CSI (video games)

Five games have been released based on the CSI franchise, four based on the original CSI, and one based on CSI: Miami. Each game has five cases to solve, with the final case always connecting in some way with earlier ones. There are generally three suspects in each case, with one obvious suspect, one suspect with a Big Secret and another, non-suspicious one who turns out to be the killer. Though, the games are not above playing with murder mystery tropes.

The cast of both shows voiced themselves in their respective appearances, be they CSIs or other regulars such as Captain Brass or lab technician Greg Sanders (though, he becomes a field agent himself in Three Dimensions of Murder).

Recently, the first adaptation based on CSI New York was released under a new developer, Legacy Interactive, marking the second time the series switched developers, to mixed reception. A new Vegas-based game, CSI: Deadly Intent, was released in October 2009 by Telltale, the successors to 369 Interactive in CSI game development. It featured the addition of Dr. Raymond Langston, bringing the games up to date with recent developments.

Expect tropes from each series and the franchise as a whole to appear in these games, as well as the ones listed below.

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

The first game broke new ground, featuring both simple and complex, interconnected plots and attempting to bring the world of CSI to the monitor.

Inn and Out
A woman is found dead in a low-class hotel. The evidence indicates she was strangled, and investigation reveals this showgirl is more than she seems.
 * Big Secret (Almost pre-emptively subverted, given this is the first case of the series. It would seem that has one of these, but they only turn up once, early in the case.)
 * Chekhov's Armory (
 * Disposable Sex Worker (The victim was a showgirl)
 * Noob Cave, Stop Helping Me!, Unskippable Cutscene (It *is* an unskippable tutorial, after all.)
 * The Untwist

Light My Fire
A man's house is torched, with no apparent witnesses. Investigation reveals that the victim may be concealing something important about the case.


 * Big Secret ( Kind of subverted, as he did try to )
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive (Subverted: )
 * Insurance Fraud
 * (Justified, since was most likely high at the time he committed the crime.)

Garvey's Beat
A beat cop (the titular Jim Garvey) is found shot in a backwater area of Las Vegas. Investigation reveals there is much more to this death than meets the eye, with all evidence pointing to the perpetrator being affiliated with the University of Las Vegas.


 * Beware the Nice Ones
 * Jack the Ripoff
 * (The killer, )
 * (The killer, )

More Fun Than A Barrel Of Corpses
A mysterious phone call traced to a pay phone near the Monaco Casino leads to the body of a Mafia Princess in a barrel. The trail leads to three suspects, all connected to each other and all but one having motivation to kill the victim.


 * Big Secret
 * Black Comedy, Dead Baby Comedy, Intentionally Awkward Title (Arguably, the title itself)
 * Chekhov's Gunman (A very impressive example: The unnamed elephant keeper is almost certainly Dominic Petrenko, a key witness in the fifth case of the next game, Dark Motives.)
 * Exactly What It Says on the Tin (Not quite. It is only one body in a barrel.)
 * Mafia Princess (The victim, Sophia Benedetti. )
 * Woman Scorned

The killer from case four has kidnapped Gil Grissom, and is refusing to give up his location. The player is tasked with rescuing Gil, and soon finds that the titular is far more than  seems.


 * Big Bad, Serial Killer
 * Call Back (To case 4, of course. There is also a very significiant callback to case 1.)
 * Fictional Counterpart, Writing Around Trademarks (U-Store-It.. hmm, why does that sound familiar?)
 * Smug Snake
 * Harsher in Hindsight (. Nope, nothing like the season 7 finale, no siree.)
 * Woman Scorned

CSI: Dark Motives

The second game updated the graphics and introduced new tools, such as the brush for clearing away dust from evidence and the adhesive speciment mount, for removing powdered substances for chemical and electron microscope analysis in the lab.

Daredevil Disaster
A daredevil is injured in what looks like a botched stunt during a show at the Meditteranean Casino, but investigation of his motorcycle soons turns up evidence of foul play.


 * Always Murder (Averted. None of the injuries Ace sustained were permanent)
 * Asshole Victim (Ace Dillinger, the victim, was described euphemistically as a horse's 'ace' by his assistant, and bilked being used by  to sabotage Ace's bike).
 * Big Secret (Kind of subverted; )
 * (Cory Muzotti, )
 * ( motive for the crime, as )
 * The Man Behind the Man (It initially appears tried to kill Ace for, but in interrogation, .)
 * Wrench Wench (Leslie Handleman)

Prints and Pauper
A ragged looking man is found dead of alcohol poisoning in an abandoned insane asylum. This would not ordinarily arouse suspicion from the CSIs, but two details sit out of place. Firstly, white french truffles, which cost hundreds of dollars, are found in his stomach. Secondly, even the hardest core drinker would have passed out long before reaching his blood alcohol level, indicating he was poisoned by someone else.


 * Asshole Victim (The victim .)
 * Bedlam House (One can assume this is what the insane asylum was like when it was operational, judging by it's overall aesthetic.)
 * Big Secret
 * Crowning Moment of Awesome, The Stinger (At the very end of the case, Warrick explains to the killer that As such, if the killer hadn't killed the victim, )
 * Germanic Depressives (Markus van der Hellen. To be fair, he is an upper class European restaurant owner, is dealing with what looks like the death of a hobo and most suspects in this franchise is as unhelpful as possible)
 * Hobos (. See Crowning Moment of Awesome.)
 * Long-Lost Relative
 * (The killer.)

Diggin' It
A human skeleton is found at a dig site at a casino. Evidence indicates it may be an Indian burial ground, but further investigation uncovers oddities regarding the skeleton and the surrounding evidence.


 * Asshole Victim, Con Man (Freddy Sloan, the victim, was a Con Man who ran a soap carving scam, bilking all three suspects out of hundreds of dollars. )
 * Big Secret
 * Fortune Teller, (Madame Lazora, who claims to have received psychic visions about the late victim. )
 * Indian Burial Ground (Of arrowheads, though not psitanium ones)
 * Meaningful Name (, anybody?)
 * Motive Rant, Well-Intentioned Extremist ( confesses at the end that killed Freddy because  wanted to start a chain that would lead to the elimination of all con men like Freddy.)
 * Prison Rape and Black Comedy Rape, The Stinger (Captain Jim Brass: "A word of advice, ? They have soap in prisons too. Don't bend over in the shower to pick it up.")
 * The Untwist (The killer's identity. May actually work out as a good twist, if it's intent was to fake out the Genre Savvy.)

Miss Direction
A woman is found shot dead in a theatre. Evidence emerges it is most likely not an accident, leading to a trail involving voyeurism, stalking, a love affair and a Batman Gambit.


 * Asshole Victim
 * Batman Gambit
 * Big Secret (]
 * Incredibly Lame Pun (Using a trajectory dummy to figure out the direction of the shot proves a major part of the case twice.)
 * Motive Rant
 * (Averted with the victim. See below.)
 * (Meryl Regis and Heather Colby, who first met in acting school and struck up a relationship. Of course, it continues long past that, proving somewhat of a subversion.)
 * Squib (Proves a factor in the case)

Dragon and Dropping
A Komodo dragon is reported missing by the P.T. Barnum-esque owner of an animal circus. The security guard of the circus is unreachable, and the only helpful witness seems to be a local mortician.


 * Anti-Villain,, The Woobie, Well-Intentioned Extremist
 * Asshole Victim (Aside from, there's , who's involved in the illegal animals trade, , who, apart from likely working for and was also involved in trading illegal animals,  and , who's involved in
 * Big Secret (See above)
 * Bullet Holes and Revelations
 * Call Back (Jeffrey Deschamps, the victim of the 20 year old cop killing mystery that played a role in the first game's third case, is listed on the board of directors of Dominic Petrenko's imports company. Brass explicitly points this out, stating a previous intern had worked a case involving Deschamps.)
 * Chekhov's Gunman (Dominic Petrenko is said to have worked at the Monaco casino with elephants. He both looks and sounds almost exactly like the elephant keeper at the Monaco in the first game's fourth case.)
 * , My God, What Have I Done?
 * Fridge Logic
 * Hollywood Jehovah's Witness (Likely both averted and played straight with Victor Kaufman.)
 * The Man Behind the Man ("".)
 * Wham! Episode (Everything after it's revealed )
 * Wham! Episode (Everything after it's revealed )

CSI: Miami

The first (and thus far, only) game of CSI: Miami, and the first of any CSI show other than Las Vegas. It introduced updated graphics, and much like its Las Vegas equivalent, featured the voices of the CSI: Miami cast. It, as you might expect, featured a decidedly different atmosphere, but still with the same CSI flair and the same general themes.

Later Gator
An alligator is found dead from a fight with another alligator at a Miami golf club. Ordinarily, this would not raise suspicion, but the alligator appears to have recently consumed human flesh. The only clue as to the identity of the victim appears to be a bracelet which could belong to two different people, though doubt is raised over whether the alligator had only one victim.


 * Asshole Victim ( Cole was an ill-tempered .)
 * Big Secret
 * Chainsaw Good (The murder weapon)
 * Chekhov's Gunman
 * Reptiles Are Abhorrent (Subverted. The alligators did not kill any humans, they merely consumed already dead and dismembered flesh.)
 * Shotacon (Narrowly averted; romanced  when he was only 18.)
 * The Voice
 * Teens Are Monsters

Crack or Jack
A nightclub owner is found dead in his own club. However, the CSI's investigation of the club is derailed by the simultaneous investigation of the FBI. While the scene looks as though the man was killed by a falling light, investigation reveals he was already dead when the light fell.


 * Amoral Attorney (Donny Bronson)
 * Asshole Victim (As it turns out, the victim tried to )
 * Big Secret
 * Incredibly Lame Pun (Cocaine turns up as a factor about halfway through the case, and the victim's name is Jack Simmons. .)
 * Jurisdiction Friction (See above. The player has to make the drug link for the FBI to let the CSI's examine the rest of the nightclub.)
 * Karma Houdini (Due to lack of a murder weapon, the DA won't bring charges.)
 * Red Herring, Scary Minority Suspect (Subverted. Bobby Bassie, a violent boxer who's blood is on a possible murder weapon, is revealed to have been dead years before the murder occured, almost immediately after being mentioned. Also subverted with Enrique Sanchez, as he isn't very intimidating despite his bouncer status )

The Hate Boat
A woman is found dead and naked, with a shot to the head and signs of strangulation, on an elaborate boat. Leads are initially dry, until a search uncovers a call made by a woman in the vicinity of a famous pop singer's home alerting the police of an unconscious woman, alone on a boat.


 * (The killer)
 * Be as Unhelpful as Possible
 * Call Back (A possibly unintentional example. During one of the flashback sequences, the killer looks like David Mc Ladden, the victim's assistant in the first case of Dark Motives. )
 * (The victim. Truth in Television, as many like to go after .)
 * Idol Singer, Latin Lover, No Celebrities Were Harmed ( Jennifer Lopez Julia Alvarez)
 * Squick

Sunstroke
An old man is found dead on the beach of his Miami home. Normally, this would not raise suspicion, but his dog died at the same time. Matters are complicated by the victim belonging to a religion forbidding the use of autopsy.


 * Amoral Attorney (Donny Bronson again)
 * Asshole Victim
 * Batman Gambit, The Untwist
 * Big Secret
 * Finger-Licking Poison (The cause of the victim's dog, Profit's, death)
 * Manipulative Bastard
 * Red Herring (Literally; it's found in the fishtank and lampshaded by Yelina)
 * Perfect Poison (Tetrodotoxin, which comes from, among other things, the .)

Final Judgement
A witness and suspect from the first case is found dead in his own office, from a single gunshot wound to the head. However, investigation, as well as a killer from a previous case coming forward to take credit, complicates things.


 * Amoral Attorney (Donny Bronson, yet again. )
 * Asshole Victim
 * (Averted)
 * Big Bad, Serial Killer
 * Big Secret
 * Crowning Moment of Awesome
 * , Knight Templar, Manipulative Bastard
 * Karma Houdini (Averted, as the missing murder weapon in the case, the killer's shoe, is found near the end of the case.)
 * The Man Behind the Man (Inverted, in a sense. We know claims to have killed the victim, but we don't know how. )
 * The Man Behind the Man (Inverted, in a sense. We know claims to have killed the victim, but we don't know how. )

CSI: Three Dimensions Of Murder

The fourth game, and the third set in Las Vegas. It's undeniable the switch of developers (from 369 Interactive to Telltale Games) has had a dramatic impact on the storylines and character of the series.

It also lost the voice talents of Jorja Fox (Sara Sidle) and Marg Helgenburger (Catherine Willows), replacing them with soundalikes.

Pictures at an Execution
A woman is found dead at an art gallery. Evidence suggests she died from blunt force trauma to the head, and that robbery was not a motive. Among the suspects are the museum's curator, a reclusive artist and the woman's fiance.


 * Asshole Victim (The victim was a shrill, egotistical woman who
 * Big Secret
 * Chekhov's Gun (The )
 * Improvised Weapon
 * (Justified, because )
 * Mishmash Museum (Averted. The art museum stays as such, with only paintings and a few small sculptures in one row.)
 * Motive Rant (The killer gives a rather straightforward and angry one when found out)
 * Shout-Out (The murder weapon bears a distinct resemblance to The Maltese Falcon)

First Person Shooter
A game designer is found dead dressed in military gear at a video game show. The suspects are all fellow game designers, one of which used to work with the victim.


 * Asian and Nerdy (Maya Nguyen. Though this is borderline, depending on whether you think a tomboy marketing executive at a small video game company who dresses in combat gear for live demonstrations can be termed "nerdy".)
 * Asshole Victim (The victim was a highly demanding executive producer at a video game company who, as Brass puts it "Has a reputation for pushing people too far".)
 * (The killer)
 * Big Secret
 * Media Watchdogs, Moral Guardians (Both had been complaining about the content of Gutwrench III, )
 * New Media Are Evil (Nicely averted. The video game environment is just a setting, the case itself could have taken place in any business environment. Also alluded to. See above.)
 * Ultra Super Death Gore Fest Chainsawer 3000 (Gutwrench III)

Daddy's Girl
A casino heiress is missing from her husband's house, with a huge quantity of blood around the scene. The suspects are a hospital worker, the victim's husband and her sister.


 * Asshole Victim
 * Big Secret (See below. The same individual is also running a bookmaking operation.)
 * Chekhov's Gun
 * (Michael Dubois. Of course, this depends on whether you )
 * Daddy's Girl (The victim)
 * (A rare male example in Alex Porterson, )
 * Punny Name (Dubois.. Dubious?)
 * Punny Name (Dubois.. Dubious?)

Rough Cut
A man is found dead at a campsite out in the wilderness, apparently poisoned. Evidence points to his estranged, politically ambitious high flying real estate developer mother, a contractor and his wife.


 * Motive Rant (Subverted.)
 * Offing the Offspring
 * Red Herring
 * (Briefly considered during Carla's questioning, but disappointingly never really explored as a possibility)
 * Time-Delayed Death (From )
 * Time-Delayed Death (From )

The Big White Lie
A man is found dead in his own van in the back of an alley. Evidence uncovers numerous suspects from past cases, as well as some new ones. What's worse, the actual crime scene is unknown.


 * Call Back (Big time. Nathan Ackerman and Michael Dubois are both suspects.)
 * Motive Rant (Subverted.

CSI: Hard Evidence

This game added the mechanism of collecting insects to unlock bonus material, including in a hospital. Introduced the cell phone mechanic for Brass and Sara (the only CSI not to work with the player directly in a case, likely due to Greg's introduction) to contact and speak to the player remotely, as well as the garage room for examining vehicles. Like the previous game, it used soundalikes for Sara and Catherine.

It also featured decidedly Anvilicious Product Placement, especially from Visa and Hewlett Packard. All of the lab equipment uses HP monitors, as do all other computer monitors and TV screens in game. It's place in the series timeline is even more ambiguous than most of the CSI games, with the game taking place in 2007 but Grissom not possessing his beard, while Greg has become a lab tech.

Burning For You
A cabbie is found burned to death in an alley. Evidence points to a homeless drifter with an unfortunate name, a fire-loving lesbian and her partner.


 * Asshole Victim (The victim was a white supremacist and violent man who harassed the two lesbians, among other individuals.)
 * Big Secret
 * Kill It with Fire
 * Motive Rant
 * Lipstick Lesbian (Both of them)
 * (Averted with Liz)
 * Prison Rape (Possibly alluded to. In the Denouement, Brass explains to the killer that there are plenty of people with alternative lifestyles to be found in American Prisons, including white supremacists like the victim)
 * Product Placement (Coupled with a rather hilarious case of Did Not Do the Research. Presumably, Visa would not like their product or company being associated with violent white supremacists set on fire in alleys.)
 * Pyromaniac
 * Unfortunate Names (Edsel Danville. Lampshaded by Nick)

Double Down
A pregnant woman is violently stabbed in her own home by an unknown assailant. Evidence points to either her husband, herself, an energy mogul or his wife. The case also showed up as a bonus case in Three Dimensions Of Murder.


 * Big Secret
 * Corrupt Corporate Executive
 * (See below)
 * (The motive for the attack was that leading  to hate both the victim, for )
 * Product Placement (The Visa billboard outside the hospital window)
 * Red Herring, (The possibility that the attack  is brought up by Catherine while examining the victim's wounds, but disappointingly never visited again)

Shock Rock
Three musicians and a woman are found electrocuted at a rehearsal in the Hot Rod Casino, while a concert was being held. Evidence points to a fellow contestant, a washed up former lead singer, a stage technician and the band's manager.


 * Ascended Fanboy (Todd Hinkley)
 * Batman Gambit (Warrick gets Jill's autograph for handwriting comparison to a threatening note left in Andrea and Kathy's apartment, while the player gets DNA off a coffee cup she was drinking.)
 * Big Secret
 * Call Back (The high rollers room from case 2 appears again in this case)
 * Hot Mom (Jill Wilde)
 * Rigged Contest

In Your Eyes
An eye surgeon is found beaten to death with a fire poker in his own home. The suspects are his blind wife (the only apparent witness to the killing), his daughter and his business partner.


 * Arranged Marriage (Aadarsh Darwan to Adya Bandareet. See below.)
 * Big Secret
 * Product Placement (While tracing Darwan's credit card records, Brass refers to contacting Visa about them and the "good people" they have there.)
 * The Killer Was Left-Handed (Literally. It turns out to be the case breaking clue when
 * The Killer Was Left-Handed (Literally. It turns out to be the case breaking clue when

The Peacemaker
A young black male is found dead, shot in the chest and shoulder, in what looks like the aftermath of a shootout in a Wild West souvenir shop. A young white male is found with two smoking guns, his fingerprints on both of them, his DNA at the scene, and a confession. However, evidence reveals connections to a previous case, and that the confessed shooter is not all that he seems.


 * Asshole Victim (See below)
 * Call Back (The victim is, while the confessed shooter is . Both appear themselves as suspects.)

CSI: Deadly Intent

The sixth and latest installment of the CSI series featured the addition of new character Dr Raymond Langstrom and Ensemble Darkhorse Riley Adams. It also featured the departure of Gil Grissom, Sara Sidle and Warrick Brown, keeping up with CSI's latest seasons. It produced five new cases, a more advanced interface and a darker, more mature feeling closer to that of the original show.

Broken Hearted
A woman is found dead in a hotel room, with a glass shard embedded in her neck. The suspects are the hotel manager, the victim's friend and coworker at a local strip club and a mysterious Hispanic man.


 * (, who killed the victim because )
 * Improvised Weapon (. No, really.)
 * No Periods, Period (Given a cursory aversion by one suspect, who, when questioned on the presence of the victim's blood, comes up with a number of innocent attributions for it, including "that time of the month".
 * Recycled Script (The setup, though in a high class hotel, resembles that of case one in the original game. Also,
 * Scary Minority Suspect (Hispanic
 * The Man Behind the Man (Played with. )

Coulda Been A Contender
A referee of a fictional katana wielding fighting game is found strangled in the centre of the arena, having recently made the only, but highly controversial call in his career. The suspects are a young ring assistant, a long time champion who was on the losing end of said controversial call and the league's manager, a former long time fighter himself.


 * Bald of Awesome, Bald of Evil (
 * Big Secret (Played with.
 * , Retired Badass (Horace Willingham. )
 * HSQ (Gets pushed pretty high when )
 * Revealing Coverup
 * (See above.)

Last Gasp
An actress is found dead while in an isolated rehabilitation spa. The suspects are a fellow patient, her husband and a Southern Gentleman coworker at the local theatre.


 * Big Secret (One of the most bizarre yet. )
 * Shout-Out: An optional sidequest involves helping a retiring investigator analyzing DNA from a crime scene. Her case involved someone dropping a bowling ball from a two story building on a kid spray painting it.
 * Southern Gentleman (Subverted with Jack Shell. He describes himself as such during his interrogation. Dr Langstrom points out he originates from the Bronx.)

Extinguished
An aging fire eater is found dead in his tenement, apparently from carbon monoxide poisoning. Evidence points to his landlord, his estranged stepson and his wife.


 * Asshole Victim (
 * Punk Punk (The victim, judging by his clothes and hairstyle, was one of these)
 * Pyromaniac (The victim, naturally, has elements of this.)

Crime Scene Impersonator
A homosexual tranvestite is found dead in a retro club, having apparently been bound with ropes. However, the case soon takes some very bizarre and disturbing directions as new testimony and evidence piles up.


 * Author Tract (Gay-lib themes really start coming out (no pun intended) in this case.)
 * Bald of Evil (
 * Call Back (The unnamed gun store clerk (of First Person Shooter), Aadarsh Diwan (of In Your Eyes), Michael Dubois (of Daddy's Girl and The Big White Lie), and Edsel Danselville aka Ed Freeborn (of Burning for You) appear in the crowd of the club for the episode's teaser. This is rather strange in that the club appears to have a largely homosexual patronage, stranger in that  may have been convicted of credit card fraud, even more bizarre in the case of, who confessed to a brutal homicide and , and completely mind boggling in the case of , who confessed to .)
 * Celebrity Resemblance
 * Celebrity Resemblance