Dark Motives best of the series?

[Steve V]

Hi,

I have played all of the CSI series except Hard Evidence which I will get soon and I have to say that Dark Motives is my favourite. I have actually just completed the game today because I got it in the 3 for 1 combo pack with the first game and CSI Miami and was unable to run it properly until yesterday.

I have seen all of the terrible reviews about how bug ridden it is and no advancement on the first game, but here's my take anyway.

Yes, there are bugs even with the patch, but you can still play the game through, the worst bugs are

1. I had to go through the first case 5 times before I was able to get the damn fingerprint from McLaddens trailer, but for anyone else with the same problem the answer is to switch the video card setting to Direct X AND run the game from the Macromedia exe file in the root folder, NOT the desktop shortcut.

2. After the first case I became Inspector Clouseau and interrogated all of the suspects in French! Fortunately all of the voice acting was still in English so it was just off putting rather than a game breaker.

3. In the final case during one of the interrogations of Ziegler all of the characters dissappear but you can sill see the cursor change to a question mark and click on it to keep the interview going

4. In the bonus screens all of the interviews with writers of the game are dubbed into Spanish... ah, the wonders of modern technology!

So why do I think this is the best game of the series?

First, the cases are much longer (despite what certain reviews on Amazon and elsewhere say) than any of the other games, it took me on average about 2 hours to crack each one, which is at least half an hour longer than the other games.

Secondly, these cases are tough, I have never consulted a walkthrough or requested hints in any of the other games but, apart from the first case, in this one I ran out of ideas at some point in all of the other 4 and had to ask for help - which strangely doesn't seem to affect your final rating? (Master in each case despite asking 6 hint questions in one!)

I like the fact that in 3 of the cases you are completely in the dark even as to who the victim is at the beginning, this is like 'proper' adventure gaming where you basically have to work out whats going on from scratch while you play through the story.

I don't know why they didn't keep the same case format (not gameplay options) for Miami and Three Degrees, because they are very easy compared to Dark Motives.

I have to say that in the last episode I was sure that behind the closed door in the funeral parlour would be a kind of Bride of Frankenstein creation of Victor's wife and I wasn't looking forward to examining that! I get the feeling this is the way the designers wanted it as well but they either chickened out or thought it would be too gross.

Anyway, if anyone has not played this game or not been able to for technical reasons I would recommend giving it a go and see what you think, I hope Hard Evidence will be as enjoyable as this.