Crime scene is a detective adventure game for the hardboiled only. It earns its rare M rating on the DS with grisly, realistic depictions of crime scenes and cases involving murder-suicides and burnt bodies.

You play as rookie detective Matt Simmons as he tries to piece together the strange events of a double murder involving a former police detective and his wife. The gameplay consists of exploring crime scenes, collecting evidence and questioning witnesses. What sets crime scene apart from other games in the crime adventure game genre, such as Phoenix Wright, is its realistic portrayal of crime scenes, more serious tone and its mature subject matter.

Did a former detective really murder his wife and then commit suicide, or is there some foul play going on here? They say this detective was a happy guy… It’s up to you to find the truth.

Tapping the DS stylus on the screen lets you investigate important elements of the crime scene. Once you find something significant, like a blood splatter on the wall, you can collect evidence with a variety of interactive tools, such as a blood collecting cotton swab, fingerprint powder and tongs for dislodging bullets.  Dusting for fingerprints and all the other evidence gathering mini games require a steady stylus hand.  Make a mistake, like I did often, and you’ll lose some of your credibility gauge and look like the rookie that you are. Lose enough credibility and say goodbye to that gold detective badge, it’s game over for you.

Once you’ve collected evidence, it’s time to take it back to the lab and test it, where your results will reveal even more clues for your case.  Do the finger prints on the gun match up with the fingerprints on the table?  Does the blood on the victim match the blood on the ground?  Putting the blood samples under a microscope will tell you. The lab mini games were the most enjoyable of the bunch, although I don’t know if zapping bad cells in a blood sample with a laser beam is really how they find DNA in real life investigations.  But what doesn’t get better when you add lasers?

Crime scene looks good, especially if you’re fan of CSI and the other 1000 crime based tv shows on network television or if you’re into the Phoenix Wright series, but crave something a little less cutesy anime and little more Dashiell Hammett.  Hopefully, when it launches in February we’ll have another great mystery title, and one that doesn’t pull any punches.