Others say...

"Real CSI show!"
It's just like the real program on TV! I felt like I'm part of the team! It's no graphic play, but definitely entertaining! I bought the 2nd edition, too!

"Awesome Game!"
I love this game! They need to make more CSI games because they are just so fun! I recommend it to fans of the show, and to people who like "investigation" type games.

"No "playing" involved - just repetitive mouse clicking."
The show CSI fascinates me, but the game does not live up to the show.

A brief description - there are 5 cases. Each time you are partnered with a different character from the show - Grissom, Sara, Nick, Warrick, and Catherine. You pick from a list of crime-related locations to visit, and you move the cursor around the area and when it turns green, you can examine closer for evidence. Your partner tells you how you should collect the evidence.

Talking to suspects involves clicking on a set list of questions with no chance of error (you cannot ask a "wrong" question that will lead the interrogation down a different path, etc. You will always be able to get the information you need out of them.)

You take the evidence back to Greg, who will instantly tell you what you need to know. Occasionally you use the microscope or computer for print searches, which will automatically give you matches if available.

When you have enough evidence, the CSIs spell out their theories (with brief dramatization movies to show you) as to how they think the crime happened. I personally believe that they sometimes make unrealistically grand theories based on the evidence you found at that point.

When you've found enough evidence, you are able to arrest the suspect and the case is over and reviewed by Gil based on whether or not you missed any evidence or used any hints from your partner. You can then look at some bonus material (character/location design sketches) and move on to the next case.

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As you can see, there really is no "playing" involved - all you do is click the mouse over and over again. Rinse and repeat a couple dozen times, and your case is over pretty quickly. It is very mindless, as you do not need to do any thinking whatsoever to come up with questions or to put together evidence.

The frustration kicks in when you miss that tiny little area where your arrow turns green. I've been "stuck" a few times simply because I overlooked a small portion of the screen to click on. It's true that a real-life CSI can miss little details too, but at least they have the freedom to walk around and take close looks at anything - here, you are stationary and can just turn left and right until your pointer clicks that magic spot.

The graphics are not *bad*, but sub par by today's standards. The characters are a stiff and choppy, and most don't really look like the guys from CSI at all. The voice acting is below average. Good TV actors do not = good voice actors.

The crime storylines are average. There were a few twists that I didn't predict, but overall the storylines are not memorable.

That all being said, I did play through all 5 cases and I am now on case 1 of the sequel: CSI - Dark Motives. Dark Motives has better graphics and a difficulty setting (such as turning off that green arrow indication) so you can do a little more work yourself - but after 30 minutes of playing it, I can't say that it is any more fun than the original, and I will probably quit now so I don't regret wasting my time.

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Bottom-line - if a friend of yours owns this game, and you're a big CSI fan, check it out briefly for kicks. Otherwise, I cannot recommend buying it for a few hours of boring mouse clicking.

"fun and not too intensive, relaxing too"
This is the 1st computer game i have played in several years.. No time, too busy playing golf, however, broke foot will give time. The game was sent to me as a gift. I really enjoyed it, If i had to pay over $30 maybe i would be a bit dissapointed, only because each mission only took about an hour, (the last game i played was MYST) im not into puzzles too much) The graphics weree fine, I Love csi, law and order etc on Tv, so i was curious how these games would be to play.. I would recommenend this game to anyone who doenst have alot of time "cracking Complicated puzzles" that takes a genious to solve. This game kept my interest and i felt I was actually acomplishing something. 5 cases, each about 1 hour to solve and I liked the 5th one because it tied several of the other cases together, So if you like forenics and searching for stuff in rooms, putting all the pieces together in a short time span, this game is for you... I just purchased the second csi game and look forward to playing it.

"CSI- Crime Scene Investigation"
If you have played CSI - Miami this is a very redundant game. It is slow moving. Too much describing what to do. You almost have to follow their pattern to solving the crime. Not alot of lab equipment to use. I hated it. BIG waste of money.