Every crime scene tells a story. It can be in a shred of
fabric, a drop of blood, or a simple footprint.
Connecting the dots and finding the truth is never
easy. Every detail is important. Nothing can be
overlooked. It takes a keen eye to see past the
mundane and reveal the vital clues. It is a good thing
you do not have to do it all on your own. As you
carefully scan every corner of a crime scene, your
partner Detective Burton handles the interrogations.
The lab technicians Pete and Anja help you analyze
samples. As a team, you can solve any case and
track down any criminal. It is time to grab your
camera and start searching for evidence. Welcome to
Casebook.
Developed by Areo, Casebook is an episodic
adventure game series featuring photorealistic
environments and full-motion video (FMV) clips. The
first episode of the series, called Kidnapped, was
released in 2008. Since then, Areo has added two
more chapters to the Casebook saga. As
development continues on the fourth chapter, the first
three episodes are now available as a special edition
trilogy pack.
Episode I - Kidnapped
The series opens with a kidnapping case. The two
Birchermann children, Harry and Greta, have been
taken from their home in the middle of the night. The
kidnapper is demanding a hefty ransom. You start
surveying the crime scene, looking for connections.
Who could be responsible for this? The children’s
father, Larson Birchermann, is the chairman of Slade
Forestry. Could it be the work of a competitor? Is it a
disgruntled former employee?
As you delve deeper into the case, you realize neither
Larson nor his wife Sylvia appear to be telling the
whole truth. What are they holding back when their
children are missing? It’ll be up to you and Detective
Burton to unravel the mystery. Harry and Greta’s lives
depend on it.
The first episode of Casebook tells a compelling
story. The investigation takes you to four different
crime scenes. What starts out as a straightforward
kidnapping case turns into something more elaborate.
It may not be terribly difficult to predict the ending by
the time you are a little more than halfway through the
episode. However, ‘Kidnapped’ still delivers an
enjoyable introduction to Casebook.
Episode II - The Watcher
The second episode begins with a gripping video of a
young man falling off an apartment building. You
arrive at the scene early in the morning, Detective
Burton at your side. You find out that the young man
was an Egyptologist called Francis Salt. He was living
alone. Many of the neighbors didn’t even know his
name. Francis stopped working several weeks ago.
Nobody knows why he went on leave. At a cursory
glance, suicide seems plausible. The reclusive young
man certainly fits the profile, but did he really kill
himself? Could someone have pushed him out of the
window? Who would want Francis dead?
You walk into Mr. Salt’s apartment to discover a
camcorder sitting next to a window. Evidently, Francis
had a habit of watching his neighbors. Memory cards
scattered throughout the apartment are full of cryptic
recordings. In the meantime, Detective Burton
questions the rest of the tenants. They seem a little
too eccentric. Perhaps it is not a coincidence this
building used to be a psychiatric hospital. It is clear
that there is more to the story. You’ll have to let the
evidence guide you.
The second episode of Casebook delivers three new
crime scenes to explore. The central plot involving Mr.
Salt’s death is rather intriguing. Between the quirky
tenants and Francis’s strange videos, the story
remains engaging throughout the episode. It is a
good thing episode III is included in the special
edition package, because ‘The Watcher’ does have
something of a cliffhanger ending. While the
investigation about Francis is completed, one portion
of the storyline directly ties into Episode III.
Episode III - Snake in the Grass
The third episode has you and Detective Burton
operating outside your jurisdiction. You follow the trail
of a mastermind to a small town called Garden. A
man has been brutally murdered inside the town’s
chapel. The police have already arrested a young
man who confessed to the crime. The evidence
appears to confirm the confession. Yet Burton is
convinced there is more to the story. Is your partner
simply blinded by his unfinished business from the
previous case? Can you trust his instincts?
‘Snake in the Grass’ provides a conclusion to the
storyline from the second episode of Casebook.
Working outside your jurisdiction zone changes the
tone of the adventure. Burton’s obsession with the
case makes you doubt your partner’s motivations.
Episode III also sets the course for the next chapter in
the Casebook saga. As with episode II, your primary
investigation will be completed, but the conclusion of
‘Snake in the Grass’ does give you a couple of
reasons to come back for the next installment.
The Trilogy
Viewed as a whole, the first three episodes of
Casebook deliver a significant amount of content and
an enjoyable gaming experience. The fundamental
game mechanics do not change between the
episodes. However, the compelling storylines,
interesting characters, and the addictive nature of
hunting for evidence make the trilogy well worth your
attention.
Each episode of the game is divided into two
segments. First, you search the current crime scene
for objects that might be relevant to the investigation.
You move around the scene by turning toward the
desired direction and clicking on the left mouse
button. It is also possible to move by using the WASD
keys on the keyboard. A right click on the mouse
brings up your camera. You use the camera to take
pictures of objects that might be used as evidence. A
red rectangle appears around objects that may be
important for the case. The game displays a message
if you are too far or too close to the object you are
trying to picture. The mouse wheel is used to zoom in
and out, bringing the item to focus. A single left click
takes a picture. The camera holds up to eight pictures
at a time.
Once you have one or more pictures to analyze, you
can leave the scene and go to the 'crime van.' The
van has a computer that can be used to upload your
pictures. As you upload photographs, Detective
Burton or one of the lab technicians will comment on
them. Some of your pictures will not be relevant to the
case and get discarded. Others will be saved as
evidence. Sometimes, the object you photographed
will require further analysis. For instance, you might
need to powder a doorknob to reveal fingerprints or
you may need to centrifuge a chemical to determine
its components. This type of analysis is performed
through mini-games.
For the most part, the mini-games are rather simple.
Your task might be as easy as moving the mouse in a
circular pattern to make the centrifuge machine work.
There are also games designed for identifying
fingerprints, separating chromosomes in a DNA
sample, and restoring videos. All of these puzzles
represent some form of evidence analysis. They are
easy, but at least they feel appropriate for a game
where you play as a crime scene investigator. You will
not find any random slider puzzles or weird
contraptions keeping doors locked for no apparent
reason.
However, by the time you complete the three
episodes, you may find yourself yearning for a little
more variety and complexity in the mini-games. The
straightforward puzzles start to feel a little redundant.
After all, there are only so many times you can have
fun as you watch the chemicals in a test tube boil or
click on three buttons to extract DNA from a cell.
Fortunately, the mini-games are not the focus of
Casebook. Given the game’s strong storylines and
distinct process for gathering evidence, the somewhat
tedious puzzles do not significantly detract from the
experience.
When you upload all of your pictures and finish the
appropriate mini-games, you can go to your ‘evidence
folder’ to look for connections. The folder provides a
picture of all the individuals associated with your
investigation at the top. You can click on these
pictures to see a brief description of the character.
The main portion of the folder contains all the
evidence you accumulated from taking photographs
and conducting lab tests. The clues are sorted based
on the crime scene where you obtained them. There
is a separate tab for each scene. You can select each
piece of evidence and drag it on top of another clue. If
it is possible to make some kind of connection
between the two items, they become linked. For
instance, if you have a shred of fabric and a piece of
clothing, you can try to combine the two items. If the
fabric came from the piece of clothing, the items will
become linked.
The evidence folder also contains a tab for
‘exemplars.’ The exemplars are specimens obtained
from the suspects associated with the case. For
instance, if you find a fingerprint at the crime scene,
Detective Burton may automatically collect samples
from the suspects. You can compare the fingerprint
you found to the exemplars. This will help you
determine if any of the individuals were at the crime
scene.
After examining a set of clues in the crime van, you
typically need to return to the scene and look for more
evidence. Each scene is full of items you can
photograph. Not every item is relevant to the
investigation, but you may not always know which
objects are important until you analyze them in the
van. As such, it takes a significant amount of time to
search through each room. As you work through the
case, hunting for evidence does take on a life of its
own. You may find yourself trying hard to find every
last important item in each location.
The storyline progresses as you take pictures,
process photographs on the computer, and make
connections using your evidence folder. As you comb
through the crime scene, Detective Burton
interrogates the suspects. He may ask questions
based on the objects you discovered. The game also
gives you specific objectives to complete at each
scene. For instance, you might be asked to find
pieces of trace evidence that links a certain individual
to a location. As you complete the objectives, the plot
advances through FMV sequences. During the vast
majority of these movies, you are merely a spectator.
You’ll watch the case unfold as Burton interacts with
the other characters. However, at key points in each
episode, you will be asked to make decisions. These
decisions have some impact in the ultimate outcome
of the case.
Since the FMV sequences are such a vital part of the
Casebook, it is worth noting that the videos are
generally very well produced. The scripts feel
carefully constructed and the atmosphere is certainly
fitting for a crime drama. The characters are often
intriguing and the dramatization is consistently
believable. In particular, Julian Temple seems well
suited for the role of Detective Burton. He is
convincing as a rugged cop and a loyal partner. It is
clear that a good deal of effort has gone into
producing the movies. Watching the storyline develop
is enough of a reason to play the game. There are a
few spots where the acting may leave something to
be desired, but these are rare and do not break the
mood.
As you complete key portions of the investigation in
each episode, Casebook shows you a scorecard. The
scorecard indicates how many pieces of evidence
you successfully collected and how many mini-games
you completed. You receive an overall ranking based
on how thoroughly you were able to examine the
crime scenes. You can also see your progress at any
time by accessing the ‘Stats’ option from the game’s
menu. This will help you keep track of the amount of
evidence you need to find during the current section
of the game.
Casebook does have a few features to help with your
investigation. While you are visiting a given location,
you can hit the ‘I’ button on the keyboard to use your
intuition. This will turn you toward an object that is
relevant to the case. You can then take out your
camera and photograph the item. ‘Intuition’ is also
available as an icon on the evidence folder. Clicking
on the icon shows you a pair of clues that you should
try combining. Finally, you can use a button to skip
any of the mini-games. While these options may help
you work through the case faster, they all have a
negative impact on your score. If you want to achieve
the maximum ranking, you’ll have to avoid using
them.
The first three episodes of Casebook deliver a
significant amount of content. Playing at a casual
pace and occasionally using the intuition feature, you
should expect to spend several hours on each
episode. The trilogy should take at least twelve to
fourteen hours to complete. The episodes have some
replay value as well. After completing the cases, you
can revisit them to make different decisions and see
how the outcome changes. You could also look for
any evidence that you missed during your first
attempt.
Unfortunately, Casebook does not have a save game
feature that would make this process more
convenient. Each time you take a photograph or
analyze a picture, your progress is recorded
automatically. You cannot create save files on your
own. If you quit the game before completing the
episode, you can resume from the last autosave. This
was most likely a deliberate design choice to prevent
cheating. With a conventional save system, players
could use the intuition button and then immediately
load a save file. Nevertheless, it would have been
nice to have the option to return to specific points in
the investigation.
Casebook also appears to have some minor stability
issues. For instance, there were a couple of times
where the game got stuck just as I finished analyzing
pictures in the crime van. It was not possible to leave
the screen and go back to the crime scene, forcing
me to use task manager to terminate the game.
Fortunately, this issue was encountered very few
times during the three episodes and did not cause
significant trouble.
Overall, the first three episodes of Casebook deliver a
very distinct and enjoyable gaming experience. The
crime scenes are cleverly designed and entertaining
to explore. The process of finding clues and making
connections is engaging, making you feel involved
with the case. The videos are professionally produced
and .the storylines are consistently interesting. The
mini-games do get tedious and there are a couple of
technical glitches, but the problems are relatively
easy to overlook. If you like detective stories or FMV
adventures, you should certainly consider giving the
Casebook trilogy a try. The special edition trilogy
delivers a solid amount of content at a reasonable
price and offers a good way to catch up on the
Casebook saga before episode IV is released.
If you are still on the fence based on the review, you
can also consider trying Episode 0 of Casebook for
free. While the storyline is nowhere near as complex
as what is offered in the trilogy, the free episode is a
great way to test the game’s core mechanics. It can
be downloaded here.
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