Game Classification

Kidnapped is the first installment in the episodic Casebook detective series. In this adventure, the player is a detective who needs to investigate the kidnapping of the children Harry and Greta Birchermann. They were taken from their room, leaving the parents devastated.

Played from a first-person perspective, players need to interrogate witnesses and search the crime scenes for clues. The game uses full motion video for the cutscenes, where the player is still able to adjust the viewpoint slightly. The crime scenes themselves are build up using in-house developed technology where different high-resolution photographs are stitched together into a single environment, allowing the player to fully move around and navigate a scenery with photo-realistic detail in real-time seemingly presented as a 3D engine.

The player's notebook is used to store locations, objectives and video interviews. Players can navigate the crime scenes and zoom in on details with a camera to take pictures of important clues. These are then investigated inside a police van for details. The examination is done through mini-games where objects need to be checked for prints, swabs collect samples, chemical samples need to be isolated, and chromosomes have to be separated to single out DNA. All pictures are saved in an extensive evidence folder. It contains character cards, and photographs can be combined through a drag-and-drop technique to establish connections. While researching, the player is in contact with his partner James Burton and Pete Inverness at the police laboratory. When sufficient progress has been established, the story is furthered and new crime scenes are unlocked.

The game is very accessible as clues are visibly shown in the evidence folder. While researching a crime scene, players can also press a key on the keyboard to follow their "intuition" and be guided directly to the next item of interest. [source:mobygames]

Distribution : Retail - Commercial
Platform(s) : PC (Windows)

Links

• http://www.mobygames.com/game/casebook-episode-i-kidnapped/