Law & Order: Legacies

Telltale Games is already renowned for their point and click adventure games such as Jurassic Park, Back to the Future and Sam & Max, and now they’ve extended their reach with a new series called Law & Order: Legacies – an adventure game based on the popular Law & Order TV series. The game comes up with an ultimate Law & Order experience as it merges investigators and attorneys from multiple Law & Order series into seven different episodes. During the game players will take on the roles of both investigator and district attorney as they explore crime scenes to gather evidence, and then appear in the court to prosecute the case.

Anyone look familiar?

Those familiar with the TV series will recognise some of the subtleties that have made the transition. Each episode during the game shows a concise intro quoting the victim before cutting into the classic theme song, even the iconic *dun*, *dun* is present. Based on the type of murder; detectives are introduced and assigned alongside a partner. Characters like Rey Curtis, Olivia Benson, Lennie Briscoe and Jack McCoy are all featured in the game. Telltale Games aren't highly reputed for making visually attractive game and Legacies is no different, though the characters are still very recognizable and to some extent they go with the furniture. The voiceover work is quite decent, but probably due to budget restraints the original actors aren’t used.

Each episode of the game is divided into two major sections - investigation and court hearing. Since it isn't a free-exploring investigative game you get to play only the given scenes in a linear fashion, interspersed with additional cut-scenes to knit the plot together. Fans of the show will have a better understanding of the game than someone who is new to the world of crime investigation, but the latter needn’t fear as from the get-go you’re guided by step-by-step tutorials for each particular type of gameplay.

This is how crime scenes appear

The very first part of any episode is the crime scene, where your goal is to investigate everything by circling objects that need to be analyzed. You don’t get to circle each and every object found in the scene, only the ones that can provide necessary information or lead to another clue. After gathering evidence, you question both suspects and witnesses. You are provided with a list of pre-made questions and are nudged onto the right path. Failure to unearth the truth will lose you valuable points and if you blunder three times in any one conversation you’ll be forced to restart that particular scenario. This is truly the best part of the game as your observation skills are heavily tested.

In addition to questioning, which can provide you with invaluable evidence, there are other ways to discover clues. Deciphering these is the key to success, whilst making sure navigate the red herrings, with points given for distinguishing each. For correctly identifying each you get a nice shiny star for your troubles, or a moral-killing strike for any you happen to get wrong. Once enough points and stars are obtained you’re able to move on.

At the court hearing!

Those who aren’t familiar with the show might have a rough ride getting to grips with the game, where as fans should take to it immediately like an Eskimo to snow. It’s not wholly a point and click game, borrowing various aspects of other genres, but anyone who loves themselves a good adventure will enjoy playing this game. It’s a game purely for experiencing and enjoying Law & Order. You’ll get to play four episodes if purchased now and three more will be available from this month onwards - more preciously during Q1 2012.

Sarwar Ron, NoobFeed
Twitter | +SarwarRon