NCIS: The Game

NCIS: The Game is a detective role-playing game by Ubisoft, inspired by the television series, where the player becomes a Criminal Investigation Service agent and saves Americans from a bomb blast.

Gameplay

A protagonist named Jethro Gibbs faces a long adventure where he can:

• See an autopsy
• Compare fingerprints
• Find evidence
• Go on an investigation in Iraq

The player turns on his wits and uses the mouse to control the character's actions: moving, interacting with objects, and triggering events.

I was and still am a huge fan of the NCIS series. This game is based on the original series and that is cool with me. This was released back in 2011 and this was the time when companies were starting to stop making licensed games that were released for a quick buck! I think that this TV series is just perfect for a video game adaptation, but sadly this is your typical licensed game in pretty much every way.

A Lost Episode?

Are you a fan of NCIS? Well, I hope that you are because this game assumes that you are very familiar with all of the characters. The characters from the show are here, but there is not any depth to them. Well, there is, but all of that depth happens on the TV show. For someone unfamiliar with the show, they will be left wondering what is going on.

I did like the way that the game was split into four episodes and they are formatted like they are an actual episode of the TV show. This was a cool idea and it helped give the game a bit of authenticity which I thought was neat.

Solving Murders By Number

The idea of being a team of detectives and having to use your detective skills to solve crimes is an awesome idea. As a matter of fact, LA Noir kind of did it a few years before this and it did it a hell of a lot better than this. I would describe NCIS as a series of mini-games. One part will have you working the crime scene in a kind of point-and-click adventure style. Then you have to interview a suspect and put the case together on your big board in the office. The idea is great, but the execution no so much. The whole game feels very “fake” by that I mean the player does the bare minimum to move things forward. If you fail, well you just try again until you get it right. There is nothing here that actually makes you feel like a detective or one of the characters from the show. The game is very easy so I guess it is good if you want some easy trophies or achievements.

VHS Not DVD!

The presentation of the game is ok. I think that to be fair they did a decent enough job of capturing the look and feel of the show and the TV show style presentation can make you feel like you are watching an episode. The character models and the voice acting are fine and as far as a licensed game goes; I think that they did a decent enough job of representing the source material.

Pros:

• I liked the TV-style presentation
• The voice acting is decent
• The idea of the game is good
• If you like the show you will probably want to see it through to the end

Cons:

• The game expects you to know who all of the characters are
• The whole game feels very “meh” in every regard!