French Crime Detective Game

Public Crime Investigation (PCI) is a classic detective FMV game where players have to analyse clues and deduce who the culprit and/or accomplice is. It is completely in French with full English subtitles, offering six stories of differing lengths with surprisingly decent acting. [b]Note:[/b] I have only played the investigations solo. Therefore, this review will not examine the Co-Op elements. [b] [u]Pros[/u] [/b] [list] [*] Extensive online sleuthing [*] Impressive large cast of actors [*] Engaging and diverse stories of mature themes [*] Simple interface [*] Varied lengths of each investigation [/list] [b] [u]Cons[/u] [/b] [list] [*]Pop ups to sign in through Social Media or Email [*] Unable to redo interrogations without restarting the entire investigation [*] Flippant and sexist dialogue featured in some text conversations [/list] [h1]Story[/h1] The government is overwhelmed with an influx of murder cases and turns to the public for help, creating the PCI program. These online agents gain access to all information recovered from the scene and partake in interrogations and tracking the online footprints of all suspects. There are six different investigations available for players to choose from. They do not need to be played in any order and each feature an entirely new cast of actors. Some scenes are of graphic nature and centre around explicit themes of rape, suicide and more. Most of the time, players are left to their own devices, but sometimes Guillaume Biassin, the PCI agent boss chimes in to give… less than helpful advice. In fact, he is generally very unhelpful and flippant in almost all of his remarks that it takes away from the immersive nature of the game. This also provokes some very strange and sexist conversations between the two. Considering the main 4-hour story is based on the #MeToo movement, this hyperbolic attempt at humour felt severely out of place. This bizarre attitude can also be found in other text dialogues as seen below. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2811629953 [h1]Gameplay[/h1] PCI is an investigative game where players must find the killer by sorting through various clips, investigations, police reports and more. This entire process is conducted on a very simple and easy to navigate interface. With access to all suspects, witnesses, text recounts of interviews and everything else a detective would require. There are questions scattered throughout every element of the game, to ensure players are keeping up and understanding the story. These helped considerably in maintaining my engagement and motivation, rather than leaving all questions to the cases conclusion. However, this also simplified the game, always pointing players in the right direction. I did not mind this, but anyone looking for a challenge may find the gameplay too effortless. Evidence can be collated into a notebook, but be careful, there is a limit on how many pieces of evidence can be added. This evidence can be used at the end of the investigation to present to the judge. The evidence must show motive and guilt of the culprit or accomplices. Players also get to dictate the exact motive and recommended sentencing for the crime. Allowing player bias and interpretation of the specific felony, which I found to be a fun addition, as opposed to just sticking to the penal code. There are only two set difficulties for the investigations, either easy or medium. 2/6 are medium difficulty and that only seems to be because they feature more characters. The length of gameplay is displayed at the top of the investigation, prior to selecting it which I liked. Allowing me to choose a narrative to fit the time I had available. Most are 1.5 hours long, however there is a short 30-minute and a long 4-hour investigation as well. PCI is not difficult; everything is conducted in an easy to follow method. I was never unsure of what to do, and if I answered a question wrong, I would be instantly informed, resulting in me just picking another option. The only incentive to get it correct on the first attempt is for the points. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2811629695 [b][u]Interrogations[/u][/b] Most characters in the game can be questioned. These interrogations are all clips from YouTube that are integrated within the game, thus reducing the download size tremendously. Considering it is all real video footage and quite a hefty amount of it, I think this was an excellent design decision. Players take on the role of a detective within these scenes and can sway the direction of questioning, but if you were not happy with the result, you cannot go back and redo them. This can mean important evidence can be left undiscovered. [b] [u]Points system [/u] [/b] One of the main elements to PCI is the points system. Answering questions correctly gains points, answering correctly in succession leads to point multipliers, discovering all evidence and so on. The game is designed around this feature, trying to motivate players to gain more points to score higher on the ranking board. Yet honestly…I never cared. I do not like this feature and found it quite trivial. This is also why the developers constantly remind players to sign in (using their email or social media accounts) and create a player profile, which I never did. It says you must do this in order to save the game and appear on the scoreboard. This was futile to me as my investigations saved regardless (thankfully) and I do not care about my rank. That being said, I loved the gameplay, and the investigations were interesting, but I would not replay them just to try and get a better score. This is not something that once crossed my mind while playing, but if this does or does not interest you, that is where all of the replayability value lies. [h1]Visuals & Sound[/h1] PCI uses YouTube for all of its clips. Some clips are 10 minutes long, others are 15 seconds. I was impressed by each actor’s performance and how believable it was. I have played numerous FMV games and usually this is the main gripe I have, but I was pleasantly surprised with PCI. There is little background sound featured and majority of the time is spent in silence, combing through the clues. But with the considerable number of videos to examine, I do not think PCI needed any other audio. There is no English dubbing, and all audio is played in French with English subtitles. For those who do not speak French, there is a substantial amount of reading in this game. There are large sums of texts to read on reports, usually followed by multiple interrogations. I very much enjoy this style of game and am not bothered by reading nor the presence of subtitles, but if this sounds exhausting, PCI may not be the game for you. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2811630057 [h1]Technical & Stats [/h1] [quote][b]This game was played using a mouse and with the following PC specs.:[/b] Intel i5-9400 2.9 GHz 16GB RAM GeForce RTX 2060 6GB 2560x1440 resolution HDD Windows 10[/quote] [b]Playtime:[/b] I played for 10 hours and completed 5/6 investigations. [b] Controller Recommended? [/b] No, only a mouse is required. [b]Replayability value:[/b] None, unless players wish to replay to get a better point score or with another person (but the investigations are all the same). [b]Achievements:[/b] Ten achievements which are relatively easy to get, focusing on points. [h1]Conclusion[/h1] PCI is a decent French investigation game which fans of the genre will enjoy. Its varied stories, memorable cast of actors and easy interface kept me coming back for more. Although it features some distasteful dialogue and a heavy reliance on “points,” it is a title that will scratch that detective itch. [quote] Follow my Curator page, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/34936724/] Cookie Reviews[/url] if you enjoyed this review and want to see more like it.

Dans la peau d'un enquêteur, ce sont plus d'une dizaine d'heures d'investigation qui attendent le joueur à travers différentes enquêtes. Des scénarios variés sortis de l'imagination d'auteurs français renommés tels que Franck Thilliez, Niko Tackian ou encore Nicolas Lebel. Un jeu qui nous donne vraiment l'impression d'enquêter, à travers des scènes de crime, des indices, des interrogatoires, des téléphones à fouiller, des perquisitions, des rapports d'autopsie, le tout via des photos, vidéos ou documents... Chaque élément collecté peut être un indice potentiel, c'est au joueur de décider de l'importance de chacune de ces informations. Inutile de désigner un coupable ou un complice au hasard. Il faut soigneusement sélectionner les éléments d'enquête à joindre au dossier d'instruction, ainsi que le mobile et la sentence qui nous semble appropriés... puis attendre le verdict ! [b][i]PCI Public Crime Investigation[/i] est un jeu d'enquête policière original qui parvient à positionner le joueur dans la peau d'un enquêteur. Des heures d'investigation à travers des scénarios variés. Une réussite.[/b] https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2795290465 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2795290436 https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2795290416 [quote=] [h1][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/41126012/] Cliquez ici pour découvrir plus d'évaluations [/url][/h1] [b]N'hésitez pas à cliquer sur "suivre" si vous appréciez le contenu de ma page de curation. [/b][/quote]

I love detective games, solving crimes and FMV, so I was pretty much sold on this game from the get go. I thought it was clever, funny, and well written and the acting was very well done. The gameplay “seems” simple enough, but though I could guess the culprit/motives, etc., getting all of the correct evidence and answering all the questions throughout the game could get tricky! The interface was simple to use and all the evidence was there to review and tag for later. There is an option to build a character, but since I am not going to create a Snapchat account, I skipped all that and it didn’t keep me from playing or affect my gameplay at all. None of that is necessary. I really had a lot of fun playing and thought both the game quality and length made this game well worth the price. I was sorry when it was done and there were no more cases to solve. I’d be happy to see more PCI cases in the future!

Quelle merveilleuse découverte que ce jeu d'enquêtes ! Une pépite absolue pour tout ceux qui aiment réfléchir, observer, recouper des informations. Son découpage en 9 enquêtes bien distinctes permet de consommer ce jeu à un rythme choisi. Quelques petites pointes d'humour et d'ironie viennent éviter de sombrer totalement du côté glauque des scènes de crime. Les acteurs sont vraiment talentueux, et les différentes scènes vidéos ou photos vraiment réussies. Que dire de plus à part: j'en veux encore ?

PCI Public Crime Investigation is a point and click detective game where you investigate cases as an online agent. The game contains 2 free to play on the website of the developer (https://www.pciagent.com/en/investigations/all) and 4 other cases. In fact you pay 19$ for playing these four cases. The F2P cases are: Phantasm. The best case so far. The woman who cried under water. Kind of a demonstrational case cos when you are close to find the murderer the game doesn’t let you do that. It says thanks for your efforts, goodbye and closes the window. So, 4 other cases you pay for: Forbidden Dinners. The most boring case of the bundle. Pure trash, they eat meat of tigers, wow, unbelievable... MF forbidden for real! The Junkyard Case, another slow and sleeping pill episode that makes you don't give a F about it in 10 minutes. A Star is Dead, Mortal Speed Dating episods I couldn't even play cos I couldn't log into my in-game account, and I was already sick of it. That trash named "forbidden dinners" beat all interest out of me, so had no will to make another account or try to recover the old one. Conclusion: The only normal case, with a minimal story twist is Phantasm, which can be played for free on the website of the game dev. Payable content cases are too weak and maximally dozy narrated. IOW: I f*cked installing this game again. 0/10

Endlich ein gutes Detektiv-Spiel, dass mich wirklich fesselt... "Angesichts überlasteter Polizeikräfte ergreift die französische Regierung eine beispiellose Maßnahme: Kriminalpolizeiliche Ermittlungen werden nun an engagierte Bürger im Internet übertragen!" Jau, da bin ich doch dabei! ;-) Und schon finde ich mich in meinem ersten Fall wieder, eine tote Frau im Schwimmbad, deren Selbstmord-These irgendwie unglaubwürdig scheint... Also rolle ich den Fall nochmal auf, sichte Beweise, vernehme Verdächtige und Zeugen und versuche so, die Tat in meinem Kopf sinnvoll zu rekonstruieren. Um den Täter zu überführen, müssen Beweise gesammelt und an den Staatsanwalt übermittelt werden. Hierbei entscheidet man selbst, welche Beweise man als relevant einstuft und welche nicht. Zu jedem Detail gibt es Fragen, werden diese aufgrund der vorliegenden Ermittlungsergebnisse richtig beantwortet, werden neue Details / Zeugen / Informationen freigeschaltet, die es weiter zu untersuchen gilt (z.B. nach einem Verhör, welches per Videoeinspieler jederzeit wieder abrufbar ist oder das Auswerten von Handys / Chatverläufen etc.). So hangelt man sich von Detail zu Detail und schaltet immer mehr Informationen frei, bis man sich sicher ist und dem Staatsanwalt den Schuldigen samt Motiv und Beweisen auf dem Silbertablett zur Verurteilung serviert. Aber Vorsicht: Schnell gerät man auf eine falsche Fährte und liefert den Falschen aus. Dies gibt In-Game-Punkteabzüge und das doofe Gefühl, irgendwas übersehen zu haben. Ich hoffe sehr, dass in Zukunft noch mehr Fälle kommen. Aktuell sind es neun, im Schwierigkeitsgrad ansteigende Fälle. Fazit: Ein intuitives, spannendes, immersives Detektivspiel, welches ich in dieser Form bisher noch nicht erlebt habe. Klare Kaufempfehlung für alle Jura-Studenten und Hobby-Detektive!

Ma tête fume lorsque je quitte ce jeu, mais c'est tellement jouissif d'être propulsé inspecteur d'enquêtes qui ne sont parfois pas si faciles à élucider ! si vous voulez voir du gameplay de ce jeu : https://www.twitch.tv/videos/2178625629

Very interesting game and nothing i have seen before in this kind of genre. As a fan of detective games this game throws so much at you and working out the clues is all based on deduction. The games offers half a dozen cases some more complex than others ranging from an hour to 3 hours per case depending on how you play through. The graphics and ui are great using real life photos and locations to go through your crime scenes and evidence with a lovely ui and menu options to navigate around. Altogether bringing a new style of detective game to engage . Look forward to more like this from the devs

It is not really an fmv game. It has some videos but you mostly have to read a lot and answer some questions and the end you get points how many stuff you find, Sierra style. It is just not my game. It missing the personal stake. Imagine Murder in the building series without personal stake and the red herrings. This is that game.

Si vous êtes fan de séries policières ce jeu ne peux que vous plaire. Vous diriger votre propre enquête. Le jeu est très bien réaliser, entre les vidéos pour les interrogatoires, et les photos de scènes de crime semblable à de vrai. c'est juste incroyable, je recommande à 10 000%