at a scene, not everything is easy to find. When you're there, you're never alone, and unfortunately the game doesn't do much to give you a nudge you in the right direction if you're missing one small thing. Nothing even along the lines of "Maybe you should check behind the counter". Your partner will just snap at you "There's three shots fired and we need to find all the bullets". There was one case in particular we got a little stuck on where this got pretty annoying.
- Camera Angles. The game utilizes a semi-fixed camera angle while you play. You click to walk, and the camera adjusts for where you are placed in the room. This ends up obstructing your view of some evidence unless you happen to walk to precisely the right location. Bad camera angles combined with the above point, makes for a realllllly frustrating combination.
Is it Worth it?
It's far from a GotY contender, and it's definitely only geared towards the narrow demographic of fans of the show. As a game itself, it's really nothing special at all, and isn't worth a minute of your time, nevermind the $10 it would cost to snag a copy from your local GameStop. However, if you happen to love the show, then you will most definitely love the game. Like I mentioned earlier, it feels like it's pulled right from the show, so you'll fall right into this one. So...fan of the show? Definitely get this game. Don't like the show? Stay away.
We have finished the first 2 cases in this game together, and will probably be wrapping up the last 2 cases (there's only 4) in the coming days. We love the show and are currently binging it on Netflix, so it's no surprise we're hooked on the game. <3
HG
