One of the longest-running justice shows on TV, Law & Order is now making the jump to the episodic video game scene with the help from Telltale Games. Episode 1: Revenge begins with the murder of a hotel maid. Rey Curtis (Law & Order) partners with Olivia Benson (Law & Order: SVU) to investigate the crime and eventually take the probable suspect to court, performing your duties as a Prosecutor.
The majority of the game requires you to interrogate witnesses and gather as much information as possible to build your case. You are given basic dialog options in your first interaction with a character, and depending on their answers, more topics will become available to talk about. Obviously, the game relies on your attention to detail – you are a detective after all – to find discrepancies in someone’s statement. If like me you can’t remember what you had for dinner yesterday, let alone all the stuff someone has been telling you in the last 10 minutes, you can refer to your transcript to check what’s been said before. On occasion, you will be asked if the person is lying or if you believe them, giving you multiple choices to justify your answer. The interviews have a “3 strike” mechanic, which means that if you fail to back up your choice three times, your penalty is to go back to the beginning of the scene and start again.
Each part of the investigation has a number of stars, which you earn by choosing the right dialog choices. The number of stars you earn determines your detective rank. There are also “red herrings”, which are bonus stories that you can discover by talking to people.
The second part of the game (so to speak) is the trial. Things are a bit different here, even though you still ask questions about relevant topics. There are still stars to be earned and red herrings to be found, and there is still that “3 strike” mechanic in place. But now you have to worry about tipping the scales of justice. You earn points for asking the right questions and objecting at the right time. Objections need to be justified so that they are sustained, so when you object you will have to choose the appropriate justification from the options. You don’t always have to object when given the chance, though.
The meter will show you if the jury is siding with you or with the Defense. The more points you earn, the more likely the jury is to make a conviction, and the more power you will have when it comes down to plea bargain.
Fans of the show will enjoy the likeness of the characters and the overall presentation, which is done exactly as if it were an episode of the show, from the music to the titles.
As for the game itself, it’s linear and offers no replay value, unless you fail a particular scene and have to restart it, but then you will have learned from your mistakes. There is also very little to do aside from choosing dialog options, the exception being the initial crime scene examination bit where you draw a circle with the mouse around the items from the evidence checklist. It’s basically an on-tracks dialog adventure, which is very-well written. But even with the linear and short gameplay, I have enjoyed going through this episode and since I was left on a cliffhanger (just like in every episode of Hector), I am looking forward for the rest.
Special thanks to Alan Johnson and Telltale Games for providing a copy of this title.
