Nothing sells an adventure game quite like a good television show tie-in. This was proved by Law & Order: Dead on the Money last fall, and even more emphatically by this spring's CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, which debuted at #3 on the PC sales charts despite being a pretty mediocre game. Now, Legacy Interactive is poised to test the power of a license again with Law & Order II: Double or Nothing.

For those unfamiliar with the show, it's the ultimate in formula drama. The episodes always begin with two people, who figure into the plot in no way at all, finding a murdered body. Cut to the scene one hour later, overrun by cops and medical examiners. The first half of each one-hour episode follows the police detectives as they chase down leads, through various twists and turns, until they uncover the culprit. Generally by the half-hour mark, we know who really committed the murder. The second half-hour shows the district attorneys jumping through the usual legal hoops until finally, we see the murderer behind bars! There's usually some small, sobering twist, and one of the main characters will say some creepy line of dialogue as we fade to black. Nothing on television is more can't-miss than Law & Order.

Fans of the television show (of which I certainly count myself one) will notice the similarities right away. The intro is fantastic, almost a direct reproduction of the show's opening credits, complete with the unmistakeable theme music and that nifty synth-bassline at the end. We join our story with—yes, you guessed it—two characters who play a minimal role in the story engaging in everyday behavior, and yes, suddenly a dead body rudely interrupts their day.

Fade to black, and we're back with the usual cast of official-looking people milling about the crime scene. Our focus, of course, is Det. Lenny Briscoe, voiced by the incomparable Jerry Orbach, who brings his brand of sardonic tacky one-liner wit to the game (and unlike the voice actors in the aforementioned CSI, appears to be enjoying his job).

Once you've been filled in on the details, you'll step into the shoes of the detective as he uncovers clues, interrogates witnesses, and consults with allies at the department on the evidence. This can involve analysis of an item found, or surveillance or a psych analysis of a person of interest. Questioning persons is done dialogue-map style a la old LucasArts games, the difference being that many of the questions are silly time-wasters and there's only one question on screen at all times that will actually give you relevant information.

The coolest feature of the game (as in its predecessor) is the ability to select two skills at the outset that will assist your detecting abilities. The Teamwork and Case Organization skills are new additions to the arsenal; the former will provide you hints from your supervisors, while the latter drops hints into your case file and helps you to make more sense as to what's going on. The Interview and Evidence Collection skills make their return; they're fairly self-explanatory. Gone is the Efficiency skill; presumably this means that the timing constraint problems from the first game have been released. Our review, coming soon, will have more information on this. You can select up to two skills; for a challenge, you can select one, or none.

And of course, there's the "order" portion of the game, where you'll question witnesses and object the defense attorney's improper questions in an effort to put the bad guy away. If you screw up at any point in the process, you can always go back and try it all again.

The graphics and interface have basically been ported completely intact from the first game, so those who played Dead on the Money should not expect great technical leaps. However, from our hands-on experience, it looks like a more solid and multi-layered story than the first game, which is really what the series is all about. Be sure to read our review of Dead on the Money and keep an eye out for our review of this game early next month. In the meantime, better catch up on those reruns!