On September 23, 2003 CBS released the first episode of NCIS. Renewed for its ninth season, it was voted as America’s Favorite TV show in 2011. The video game, released by Ubisoft, is based on the TV series and lets fans of the TV show investigate murder, espionage and terrorism all while utilizing each investigator’s expertise.  Was the game able to deliver what fans of the series would expect of a video game with its name?
NCIS consists of strictly a single player experience. While a co-op mode or multiplayer mode would have made NCIS a little more interesting, the reality is gamers who pick this one up likely do not for any online play. The single player experience is broken down into episodes. Once you completed an episode you can go back and replay the entire episode. This is always one of the options that I enjoy, especially when I want to solve the crime without the game making it obvious.   This way I can replay certain episodes to try to remind myself of the information I gained throughout that episode.
The opening scene had what you have come to expect from the series, a scenario that has nothing to do with the Navy, until a victim is discovered that was a naval officer of some type. The scenario was nicely presented and had you wanting to jump right into the investigation. So to that end NCIS has some engaging elements. The opening scene is set in a casino where the dream of everyone who places money in that one armed bandit is realized – three 7’s. All of a sudden an explosion sets that dream into a nightmare and the search for a killer(s) becomes a test of the skills of the NCIS team and ultimately you the player. Throughout the investigation you play as each team member when the need for their expertise becomes evident.
The game sets out several objectives that need to be met prior to going onto the next part of the episode. After each set of objectives, you earn an Xbox achievement and you progress onto the next episode. You then return your evidence to the NCIS offices and Abby, Ducky or McGee work their magic.
I did enjoy the layout of the crime scenes and the flow of the episodes; however, when needing to move items around crime scenes it was burdensome to say the least. The requirement to hold down the A button and then move the joystick according to the arrow was juvenile and would have been more appropriate in a child’s game, not one rated for Teens. Moving the cursor around as opposed to simply using the D Pad was also incredibly tasking and made no sense.
NCIS the game involves taking pictures of evidence. The camera shots were appropriate and required you to aim the camera lens as well as zoom in or out as needed for a clear picture. I felt this was reflective of what would be required should you be taking pictures in real life. I also liked that in the right hand corner there was a gauge that allowed you to see the percentage of the episode you had completed. While completing one objective you could also complete other objectives at the same time. You were not limited to only one. What I did find a bit aggravating was the requirement to move your cursor to an area and identify it prior to your character moving about. You could not just move the character with the thumb stick. This led to several attempts to move the character to just the right spot as the cursor was sensitive and your character ended up moving to several areas that you had not planned.  This was most evident when moving the satellite to zero in on a moving target. Much frustration was experienced and left me not enjoying that episode at all.
The review of the evidence was interesting and required you to put the pieces of the puzzle together so to speak. I did find however that it required several steps that were not necessary, such as dragging evidence, clicking confirm and then clicking on continue. I find that this seems like space filling for games and frustrates me when I’m on a roll and want to continue with my investigation.
The characters themselves did remind me of the series once I got over their voices. Ziva butchering many Americanisms, DiNozzo marrying up all situations with clichés from popular movies, McGee acting as the buffer between DiNozzo and Ziva and Gibs famous back of the head slap were just some of the characteristics that were evident in the game that make the show entertaining. It was enjoyable to investigate all aspects of the investigation and not be stuck being just one of the characters. The episodes flowed well into one another and made sense with the evidence that had been evaluated to that point.
The overall graphics in NCIS the game closely mirror the TV series. The NCIS offices, morgue and lab look very similar to what was expected and do have you feeling as if you are an active participant in the TV series. Additionally the characters are recognizable. That’s said, while the characters did have some of the same facial features as the main characters, I did feel that this area was lacking. I feel that a little more effort could have been made to have the character animation more closely mirror the actual characters. I also found all the characters had a zombie type quality to them which was quite distracting. The characters movements did not flow and appeared to be very mechanical. With the zombie like appearance and movements it did remind me of a Halloween type game. An example of this is while in the office, McGee needed to access his desktop for computer evidence. His movements were not fluid at all and almost robotic.
The graphics in the main menu were easy to follow. There are not too many options making for a menu system which is easy to maneuver. For fans of the TV show the menu also lets you watch the trailer for the Season 8 DVD release which was a nice little add-on. The games environments were decent looking but nothing that pushes the Xbox 360 hardware. NCIS is a smooth running game but the long load times are somewhat of a nuisance.
Overall, the game audio package lacks some depth. I found it disappointing that the characters voices were not that of the actors on the TV series. Realizing this would not have been a reasonable expenditure, I was still left wishing for characters that sounded a little more like their TV characters. Having said that, the character, Ducky, did sound very much like himself. The biggest disappointment was Ziva sounds very American with no hint of her accent. The music in the game was very much the music found in elevators worldwide. I found myself wishing that when entering Abby’s lab I would hear her signature heavy metal punk music. This is part of the Abby’s character was sadly lacking. Some engaging background music would have served the game well and led to some excitement that I felt was just not there. I did however appreciate that when beginning and ending episodes, the same soundtrack of the TV show played which was certainly a nice touch.
Overall I can say that NCIS for the Xbox 360 delivered what I expected of it. It flowed well and though the character movements were lacking as was the soundtrack, I did enjoy the interrogations, exploration of crime scenes and the twists and turns that developed within the story line. There is lots of room for improvement within the character animation, such as the mouth movements, but the characters were quite similar to their TV personalities and did have you wanting to catch the bad guys while laughing at the interactions between them. Despite NCIS being appropriately priced at approximately $40.00, it is a game that difficult to recommend for all gamers. It remains a game for fans of the TV show and for those that simply do not play a lot of video games.
