Indigo Prophecy

"Whoops! Looks like you eradicated any hope of cinematic video games being taken seriously!"

Introduction: Fahrenheit, (also known as Indigo Prophecy), is a remarkable new step in the way gaming can be perceived and interacted with. Originally released in October 2005, Fahrenheit attempted to reach new heights with the adventure gaming genre, delivering an engaging storyline, non-stop action, and tense situations. But of course the most innovative aspect of Fahrenheit is it's ability to create a movie like environment that never feels awkward or out of place, you are in charge of making the decisions, and that's the way it's going to be from the moment you pick up the game.

Game-play: Despite being a ‘movie', this game won't for one minute take you out of control. This can be seen as a blessing or a curse, on the one hand you have full control of your character and what they do, but, on the other, you may feel that sometimes you just want to sit back and watch a cut-scene without hammering the L and R buttons. And on that point, most actions in the game are carried out with simple combinations using the controller, so this game really isn't for people who like smashing the face off passers-by. It does require patience, but the storyline should keep even the average gamer playing. The game isn't particularly difficult, whenever you DO lose, it feels more the games fault than yours, and his can add an element of frustration into what should be a linear game. There are other difficulty levels, but these only seem to change, for example, the reactivity rate of pressing L and R in mini-game situations. As you can imagine, all this does is make the game more frustrating.

Story: This is where the game should excel . . . You start off in (a frightfully cold) New York city, at a small diner. Your (first) character, Lucas Kane, is in the bathroom. He twitches and squirms, and in a sort of ‘trance' sequence, attacks and murders another customer who was in the bathroom. The moment after killing the man Lucas reverts back to normal, seeing what he has done, he panics, and comments that he really had no control over himself. From this point on, you control the main characters in the game, firstly Lucas, as you attempt to cover up the murder scene and not get caught by a policeman who just so happens to be eating at the diner. After this, you control the detectives working on the job, Carla and her colleague. This is a very interesting idea, and your actions really do determine how the crime is solved. It is an odd thing however, as you actually know what's happened, so some players might not like the idea of running around trying to prove to some video game characters “whosedunnit”. While the story does have an interesting premise, it's not long before the story flies wildly out of control; something I feel completely ruined the game for me. I can't really talk about it as it contains spoilers, but it does turn into a ridiculous b-movie style storyline. I think this game could have been amazing, if they had kept it on the ground, and let it be what it was meant to be, instead of making it some ‘monumental' event in the history of the entire world. And as is necessary at this point; Purple Clan from Outer Space? What the hell? Just to make this point clear, some people claim this game has the best storyline ever in video game history. I completely and utterly disagree; the storyline starts off wonderfully, but ends up being unnecessarily stupid. It's not long before the whole thing becomes embarrassing.

Graphics/Sound: The voice acting is actually well done . . . Well for a video game. I wouldn't say it's the best ever, but, It's good for what it is. All the main character's voices seem to be just right; Lucas's voice especially is quite well done. The lip sync is often frightfully off, however, and Tyler's mouth movements actually become confusing. He returns to some kind of creepy smile after talking, making some scenes just look goofy. There are some great motion capture examples in this game, which all fit in very well and are quite nice on the eye. The basketball mini-game for example is more fun just to watch because of its complex movements. I found myself intentionally losing a few rounds just to see extend the sequence further, the same goes with the boxing sequence. Depending on what version of the game you get, there are some sex sequences and nudity, which were removed from the American version of the game (If I'm right). I would say to those gamers you're not really missing out, these scenes are awkward and quite gritty, they're quite unnecessary and sort of out of pointless. I think it may have been included for bragging rights, really.

Playtime/Replay Value: The average gamer would finish this in two sittings, unfortunately. It really is quite a short game. Most players seem to say it can be completed in 6 hours, and once you've completed it, there really isn't much point in playing it again. There are quite a few endings, but all of these seem to be the same characters motion with different backgrounds and a voice-over.

Scores
Game-play – 7/10
Story – 5/10
Graphics/Sound – 9/10
Playtime/Replay Value – 3/10
Overall – 6/10

Final Recommendation: This should be considered by the more avid of players who feel a need for a different direction in gaming. But when it's over, it's kind've over . . . I would easily recommend a rent, this game can easily be finished in that time without evening having to rush it.

It's a shame that a game with so much potential isn't all that fun to play, even though It seems to have been well thought out, there were just some massive flaws that didn't reflect what an innovative game Fahrenheit is. Let's just hope another game of this type will do better . . .

Reviewer's Score: 6/10, Originally Posted: 12/26/05