I'd've loved it if this had been around 15 years ago.
Because it would've fit perfectly into THE SECRET OF MONKEY ISLAND and the rest of that series.
For those of you who never played that game (for shame!) you took control of a pirate called Guybrush Threepwood and he gets into a sword fight, but you fight using insults. Your pirate enemy insults you and you have to pick the right insult to win.
For example,
"You fight like a dairy farmer."
"How appropriate, you fight like a cow."
And there were always some wrong answers like "Oh... oh yeah?" and the infamous, "Look behind you! A three-headed monkey!"
The third game wasn't my favorite, but I like how they recycle the insult swordfighting concept.
Guybrush is onboard a ship at sea when he draws his sword --- all excited and stuff because he DID beat the Sword Master at insult fightintg --- he replies with a completely incompatible insult from the first game: "How appropriate, you fight like a cow!"
And of course, the man he's fighting is completely exasperated and says, "When you're at sea, your insults have to rhyme!" And as such we get verbal gems like these:
"Heaven preserve me! You look like something that's died!"
"The only way you'll be preserved is in formaldehyde."
And:
"You're a disgrace to your species, you're so undignified!"
"At least mine can be identified."
Bass said:
So, I think the Caruso thing would've worked. You'd have a detective who tells you what the crime scene is and you have to pick the right one-liner.
"His body was cut up into fifteen pieces and left in fifteen different dumpsters."
And you'd pick:
"Then all we've got... is pieces of the puzzle."
"Gee. That's harsh."
"Look behind you a three-headed monkey!"
If you get it right... YEAAAAH! blares through your monitor.
I've played the CSI games, actually and YES, this is exactly what they need.
It should just be an entire game of one liners from the beginning to the end.
As Horatio Caine, you don't do any detective work AT ALL. Just like on TV.
You just one-line your way into getting people to spill the beans and one-line your lab analysts into working.
In fact, everyone at the crime lab will NOT do anything but play Warioware on the Nintendo DS if you don't one-line them.
Best TV to game adaptation ever it would be, no?