Previews

Hands-on with Telltale's Law & Order: Legacies for iPhone and iPad

Long courtship

Hands-on with Telltale's Law & Order: Legacies for iPhone and iPad
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iOS
| Law & Order: Legacies

The Law & Order TV series and its spinoffs are known for hardboiled crimes, shifty criminals, and surprising courtroom twists.

The upcoming Law & Order: Legacies for iPhone and iPad puts you in the shoes of the detectives and the prosecutors, from the late Lennie Briscoe to the tough Olivia Benson. Based on our hands-on of Episode 1, the game will sit well with fans of the show.

Law & Order: Legacies is essentially a highly interactive version of the TV show. Each of the seven hour-and-a-half episodes highlights a particular case.

Episodes 1 and 2 are coming this month, while the final five will be released early next year. You can play them individually, but Telltale Games says all the storylines are connected and will culminate in the final episode.

Arresting TV

Using a slick cel-shaded style, Law & Order: Legacies features many of the major characters from the five TV series. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have the original actors’ voices, but everything else – from the title sequence to the character mannerisms – is ripped straight from the series.

Like the shows, Law & Order: Legacies breaks down into two parts: the criminal investigation and the courtroom trial. The criminal investigation highlights the detectives, all starting, like the TV shows, with a (usually dead) body.

You have to interview witnesses, scour scenes for clues, and, later, interrogate suspects. The courtroom trial intensifies the interview process, focusing on your extensive investigation notes and the now-expected Law & Order twists and turns.

Both interviewing on the street and interrogating in the courtroom require listening to the person carefully for lies, hints, and red herrings.

You can correctly guess whether someone is lying or not, but the game also forces you to cite evidence in support of your guesses. It's a tough challenge, and we didn’t always have the facts to back up our claims.

Law & Order: Legacies mellows out the difficulty by providing notes and leaning on rankings. You can tap the 'notepad' icon in the corner and see a transcript of every conversation you’ve had thus far.

Searching for clues

Success in interviews is ranked by stars. A mediocre interview won’t stop the game, but a flawless interview will give you more stars on your badge. However, screwing up three times will force you to start the interview over again.

Looking for clues is very enjoyable, whether they be facial tics or slightly raised voices. Law & Order: Legacies has great graphics and solid acting, both of which are clear enough to gently steer your thinking as you interview potential perps.

You also have to search crime scenes for evidence. It can get pretty nasty, from bloody clothes to skin under fingernails. You scan close up to the items in the room, touching onscreen arrows to move around the area and circling any suspicious items with your finger.

The search portions of the game are brief, and not nearly as smooth as the interviews. The grey arrows are barely noticeable on the dark background, and the fact that you can't use your device's accelerometer to look around feels like a missed opportunity.

Clunky search missions aside, Law & Order: Legacies is looking like a worthy ode to one of the most watched TV shows in history. Episodes 1 and 2 are expected later this month for £1.99 / $2.99 each as Universal apps.

Damon Brown
Damon Brown
Damon Brown has been speaking the mobile game gospel since 2003 for Playboy, New York Post, and many other outlets. Damon writes books when he isn't busy gaming or Twittering. His most popular book is Porn & Pong: How Grand Theft Auto, Tomb Raider and Other Sexy Games Changed Our Culture.