| Author | Review |
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Flyboy80498
162,383
TA Score for this game: 1,029
Posted on 06 November 11 at 03:08, Edited on 28 November 11 at 13:39 |
This review has 44 positive votes and 6 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
I am a giant fan of this show on TV. So I came into this game with high hopes, but was severely let down. NCIS is meant to pay homage to their fans. Unfortunately it falls FAR short of that. It is one of those games that are fun to play right up until you realize how bad it is.
The presentation is very simple. The story (what there is of it) isn't hard to follow. And the controls are point and click. The problems, well I will get into those later (there are plenty of them).
The graphics are... Well, they are not near next generation graphics. I wouldn't even call them passable. I can forgive a lot in games, and usually can overlook a few graphic issues. But these are far too glaring to overlook. Ubisoft Shanghi made a game that looks 5 years old already. The characters look like they have all of 6 bones moving in them when they move, and their lips are most certainly not in synch with the actual voices. Ubisoft might as well have put stick figures in the game, it would have looked better. The cut scenes are horrendous also. NCIS's graphics are simply of the original XBox quality. I would expect more from a game these days, a lot more.
The sounds are disappointing and annoying at best. Ubisoft Shanghi only got Ducky and DiNozzo Sr for real voices from the TV series. The other voices, if you are a regular fan of the series, you will have to suspend belief with because they are other actors that are not associated with the TV series. They must have seen the issues with the game and ran the other way out of sheer pride. The other issue is when you are playing the mini games or searching a crime scene for clues, all of the actors comments become annoying really fast.
The gameplay really does not shine, under any circumstance. It is a simple point and click game. You start off at a crime scene and investigate for clues. Usually Gibbs will tell either DiNozzo Jr or Ziva where to go first and what to search for. The most you do is take pictures of the clues, nothing more. There are many times where you can stumble over "clues" you need to find without much effort to it. The other problem is, while NCIS is very forgiving about being dumb at a crime scene and not seeing stuff right away, no clues are given other than what you are given in the beginning. So if you get stuck for 10 minutes looking for that last clue you can't find, you're stuck. You are stuck looking it up on the internet or being stuck looking for it on the screen. There are no hints and you can not move on until you find every clue. And then, when you are done with a crime scene you are given set tasks to investigate those clues. Those tasks are mini-games back at HQ NCIS that are not that hard, and not that fun. There is ONE mini game, the GPS tracker, that can become annoying really fast. Other than that, if you happen to screw up, they are nothing a few repeats won't take care of. You can't "die". You just simply start the task over when your "caf-pow" runs out. The action sequences are moving furniture with the click of the A button and the movement of your joystick one way. There are no collectibles, which come to think about it is a good thing for this game. I'd hate to have to spend hours looking for collectibles in this game. And to top it all off there are only four cases to be worked. It is nothing that 6 to 8 hours worth of gameplay (if you can stand it all in one sitting) won't take care of. There is absolutely nothing appealing about the gameplay whatsoever.
The achievements are easy. They are all story related and can not be missed. That is unless you quit this game early. If you suffer through it until the end, you will get all of the achievements. You simply can not miss them. Ubisoft Shanghi thought nothing of the achievements in NCIS.
The lasting appeal in NCIS is zilch. Once you beat the game there is absolutely no reason to go back through the game again. You can not do anything differently, and the achievements are all done. This is at most a 7 to 8 hour game, at most. It took me two sittings to finish NCIS. I just couldn't bear to sit through it all at once.
Overall, if you want a game with very simple achievements and a game that will blow a night, then this is your game. I simply can not in good conscience recommend this game to anyone, even the most hardened NCIS fan. If you are dying to play this (no pun intended) your absolute best bet is to rent NCIS. You will feel much better about it then spending $40 - $60 for 8 hours of mind numbing point and click controls with horrid graphics and sounds. As a final note, I simply have a hard time believing that anyone involved with the NCIS TV show from producers, down to actors, down to the lowest level job on the NCIS TV show, believes that this is a proud representation of what they want of their show. |
theman72HG
128,537
TA Score for this game: 1,029
Posted on 17 December 11 at 19:34 |
This review has 8 positive votes and 23 negative votes. Please log in to vote. |
NCIS 
First off I must say that voice acting of the actual is well done  , the game doesn't really follow series ( as I thought it would)
But opening scene with the music of NCIS is pretty cool and the way the characters are displayed before staring your case
Gameplay is basic point click , find clues ( which the clues are easy to find)
Cases are short 
The Achievements for this game are all straight forward and easy as heck
So final output if you want easy achievements worth 1000G then this is game to play 
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