Game Classification

In the remote town of Willburg, the assassination of a wealthy elderly lady named Mrs. Rosendale sends the police force of the small community into a frenzy. The prosecution quickly accuses a local businessman called Elliot Brown of the crime, prompting him to hire the "Defenders of Law" firm to clear his name and find the real culprit.

Defenders of Law: The Rosendale File is a hidden object game with adventure elements. As one of the lawyers of the law firm, the player has to investigate several places related to the case trying to find evidence to help the client. Most of the time, this involves finding and clicking on all the items from a list at the top of the screen, on scenes filled with objects scattered through out the scenery. At the start of the case, the player can turn the time limit on or off by choosing between the Adventure and Relaxed modes. On the timed mode, wrong clicks reduce by a few minutes the time left to solve the case. The hint button shows the position of one of the required items, but takes several minutes to recharge after use. Although the victim is always the same, details like the guilty party, the weapon and crime scene are randomly selected each time a new game is started.

As the game progresses, three tools become available at the bottom-left interface that must be used to collect some of the list items. The flashlight creates a spotlight around the cursor that can be moved around darkened rooms to find all the necessary objects. The magnifying glass shows a close-up view of parts of the scenery, disclosing small items. The ultraviolet light has to be used on a dim room to reveal stains, footprints and other hidden evidence. Most locations have light switches that can be used to turn the lights on and off.

Some of the collected evidence is selected to be researched further on the crime laboratory, in a separate screen where the objects have to be dragged and dropped on the appropriate piece of equipment for analysis. Reports are generated to be used later as evidence on the courtroom. In the final courtroom scene, all the evidence has to be presented to the judge, and a questionnaire about it has to be answered correctly to win the case. [source:mobygames]

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

Links

• http://www.mobygames.com/game/defenders-of-law-the-rosendale-file [...]