Parent's Guide: NCIS 3D - Age rating, mature content and difficulty

As the newest member of the NCIS - the Naval Criminal Investigative Services, you're drafted in to help solve a murder of an employee at a naval contractor. However, what first appears to be a robbery gone wrong turns into a web of lies and deception, with a plot much more serious than you could ever have imagined. As the new recruit, it's up to you to scour the crime scenes for evidence, analyse the things you've found, and question the suspects as you push closer to the truth.

A slow paced, crime solving game, NCIS is a game that rewards thinking, as you'll need a sharp mind and a decent memory to piece together the various aspects of the crimes and bring the perpetrators to justice. When interrogating the suspects, especially, you have to pay close attention to what they're saying, as you wait for them to slip up, at which point you'll have to challenge them, and present evidence to prove their lying. There are also a number of puzzles you have to solve as you hack into safes, or decrypt images on a USB stick. It all requires a lot of thinking, and is a game that's sure to go down a treat with inquisitive minds.

In order to get the most out of NCIS, you'll need some strong reading skills, as there are no voiceovers whatsoever, with every single conversation in the game being relayed in text on the top screen. It's not something you can just skip through in order to get to the game, either, as the text is essential to your progress - if you want to solve the crimes, you'll need to understand what goes on. Whether you're analysing evidence or pressing suspects when you think they're lying, understanding what's been going on at the crime scene is essential to playing the game - so comprehension skills are necessary.

Although you're investigating a number of murders, NCIS is rather light on anything all that grizzly. While there are a few spots of blood at the crime scenes that you have to point out, it's nothing all that disturbing - certainly a mile away from the grizzly murders of something like LA Noire. Instead, the most graphic part of the game is when you examine a body and find ligature marks around their neck, which proves they've been strangled. That said, it's nothing worse than what you'd see on daytime TV. There's some slight innuendo in the form of a conversation between DiNozzo and McGee, as McGee comments on a murder that took place in the early hours "Why do bad things always happen in the middle of the night." to which DiNozzo replies "Good things happen at night too, McGee. One day. Never stop hoping."

Sadly, there's no room for multiplayer in NCIS 3D - as an entirely single player, story driven game, the most parents may find is that they may get called on for help with a puzzle.

Age Ratings

Format Reviewed: Nintendo 3DS