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A few flaws but enjoyable gameplay

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 46 / 50
Date: October 31, 2003
Author: Amazon User

The Law and Order series is a mystery-adventure game where you try to unravel the clues and bring the guilty party to justice. It features exceptional acting by the real cast!

You don't have to watch the show to enjoy the game. In essence it's broken into two parts. In part 1, you're a detective and trying to solve a murder case. A well respected doctor is found shot in the head outside an apartment building. It's rather grisly, but you start searching.

In part 2, you have tracked down a suspect and are now trying to prosecute him in court. So you use the evidence from before and question the various witnesses to prove the guy is guilty.

The game is in essence the same as the first release (Dead on the Money) so the complaints and praise are pretty much similar. On the good side, you have a great cast, great acting and great plot line. So the game really does feel like you're in a well done TV drama and meeting interesting, multi-dimensional people.

The puzzles are fun and challenging, and make sense in the context of the game. The ambient sounds and graphics are both rather good - when you're poking around an apartment, you hear footsteps outside as someone else heads to their room.

On the downside, though, there is an AWFUL lots of mouse-waving around as you try to search every tiny little nook and cranny for things to examine in the various locations. If you don't click on the exact PIXEL of the item - even if you do have the "help" of turning the magnifying glass on - you miss it! Like real life, there are TONS of things to investigate in the room, and 99% of them are meaningless to the case. But it gets REALLY tedious to have to hear the reports of "Sorry, I examined this as much as I could and just didn't find anything." over and over again from your team. I would REALLY just like to get a written report of what was WORTHY and then be able to click on those things that were interesting to hear more about them.

In the same vein, your "inventory of objects" is limited. So you have to *throw away* evidence to pick up more!! Talk about bad police work!! You spend half your case throwing away things and hoping you don't need them later on. Why not have some sort of "police locker" to store them in until later just in case?

Also, some of the questions were blatantly obnoxious and not ones I would ask a witness. But the game would get to the point where the "other options" would start to cycle through questions you'd already asked and in essence they force you to ask the obnoxious one. There should be choices on how to end an interview - and pissing off your witness shouldn't be the ONLY one.

Finally, I play a TON of games on my system and usually don't have any trouble at all. But the video on this kept *vanishing* completely - and it happened in both windowed and full screen mode. I would have to completely shut down and restart the game to fix it ... for a while. Eventually it would happen again.

Still, it's fun to put the pieces together and figure out just who did what with who in what location. There are fun twists and turns and things aren't always as they appear to be. So I'd say when you play this game don't expect a "quick zip through" - sit down, be very patience, be prepared to reboot the game a few times, drink a glass of wine. You'll find that if you take it slow, the game is quite fun and worth the time!

Fabulous -. But Too Short

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 12 / 12
Date: December 17, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Law and Order is an amazing show, and a damn fine game. I expected it to be lots of short missions, but alas it was one long case - which was great, except I finished it in a week and a half and the replay value is nil.
There are two parts to the case - part 1 partners you with Lenny Briscoe from the show, building the investigation from the ground up. In Part 2 you pair up with D.A. Serena Southerlyn and go to court, as well as continuing the investigation Lenny and you started. At the beginning of each part you can choose 2 of 4 skills to help you out in the game - 1) interviewing witnesses 2) searching for clues 3) Teamwork (allows you to get hints along the way from your superiors). And 4) Case Organization.
There is a short detective and lawyer tutorial, and although it can seem complex at first, the learning curve is very low. If you've ever watched a law and/or detective show, you'll know what to do. Search for evidence, interview witnesses, submit possible clues to the lab or research department, order surveillance, request pscyh exams. It's very free reign, and the more you discover, the more locations open up for you.
I'm a big fan of sims, rpgs, and adventure games and this game combines all three aspects magnificently. I was wondering how they would manage the interviewing witnesses part, but its very nice and smooth with 3 different questions you can ask, all changing and developing every time you ask one or get new evidence. When you are in locations searching for clues it is VERY realistic, with lots of garbage and junk. It's up to you to decide if it could possibly be relevant and send it in to the lab or research department, or to just leave it alone. You have limited evidence space, so you can't have too many empty soda cans, bagels, or atm receipts you found laying on the street clogging up your evidence. I've seen the game criticized for this but I think this adds a touch of realism, as in real life you have to scour the scene from top to bottom and decide what could possibly be used and what can't. You are a detective after all. The game gives you a lot more trial and error room than real life, but still manages to make you feel like you ARE a detective or a lawyer.
In the courtroom you have the ability to object anytime the defence is asking a question, and sometimes when they object to something you said you will get multiple choices on why the judge should go in your favour. At your law office, there is a computer with lots of information on law and how to be a lawyer in general. Very educational! The second part includes quite a few aspects from the first part gameplay; you have very little physical evidence when you start out in court, so you gotta keep on doing the dirty detecting work. But that's a lot of the fun!
Both parts have a GREAT plot - written like a mystery novel with interesting characters, multiple suspects, and a secret human cloning project. There are puzzles sprinkled throughout the game, like an encrypted email, a shredded letter etc. But the biggest puzzle of all is "who dunnit?" And there are breadcrumbs galore leading in all directions.
The graphics are FAB - some of the most realistic looking people I've seen in awhile. Lenny and Serena look very good in game. And the voices! Some of the characters actually had such personality between the voice and face that I really hated some, and felt for others.
Very rarely have I played a simulation this good. It would get 5 stars except...what to do after you finished the case? Where to go? Have to wait for the next one I guess.

Definitely Better!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 13 / 14
Date: January 23, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I received Law & Order: Dead on the Money last Christmas and was very excited about it. I am a big L&O fan and couldn't wait to get my hands on the game. Unfortunately, I ran through a few bugs here and there, but was able to get through them with the downloadable patches.
I must say, with this new Christmas gift received - I am very satisfied! Not only did I have no technical problems with the game - it had much better graphics than the previous one and a much more engaging case.
I admit I couldn't solve all the puzzles myself and had to find some solutions over the Internet, but had a really good time overall.
One thing I would like to see improved is having more cases to solve. I know it's a lot to expect but I simply don't feel that this game was enough for me. I sure hope there's another one in the works.

Thumbs up

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 10
Date: October 08, 2003
Author: Amazon User

OK, let me start out to say that I'm not one of those die-hard Law & Order fans, just a casual fan. Surprisingly, the game is better than I thought. Easy to get into, but not made for dummies either. I liked that they tried to make things logical. (I have been annoyed at other games that solutions to puzzles required to read the minds of the people who made it, or even worse, an hour of trial and error.) The voices are good as it does seem like the TV show and the plot is worthy as well. Don't expect a lot of action, though (but would you really if you have ever watched the show?) as it's a lot of talking. But it works. All in all, if you like the show and like to think, I would recommend it.

Looks Like It Will Be Good

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 14 / 17
Date: July 06, 2003
Author: Amazon User

If you were a fan of the first L&O game, you will like this one even better. They have made some major improvements. If you didn't play the first though, the improvements will seem minor, but trust me, these improvements are great. First off, they got rid of the time limits so you can investigate without fear of being removed from the case. You can now redo interviews with suspects and witnesses so if you missed something, you don't have to go back to a save point. And with your choice of skills you now gain a "case organization" skill you can pick. This provides you with hints on how to organize your case file for warrants, tests, and subpeonas. This game is gonna rock in my opinion.

Great game!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 9 / 9
Date: October 16, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I just finished Law & Order 2, and while it took me a couple of tries to get a guilty verdict, I was able to finish the game with a 98%! Woo Hoo! The acting is great and the story was just what you'd expect to see on TV. It was easy to learn how the game worked, and it really kept my interest. I liked finding new people to talk to and more places to look for clues. I don't want to give anything about the case away (it has lots of surprises!), but it is definitely of the ripped from the headlines variety that I love the show for.

Give me Criminal Intent!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: October 17, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Although this is not my favorite of the 3 Law & Order shows I had a great time playing this game. My only wish is that they add Sam Waterson and more of the cast to future games. Regardless, this game is challenging and fun for anyone that likes the show or just playing a detective or prosecutor. On another note I hope somebody makes a Law & Order Criminal Intent game because Vincent Donoffrio is a genius and I think that could be a fun game.

The reviews of your fav. games: Law & Order II

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 12 / 18
Date: May 30, 2003
Author: Amazon User

...

The sequel to one of the best games is going to be here soon, and I am getting good vibes. Based on the "Law & Order" TV series, the second L&O game features a ripped from the headlines case starrikng Det. Lennie Briscoe (Jerry Orbach), Lt. Anita Van Buren (S. Epatha Merkerson), and Assistant DA Serena Southerlyn "Elisabeth Rohm."

In it, a Wall Street hotshot is strangled in Central Park. The game comes complete with digitalized intro from the show, plot twists aplenty, and the ever popular wit from Det. Briscoe. If you are on your toes, and are a fan of the series, you will enjoy this mystery roller coaster!

ALSO RECOMMENDED:
Law & Order: Dead on the Money (HOT!)
CSI: Criminal Science Investagators
Post Mortem
Ripper (Out Of Print)

Good plot and acting, lousy length and evidence controls

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 6 / 6
Date: March 20, 2004
Author: Amazon User

Law and Order 2 brings a decently twisted murder plot along with 3 regulars from the series (Briscoe, Van Buren, and Sotherlyn) but has about only 6 hours of effective gameplay and serious issues with controlling characters and items.

Essentially, you start off in the 'law' side as the junior partner to Briscoe in a murder investigation of a doctor working on a mysterious cloning project. The interview process is actually not bad; if you miss a question you can always return to the witness later, and you don't seem to get penalized for asking the questions that don't advance the plot (you can tell as the witness answers a simple 'yes' or 'no' rather than a sentence.)

The second half has you in the 'order' side playing the ADA (its not clear, but arguably Sotherlyn herself, as she seems to be the one jumping up to object). This was significantly more challenging than the law side as you have to know something about the rules of procedure in court - and if you don't, the defense attorney will get away with a ton of jury swaying. Still, there's enough of a briefing so you have some idea of what you should be objecting to and what questions you're allowed to ask.

The plot was fun and satisfying. Where I knock two stars off is on two grounds. First, the game was far, far, far too short. Effectively, you can win this in 5-6 hours total - 3 for the investigation, and maybe 2 for the trial if you know what you're doing in court. Second, and more annoyingly, there is no effective control for evidence material. I have no objection to having to figure out what makes the best argument (although you can turn on the hints if you need help with that) but the problem is the evidence folder fills up very quickly and you can easily discard a crucial piece of evidence with no idea that its necessary, making you have to replay that section of the game to even have a chance at winning. That last thing made me spend another 4 hours on this gritting my teeth.

Still, worth it for $15.

Double or Nothing

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: January 24, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I am a big fan of the Law & Order show and playing mystery/crime video games. When Dead on the Money came out I knew I had to get it. I've already played it 3 times! The first time, it took me a while to know how to play. That's why I'm not a detective or a lawyer, but I love finding clues, solving puzzles, and interviewing witnesses. Well, I finished the game but not with a score I was satisfied with. So, I played it the second time and found out that Legacy has a bulletin board that offers helpful tips/hints. I did better the second time. Then, I decided to play the third time just for the heck of it and got a perfect score. YAY!!! Dead on the Money was fun. The story was cool.

But, I like the story to Double or Nothing way more. This time, I knew what I was doing and I was quick on finding the clues and solving the puzzles. I can't give away the details, but the story touched my heart. I felt sad for the murderer, but that didn't stop me from convincing the jury to give a guilty verdict. Haha... This game is a lot of fun. I hope there's going to be another Law & Order game soon.

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