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Pursuit of Justice

Score: 40%
ESRB: Teeb
Publisher: Legacy Interactive
Developer: EA Games
Media: CD/3
Players: 1
Genre: Simulation

Graphics & Sound:

Since the demise of the Sega CD, not many games have tried to walk upon that virtual minefield that is Full Motion Video. Yes, this game is FMV. No, really. And even though nearly every FMV game has stepped on the proverbial land mine, Pursuit of Justice boldly ignores the warning signs and proceeds to tread this dangerous path. Though I used to be a die-hard fan of the FMV games of old, their times have passed, and never is it more apparent than in this game. At times, the quality does not even meet that of the Sega CD, which is a crime in itself.

Sound in this game is about as ordinary as a sheet of paper. Aside from the actors' voices, sound effects are virtually non-existent. The music, which is also seldom heard, is something you might hear out of an episode of Law and Order. The music fits the part, but sometimes you just wish there was more. Lots more.


Gameplay:

When you think of detectives and lawyers, the thought of boring work might come to mind. If Pursuit of Justice is any indication of it's real life counterparts, you might be right. The reason why someone would make a game about the most tedious and difficult jobs on Earth eludes me, as does the gameplay elude this title.

If you have never dabbled in law before, (and I doubt you have), then have no fear. Inside the game is a Law Library filled with so much information about the judicial system that reading any bit of it might make your head explode. The only ones who might be vaguely interested in this option would be law majors, although studying the in-game materials probably wouldn't get you through Law School.

You play a newly appointed District Attorney that has to collect evidence, suspects, and put together a case that will hold up in court. Pursuit of Justice centers around the cases you have to deal with, which number a whopping three. That FMV must have taken up all that space on the CD's. You have to do them in order, so if you can't beat the first one, there's no point in continuing with this virtual torture.

Each case starts you out with a summary of the crime, and leaves you to do the rest. Visiting various places on the map will give you clues and suspects, and it's up to you to decide which are useful for different parts of your argument. It's really just finding the right combination of items to win the jury over. For those with patience, trial and error will get you through this game.

Each case has a time limit, and every action you take uses a certain amount of time. Waste too much time and you go to court prematurely. Once you have your case together, it's off to put the bad guys behind bars. In court, you bring your witnesses and suspects to the stand for questioning. Ask the right questions about the right things, and you're good as gold. Ask the wrong questions and get objected. At times you can fight this by choosing some legal mumbo jumbo to feed to the judge that he may or may not accept.

If you're worried about being proficient in the way of the law, there's a quiz game at the DA building that will tweak your legal knowledge to its limits. Don't play this game too long, though, as it might drive you insane.

Once your finished with your material, rest your case and see what happens. You get a percentage depending on how you did, which simply translates to what order you did everything in. If you did what the game wanted you to do, you pass. Otherwise, you fail. If all of this sounds extremely boring, it is. There's no way around it.


Difficulty:

It takes most people at least four years to become lawyers. Don't think you can become one after playing this game. While it does hold plenty of info about the field, most of the questions you have to answer will be manageable enough with process of elimination. The questions will get harder as you progress through the game, but the most difficult thing you're faced with will be getting all your material in the right order to win. It doesn't rely too much on skill, more like luck.

Game Mechanics:

Pursuit of Justice does not employ the most arduous of interfaces. Dragging evidence pieces into your Case Builder will be the toughest job you face, but besides that it's all point and click. You basically work out of your laptop, where the map, Case Builder, and Help section presides. Navigating around the various locations is done by clicking on different objects in the scene. You'll know what items are 'tangible' when the cursor turns red. I cannot stress how easy this interface is. Perhaps it reflects the contents of the game itself. Something to ponder over when you're stuck in traffic.

Playing this game was an unsavory experience that nobody should have to go through. It is poorly put together, boring, and looks terrible. Why anybody would want to use their skills to make such a monster is beyond me. This game might have gone over well in the early 90's, but not today.


-Snow Chainz, GameVortex Communications
AKA Andrew Horwitz

Minimum System Requirements:



Windows 95/98/2K, Pentium 266MHz processor, 32MB RAM, 2MB video card, 16X CD-ROM
 

Test System:



Windows 98, 1.4GHz AMD Athlon, GeForce 2 mx 32MB video card, 40 gig hard drive, 56x CD-ROM, 256MB DDR Ram, Sound Blaster Live! sound card

Sony PSOne Special Operations: Covert Assault Windows Risk Gold

 
Game Vortex :: PSIllustrated