CSI (video games)

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

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[when?], 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.

The following tropes are common to many or all entries in the CSI (video games) franchise.
For tropes specific to individual installments, visit their respective work pages.

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 Jenny Strickland has one of these, but they only turn up once, early in the case.)
  • Chekhov's Armory (The entire cases becomes very significiant later in case five. Notable aspects include the mention of a Murphy Brown in Kylie's printout schedule and the smudged prints on the pharmaceutical bottle.
  • Disposable Sex Worker (The victim was a showgirl)
  • Noob Cave, Stop Helping Me!, Unskippable Cutscene (It *is* an unskippable tutorial, after all.)
  • The Untwist (Ultimately subverted with Devon Rodgers, who is revealed late in case five to have been set up by Leda Callisto, the real killer.)

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 (Jason Gray is a drug addict, which is what has caused his business to fail. Kind of subverted, as he did try to frame Ritchie for the arson.)
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive (Subverted: James Ritchie appears to be this, but is cleared from any direct involvement almost immediately after the player questions him.)
  • Insurance Fraud (Suspected in the middle of the case, then subverted when it is revealed that Gray's confession of this is itself a cover up for his drug problem.)
  • The Aggressive Drug Dealer (Justified, since Stan Ginns 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 (Both subverted and played straight, seeing as out of the two polite and helpful characters, John Laskin and Professor Franklin, the former is innocent while the latter is the killer.)
  • Broken Pedestal (The killer is Nick's old mentor, as well as being a respected professor in the UNLV and within crimonology)
  • Jack the Ripoff (Subverted. Evidence indicates that the killer may be a copycat with an intimate knowledge of the original scene, but during his Villainous Breakdown \ Hannibal Lecture, Franklin\Sutherland explains that he was the long-sought killer of Jeffrey Deschamps, having killed earlier in his career while studying criminology in order to create the "Perfect Crime", and possibly make a career out of writing on it. Also literally subverted, as Jack Riley was The Patsy.)
  • Serial Killer, Split Personality (The killer, Professor Franklin\Dr Edwin Sutherland)

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.

Leda's Swan Song

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 Ms. Callisto is far more than she seems.

  • Big Bad, Serial Killer (Leda turns out to be responsible for Karen\Kylie Yardstrum's murder, making her the perpetrator in cases 1, 4 and 5.)
  • 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 (Leda)
  • Harsher in Hindsight (A dark haired, intelligent young woman who committed a crime out of the victim indirectly causing the death of the only person she loved, an intelligent man with whom she shared a parental relationship, a person who caused harm to Gil Grissom?. Nope, nothing like the season 7 finale, no siree.)
  • Woman Scorned (Leda's murders and attempted murder of Gil ultimately come down to her father being framed from tampering with evidence relating to a drug bust of Sophia Benedetti by operatives within CSI working for the politically connected Carlo Benedetti, Sophia's father. Gil Grissom, while not involved in the tampering, did not speak up for Murphy, leading Leda to blame him, in addition to Karen Yardstrum for luring him into a cheap life, for her father's suicide.)

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 Leslie Handleman for free service by promising, and failing to give her advertising on his show, leading to her being used by Cory Muzotti to sabotage Ace's bike).
  • Big Secret (Kind of subverted; Leslie Handleman had disagreements with Ace and was the direct perpetrator, but was paid off by Cory Muzotti to do so.)
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive (Cory Muzotti, who was willing to risk killing his star for a Ratings Stunt)
  • Ratings Stunt (Cory Muzotti's motive for the crime, as the show was losing ratings, and might be cancelled if it did badly during this time of season.)
  • The Man Behind the Man (It initially appears Leslie tried to kill Ace for shortchanging her for hundreds of dollars in free fix-ups, but in interrogation, she reveals she was hired by Cory Muzotti to do it for a ratings stunt and for money, which could compensate her for lost potential advertising revenue.)
  • 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 was killed over an argument with his non-sister when he claimed he would fight her for her fathers inheiritance, though one could chalk that up to Clair being an Unreliable Narrator and trying to justify her crime.)
  • 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 (Markus van der Hellen non-lethally poisons the homeless with rat poison to avoid them eating his food and bothering the customers in his restaurant.)
  • Crowning Moment of Awesome, The Stinger (At the very end of the case, Warrick explains to the killer that the DNA of her "brother" and her did not have a sibling match, and that an off-the-record conversation with the family record keeper reveals that the victim was the product of a love affair between his mother and a chaffeur. As such, if the killer hadn't killed the victim, she would have inhereited everything, and wouldn't be going to prison\the chair.)
  • 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 (Double Subversion. See Crowning Moment of Awesome.)
  • Long-Lost Relative (Brilliantly subverted with the victim. See Crowning Moment of Awesome)
  • Woman Scorned (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. For Adam, though, it affected his ego as an aspiring artist more intensely, and this combined with his losses on the casino led him to kill Freddy.)
  • Big Secret (John Montana falsified the land report on the casino land in exchange for Adam Kilborn's trailer. Also, Madame Lazora was one of Freddy's victims.)
  • Fortune Teller, Phony Psychic (Madame Lazora, who claims to have received psychic visions about the late victim. The truth, as Adam Kilborn reveals, is rather more simple. She was one of Freddy Sloan's victims, and may have figured out Freddy had been killed, and possibly even knew the perpetrator's identity.)
  • Indian Burial Ground (Of arrowheads, though not psitanium ones)
  • Meaningful Name (Adam Kilborne, anybody?)
  • Motive Rant, Well-Intentioned Extremist (Adam Kilborn confesses at the end that he killed Freddy because he 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, Mr Kilborn? 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 ( Meryl Regis] could be viewed as this, for her adulterous affair with Heather Colby)
  • Batman Gambit (Despite being a crime of passion, Clayton Regis's murder of his wife plays quite well on this, ensuring plausible motives for both Gus and Heather and the possibility of an accident, while establishing a plausible alibi for himself.)
  • Big Secret (Heather Colby was having a lesbian affair with the victim.]
  • 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
  • No Bisexuals (Averted with the victim. See below.)
  • Schoolgirl Lesbians (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, Beware the Nice Ones,, Knight Templar, Love Makes You Evil, Necromantic, The Woobie, Well-Intentioned Extremist (Victor Kaufman killed Ernie Rowntree and took the organs of some of his deceased patients so that his wife would have all her organs and be resurrected on the day of judgement.)
  • Asshole Victim (Aside from the aforementioned non-victim (of Kaufman, that is) in case two, with him being the target of organ harvesting by Kaufman, there's Arnold Zeigler, who's involved in the illegal animals trade, Dominic Petrenko, who, apart from likely working for the Soviet Union, betrayed his country of Ukraine and was also involved in trading illegal animals, the shady Ernie Rowntree and Dr Julius Rivelli, who's involved in the Indian organs trade. This, ironically, leaves only the killer, Victor Kaufman, as a non-asshole.
  • Big Secret (See above)
  • Bullet Holes and Revelations (More like syringes and revelations. At the very end, Victor Kaufman kills his final victim with a syringe, and there's a close up on Dr Rivelli's eyes watching them appear to contract while a moan can be heard in the background. Then, a pan reveals that Victor committed suicide.)
  • 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.)
  • Driven to Suicide, My God, What Have I Done? (Rather literally, with Victor Kaufman at the end.)
  • Fridge Logic (How did Victor intend to give his presumably dead and buried wife her organs back?.)
  • Hollywood Jehovah's Witness (Likely both averted and played straight with Victor Kaufman.)
  • Serial Killer (Triple subversion. It looks like Victor Kaufman could be this, but then he could just have taken the organs from the deceased after killing them, instead of going through the trouble of involving and blackmailing Dr Julius Rivelli for his wife's donors. We also know that at least one of the victim's was killed by someone else, namely the victim in case two, killed by Clair Thomas, who confessed. While Victor has at least one kill (Ernie Rowntree) and it looks as though he might kill Julius Rivelli next, it turns out that his next and final victim is himself.)
  • The Man Behind the Man ("Someone must have done terrible thing to dragon, before I come!".)
  • Wham! Episode (Everything after it's revealed Dominic Petrenko is alive.)

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.

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 frame his business partner for drug dealing.)
  • Big Secret (Enrique and Nicky were both approached by the victim to perform the aforementioned frame. Nicky rejected it, but Enrique nearly went through with it. Also, Enrique once injured a drunk called Frank Lamb and contributed to the death of an entire family from drunk driving as a result.)
  • Incredibly Lame Pun (Cocaine turns up as a factor about halfway through the case, and the victim's name is Jack Simmons. Also, cocaine was a motive.)
  • 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 and isn't the killer.)

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.

  • Affably Evil, Serial Killer (The killer)
  • Be as Unhelpful as Possible (Double Subversion. Troy Sullivan may have been following the overall MO of a serial killer who wanted to get caught, but he also misdirected the player towards the other suspects. Played straight with Julia Alvarez and Thad Wilson)
  • 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. He has nothing to do with it, of course.)
  • Disposable Sex Worker (The victim. Truth in Television, as many serial killers like to go after prostitutes and Troy seems to have a Knight Templar bend to him.)
  • Idol Singer, Latin Lover, No Celebrities Were Harmed (Jennifer Lopez Julia Alvarez)
  • Squick (Thad's sexual problems apparently run back to issues with his mother. Troy thankfully spares us the details. Far more disturbingly (And that's saying something), Troy himself is a necrophiliac serial prostitute killer.)

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 (Roy Diamond, the victim, was killed by Denise Diamond for sexual harassment and manipulative treatment of her and Martin Fordham in regards to their inhereitance)
  • Batman Gambit, The Untwist (Denise intentionally left the murder weapon, with her fingerprints on it, in a drawer in her room, then directed the CSI's to investigate her brother, who had a less obvious motive (for instance, he usually came up on top during his father's will revisions) and numerous poisons in his room.)
  • Big Secret (Martin Fordham is Roy Diamond's bastard son.)
  • Finger-Licking Poison (The cause of the victim's dog, Profit's, death)
  • Manipulative Bastard (The victim himself. See above)
  • Red Herring (Literally; it's found in the fishtank and lampshaded by Yelina)
  • Perfect Poison (Tetrodotoxin, which comes from, among other things, the blue ringed octopus.)

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. Played straight in that he is revealed to have been involved in jury tampering, subverted in that he is revealed to have been framed by the Judge for the Judge's death.)
  • Asshole Victim (Deconstructed. It is eventually revealed that the Judge met the previous four cases killers, found out about their problems and manipulated them into killing them, partly out of his disgust with the corruption and softening of the criminal justice system.)
  • Always Murder, Never Suicide (Averted)
  • Big Bad, Serial Killer (Judge Walter Lawford. See above.)
  • Big Secret (Ron Preston accepted Troy's offer, but didn't go through with it. Louis Stanford found the Judge was already dead with a suicide note, burnt the note, shot the Judge to create the impression he had been silenced by his opponents, and made up a story about kidnapping to implicate other people.)
  • Crowning Moment of Awesome (The ending.)
  • Hanging Judge, Knight Templar, Manipulative Bastard (The victim.)
  • Karma Houdini (Averted, as the missing murder weapon in the second case, the killer's shoe, is found near the end of the case.)
  • Thanatos Gambit
  • The Man Behind the Man (Inverted, in a sense. We know Troy Sullivan claims to have killed the victim, but we don't know how. Later, it is revealed Ron Preston was used by Sullivan to do so, though he shot the Judge when he was already dead. See above, for a far more elaborate example.)

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 had sex in the art gallery without Nathan's knowledge.
  • Big Secret (Mark Stock and the victim's makeup sex, as per above. Also, Nathan Ackerman deals in methamphetamine and was with his bookie at the time of the murder.)
  • Chekhov's Gun (The tickets purchased by the victim prove key to cracking to the case.)
  • Improvised Weapon (The eagle)
  • Mad Artist (Justified, because Patrick Milton was high on cocaine when he killed the victim.)
  • 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".)
  • Beware the Nice Ones, The Chessmaster (The killer)
  • Big Secret (Craig Landers fought with the victim shortly before his death, and was fired from his job.)
  • Media Watchdogs, Moral Guardians (Both had been complaining about the content of Gutwrench III, and Craig Landers just so happened to agree with them, a factor in his dismissal.)
  • 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 (Inverted and played straight, in a way. Michael Dubois was the target of the frameup.)
  • Big Secret (See below. The same individual is also running a bookmaking operation.)
  • Chekhov's Gun (The hotel call in Aruba.)
  • Domestic Abuser (Michael Dubois. Of course, this depends on whether you believe his story that he and Carrie were into rough sex, or Alex's that he's an abuser.)
  • Daddy's Girl (The victim)
  • Hello, Nurse! (A rare male example in Alex Porterson, at least to Carrie.)
  • 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.

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.) As is Carrie Canelli
  • Motive Rant (Subverted. When Gus Clein is arrested, he merely asks for his lawyer, and denies killing Melbourn.

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 (Debra responding to Bob's blackmail may count. Liz's sexual encounter with Ed, and Debra's subsequent reaction.)
  • Kill It with Fire
  • Motive Rant (Ed gives one of these after Warrick points out the hole in the story that he just threatened the cabby for money, and accidentally lit him on fire, namely that he snatched the money from the flames. He states that even if he did it the way Warrick described, it would have been to rid the world of an Asshole Victim like Bob Castner.)
  • Lipstick Lesbian (Both of them) Well, lipstick bisexual for Liz.

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 (Connie's child isn't Shane's. Everett Brower hired her as a surrogate mother after his wife became pregnant with a girl.)
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive (Nicely subverted with Everett Brower. At worst, he's an old fashioned man willing to resort to unusual measures to get a male heir)
  • Heir Club for Men (See below)
  • Mama Bear, Woman Scorned (The motive for the attack was that Nicole had a girl, while the victim was carrying Everett Brower's surrogate male child, leading Nicole to hate both the victim, for carrying the heir, and the heir himself, for being a threat to her daughter for Brower's fortune)
  • Product Placement (The Visa billboard outside the hospital window)
  • Red Herring, Suicide, Not Murder (The possibility that the attack was a suicide attempt 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 (Jill Wilde is a cocaine user)
  • Call Back (The high rollers room from case 2 appears again in this case)
  • Hot Mom (Jill Wilde)
  • Rigged Contest (Maybe.)
  • The Man Behind the Man (Todd Hinkley was manipulated by Kathy Cantata into killing Andrea, so she could be the new lead singer, after he owed her a favour for her dressing up as Andrea and having sex with him. The band were accidental collateral damage.)

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.)
  • Asshole Victim (The victim was the cause of his wife's blindness through a botched eye surgery she insisted she sign a disclaimer on, and tried to force his daughter to marry a man she hated and whom was stealing from him. As such, his wife killed him to free her daughter.)
  • Big Secret (Aadarsh Darwan was embezzling the victim's money, and really was there the night of the murder.)
  • 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 mother and daughter both confess to the killing.

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 Eddie Tillis' son, while the confessed shooter is one of Jill Wilde's identical triplets. Both parents appear themselves as suspects.)
  • Shotacon (Rather narrowly averted, as Jill Wilde romanced Eddie Tillis when he was 18. This, along with Eddie's boasting about by waving Jill's bra in front of the triplets, caused Anthony to accidentally shoot into the floor and trigger the fatal shootout.)

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.

  • Hide Your Lesbians, Psycho Lesbian (Kathy Burd, who killed the victim because she had ended her lesbian relationship with her years ago and rejected her when propositioned at the hotel room. Also a case of Hide Your Lesbians, as Kathy's proclivities are not revealed until her Motive Rant.)
  • Improvised Weapon (A heart shaped ashtray. No, really.)
  • No Periods, Period (Given a cursory aversion by one suspect, who, when questioned on the presence of the victim's blood in her shower, 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, in both cases, it was perpetrated by women out of jealous rage, though Inn and Out was perpetrated out of familial rather than erotic desire.
  • Scary Minority Suspect (Hispanic trucker Airam Dominguez. He's completely innocent, though.
  • The Man Behind the Man (Played with. When put under pressure during interrogation, Kathy states that Charles killed the victim and blackmailed her into helping him cover up the crime. When interrogated, Charles claims the inverse. He turns out to be telling the truth.)

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 (Averted on both counts by Hank Hackett, who fits neither category.
  • Big Secret (Played with. While Willingham's match fixing was the motive for the murder, it was Tina, not Horace, who was ultimately responsible.
  • Corrupt Corporate Executive, Retired Badass (Horace Willingham. He's not the killer, though.)
  • HSQ (Gets pushed pretty high when a witness is actually killed off in game.)
  • Revealing Coverup (Both the victim and Hank were killed by Tina in order to cover up Horace's match fixing, which leads the CSIs pretty quickly in his direction.)
  • Rigged Contest (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. Ernie conspired with Jack to get his wife to drink her way out of rehabilitation, the former of which did so in order to get his wife off the stage and to settle down with him, the latter because the theatre was experiencing cuts and either she or him would be the recipient.)
  • 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 (The victim hit his own son in an attempt to mold him to his ways and disliked being seen taking his anti cancer medication so much that he hit his pregnant wife when she accidentally walked in on him taking them, causing her to go into labour.
  • 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.

  • The Atoner (Floyd Callister, who leads a normal life in his stage persona of Marcelle after having previously been a violent Serial Killer 36 years ago.)
  • Author Tract (Gay-lib themes really start coming out (no pun intended) in this case.)
  • Bald of Evil (Subverted with Gary Beaumont and played with in the case of Floyd Callister
  • 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), Carrie Canneli (ditto) 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 Aadarsh Diwan may have been convicted of credit card fraud, even more bizarre in the case of Ed Freeborn, who confessed to a brutal homicide and arson, and completely mind boggling in the case of Michael Dubois, who confessed to accessory after the fact, money laundering, drug smuggling and casino slot rigging..)
  • Celebrity Resemblance (Floyd Callister looks and moves like a Camp Gay version of Hannibal Lecter. Seeing as both are violent serial killers, it may be more than coincidential.)
  • Serial Killer (The Barbur Street Boozer, aka Floyd Callister.)