CSI: Fatal Conspiracy

The CSI game franchise from Ubisoft moves to the Big Apple. Yes, this time around gamers must solve clues and test their mettle in the city of New York.

Not only is there a change of scene, but there are also five brand spanking and frankly bizarre (but linked) crimes about which suspects must be grilled, science used and intuition made the most of before their solutions can be found and a drug cartel broken up.

Gamers get the play the roles of CSI Detectives Mac Taylor (played by Gary Sinise) and Stella Bonasera (played by Melina Kanakaredes) as they partner up with FBI agent Gene Huntby to pit their wits and use their expertise, grit and sometimes sheer courage to get to the bottom of all the crimes that plague one of the most exciting cities in the world.

All of this action is played out with a new style that is reminiscent of edgy graphic novels and into which a more user-friendly graphical interface has developed and been used to enable even the newer game and puzzle fan to get involved.

In order to solve the crimes, players must carry out interrogations, collect and use evidence and beat Mini-Games. These include code breaking, facial reconstruction and location identification using photos. Use X-rays, DNA and laboratory kit and more.

The storylines are not merely throwaway tales for a game though, Ubisoft has employed genuine writers from the CSI writers to craft plots worthy of the new game engine and character animations.