Final Thoughts
Music Catch is a beautiful game which keeps you coming back for more. For those of you who haven’t taken the time to try it out, Music Catch is worth your time.

Look for the difference
There’s definitely one here
Where the heck is it?

What is 6 Differences?

6 Differences is a difference spotting game by the illustrious IvoryDrive.

How is it Different?

On the surface, 6 differences isn’t all that different from all the other difference spotting games out there. It’s main gameplay mechanic (namely, spotting differences) is identical to all the rest, but there are things that make this game stand apart: it’s amazingly sweet graphics, fitting soundtrack, and mirrored levels.

Gameplay:

You click on things. Nothing special here. The crossing eyes trick doesn’t work for certain levels in this game, since they’re mirrored. This is great, because the game forces the player to play it the way it’s meant to be played if the player is using this tactic to win the game.  Besides, the mirrored ones tend to be the most fun.

Another interesting mechanic is the fact that in certain levels differences don’t appear until you’ve found the first five. This can be simultaneously annoying and rewarding, when you find a super-hard fifth difference and are steeling yourself for a hunt for the sixth and final so you can get on to the next level, something like a piece of plaster drops off of a wall or a crow flies away and the sixth difference is revealed.

Look and Feel:

To say the visuals in the game are good would be selling it quite short. The graphics in 6 Differences are amazing thanks to Ivory’s artistic background. The thing that really sells the game for me though is that the music matches up with the whimsical and surreal nature of the scenes. In the scene pictured in the screenshot, crickets chirp in the background as gentle music plays. In another, random noises play as blurry hands wave in front of the camera. It all works together wonderfully.

How could it be Better?

There are only a couple of minor complaints against this game. The first is that while most of the levels have some sort of a counter to show the amount of differences that you’ve found, some of the most difficult levels seem to be missing this statistic. This is probably because of how difficult it would be to design something like that into a level, though. Another minor complaint is that the differences aren’t randomized, as in Ivory’s previous game 5 Differences.

Final Thoughts

What’s next, Ivory? Seven Differences? Five Differences was a great game, and you built on it well. Keep up the good work!

Evidence hides well
Behind sad and dark stories
Just like on TV

If you have spent your life wishing you were the one solving crimes and putting the baddies in jail just like you see on TV, look no further. Serial killers, arsonists and just plain mean people abound within this 3-CD package.

What is CSI: Dark Motives?

Dark Motives is the expansion pack to Ubisoft’s original game, CSI: Crime Scene Investigation (content and characters compliments of CBS Consumer Products) . Both the original game and the new expansion include five individual cases that must be solved in order to complete the game. Players use their “investigative knowledge” to navigate crime scenes, the forensics lab, Robinson’s morgue and even the interrogation room with the help of their favorite characters from the CBS show (voiced by the actual actors). Dark Motives provides players with a whole new level of intricacy while still retaining the structure and method of the original game.

CSI: Dark Motives is rated M for Blood and Violence. (The original CSI: gets the added caution of Gore.) Dark Motives and the original CSI: can still be found at your average gaming store, for about ten bucks a piece.

What makes it Unique?

As with all games that are originally based on TV shows, CSI: and Dark Motives give players the chance to “interact” with their favorite characters. Every main cast member makes an appearance in the expansion–even Doc Robinson down in the morgue. All of them are voiced by the stars, so that interaction almost feels genuine. For many CSI: viewers, this may very well be a dream come true.

These games don’t skimp on the technical stuff. Each forensic tool and lab device is painstakingly explained, and must be used correctly to provide results. This is as close to real forensics work as you can get without being at a real crime scene.

Unlike other mystery games that are limited to finding objects on the screen, the CSI: franchise allows for a huge amount of interaction–not just with the evidence, but with other characters. The suspect interrogation facet of the game keeps the experience from being completely dry and delivers the dramatic and satisfying “Die, you wicked scum!” ending that we all want out of a mystery game.

How Could It Be Better?

As already stated, the main characters could use work.

Gameplay is not consistent from one day to the next. For instance, in the first case there is a piece of evidence that cannot be revealed unless you talk to a suspect first–the only problem is, the game actually only requires it about half the time. What’s more, sometimes the game simply does not display questions in the interrogation room that you should be able to ask (most often this occurs when the question will lead to a video). Be prepared for the occasional glitch, often at the worst possible moment that one can arrive. If one occurs, you will have to go back and reinstall the game in hopes that this time, you can actually ask Lindsay why she took the money in the envelope, and thus crack the case.

At the end of the day, this really is a game that focuses on the truly horrible things that humans do to themselves and each other. If you want a game that makes you feel better about the human race, go play something else.

How is it different from plain old CSI: Crime Scene Investigation?

If you think you know the tools already because you’ve played the original, think again. There is a brand new forensics tool that has properties which overlap with some of the original arsenal. In order to make way for this new technology, the other tools now work differently. Make sure you know which of the three fingerprint-detection substances to use!

Greg’s lab tools have also gotten an upgrade. You now have to go through more steps and do more work to get the results that Sanders would just hand you in the original.
Dark Motive’s plotlines are, surprisingly, less dark than the original game’s. If you’re expecting something as intricate as the Leda’s Swan Song arc of the first game, you’ll be disappointed. While there is some drama at the end, it doesn’t really compare to Grissom’s mortal peril in the original. Dark Motive’s focus relies more on the disturbing than the intellectually stimulating–a shift that mirrors the change of writing on the show in the seasons between the two games.

Personally, I have also experienced more game problems with Dark Motives than with the original (see the Improvement section for details).

Gameplay

Unfortunately, unless you have a CSI: star’s scripted level of observation and concentration to begin with, it is almost impossible to complete Dark Motives without a walkthrough (or at least some serious hinting from a knowledgeable friend who‘s already read one). Several of the cases are dependant on a single piece of evidence being correctly examined and applied at a certain time. Save yourself the frustration now. If you buy the game, go online and find a walkthrough. Keep it open, even on the first level.

The pointer does in fact enlarge and turn green when it passes over a piece of evidence. You’d think that would be a dead giveaway, but it’s really not. The designers found whole new ways of keeping that from being overly helpful, including hiding evidence in places you‘d never think to check and requiring multi-tool processes to reveal trace evidence.

Gameplay requires an intimate knowledge of the specific CSI tools and locations right off the bat. The lists of tools, evidence, locations and characters gets convoluted very quickly. Despite what the game claims, the tutorial available in the first level does not cover everything you need to beat the game. Not to mention the lady’s voice is dang annoying after she‘s repeated the same five bits of advice to you for half an hour.

Eat chocolate while you play, or drink coffee (especially if you’re a chronically cynical person like me to begin with, in which case you may be clinically depressed by the time you finish otherwise). You’ll get just as many “I hate the people in this world” vibes as you do when watching the show. I find that rather unappealing.

Look and Feel

Here’s the thing: this game looks spectacular until the characters show up.

While the crime scenes and evidence are displayed in photographic detail (we even get the signature flashes of Vegas skyline when we go to a new location), the main characters themselves need a little work. While Dark Motives does do a better job of achieving a physical resemblance to the actors we know and love than the original did, it still misses the mark a little, especially on Brass and Grissom–which is rather ironic, since they are the two characters you see in every case.

What’s more, not all of them do an exceptionally good job reading their lines. These are clearly TV actors, and some of them flop when thrust into what is essentially a radio format. While Eric Szmada does a fantastic job with Greg (which is a relief, since he has more lines than everyone else put together), both leading ladies (Marg Helgenberger and Jorja Fox) fall flat in the recordings.

Heady stuff.

But despite all that, the feel of these games is hard to beat. The amount of intricacy involved in the evidence section of the game is spectacularly cool. The traditional locations like Greg’s lab are even decked out in the show’s classic blue-tint lighting. And when you do get a cast member than can actually read their lines with feeling, it’s an absolute blast. It’s hard not to be drawn in. This game may be as much fantasy role-playing as crime-solving. You can easily pretend to be the CSI that you dream of being whenever you watch the show.

Final Thoughts

While the concept behind the CSI: games are undeniably appealing (who doesn’t want to be part of their favorite TV show?), the execution of the be-on-the-show ideal falls flat in a lot of ways. In the end, I found that I ended up playing these games out of a frustrated determination to see how the cases end, rather than out of actual enjoyment.

So, be warned: this game may be more trouble than it’s worth. There is no denying, though, that it is an experience that you simply cannot get anywhere else short of the set of the show itself.

It is worth it? I suppose that’s what you’ll have to determine for yourself.

Personally, I’d rather go read an Agatha Christie novel any day.

Planet Defender
Apply overwhelming force
Wave after Wave, HOLD!

What is PlanetDefender?
PlanetDefender is a wave based real-time Tower Defense game made by Kevin Lin

What makes it Unique?
While there are only so many variations to the Tower Defense model you can make, PlanetDefender’s draw lies in how it’s put together:

• Simple, well balanced gameplay
• A beautiful yet lag free graphics engine
• A clean and easy to understand user interface.

Gameplay
The game play is pretty straight forward, you start with 2 buildings and end with 6, your tech tree is actually just a tech list and you’ve got a lot of space on the planet to build on to fight off waves of enemies. The game progresses smoothly through the different difficulty levels, from Easy which is relaxing and great for messing with different strategies to Apocalypse which keeps you grabbing for threads trying to survive.

Look and Feel
The theme is very well put together, it’s everything you’d expect from an apocalyptic game. It manages to have an excellent particle system without being too overwhelming. The interface is very straight forward, you’ve got the available buildings and research in separate tabs and an info box above those which answers any questions you might have about a building. Note: You have to click a research option for info about it, it then gives you a button to start research.

How could it be Better?
The game is well finished, looks great, plays smoothly, has a fairly smart AI, has fast forward and pause buttons and lets you toggle the music and sound independently. My only real quips are the lack of a progress bar (”How much longer do I have to survive!?”) and the fact you have to click on the research to get a description when it feels like that should start researching it.

Final Thoughts
I’ve enjoyed playing PlanetDefender, it’s easy to try for different builds (All Ion Cannons, As many people as possible, etc.) and it’s long enough that you’ve got time to get uber hax, but short enough not to be a huge time sink.