What is In the 1st Degree?

Even if you didn't get hooked on the O. J. Simpson trial, there’s a good chance you'll get sucked into Broderbund’s high-tech courtroom drama, In the 1st Degree. This interactive adventure mixes intrigue, suspense, psychology, and a dash of cynical humor in a slick package that’s nearly irresistible. When you play In the 1st Degree, you see the world through the eyes of an attorney working a complex, high-profile murder case. Your job isn’t to determine who-dunit — art-gallery owner James Tobin freely admits he shot his partner. As prosecutor, you need to systematically disprove Tobin's claim of self-defense so you can win a first-degree murder conviction.

More than any game we’ve played, In the 1st Degree has the look, feel, cinematography, and pacing of a high-quality television drama. Emmy-award-winning producers, working with professional actors, state-of-the-art digital-video techniques, and a first-rate script, bring new realism to the genre of interactive fiction.

There are no cardboard computergame characters here; the players in this drama have emotional depth and humanity, Witnesses react realistically to your questions, and their responses vary depending on your style of questioning. Only by successfully playing on the psychological quirks of each witness can you uncover the full story...

A television news team shows up between scenes to provide one-dimensional “expert analysis” and commentary. Their superficial pontification provides wry humor to balance the dark drama as it unfolds.

Our first game started as a solo effort, but by the time we reached the courtroom, six of us were crowded around the Mac, loudly arguing over legal strategy.

Even with our family’s best legal minds on the case, we were barely able to score a second-degree conviction, and post-trial TV commentators wasted no time roasting our performance. Undaunted, we tried again and watched how the trial unfolded differently with each new strategy. Finally we returned, armed with the official $19.95 strategy book, and landed a solid first degree conviction and a dramatic ending that exceeded our expectations.

We only encountered one minor conflict; we had to unplug the QuickTime Power Plug extension before we could play. But a helpful dialog box pointed out the conflict in advance.

The Last Word In the 1st Degree is a technological tour de force. If interactive TV is the future of home entertainment, In the 1st Degree takes a big step toward that future.

Beekman, George, Beekman, Ben. (April 1996). In the 1st Degree. Macworld. (pg. 80).

Download In the 1st Degree for Mac

Architecture

68K + PPC (FAT)

System Requirements

From Mac OS 7.0

Compatibility notes

Minimum Requirements

• MC68030 @ 25 MHz
• 8 MB RAM
• 3.5 MB hard disk available
• 640 x 480, 8-bit color display
• 16-bit color recommended
• 2X CD-ROM drive
• System 7.0.1

Emulating this? It could probably run under: Basilisk II