Indigo Prophecy

"A ridiculous storyline takes away what little entertainment the game may have provided"

Indigo Prophecy (also known as Fahrenheit, all depending on where you live) is a game where a man named Lucas Kane has murdered someone while seemingly possessed one night while in a diner bathroom. From there on it's up to you to decide his fate through playing as him and a few other characters as the game progresses.

Game Play:
To progress through this game, you need to find out what happened to Lucas that made him kill that man and try and track down Lucas while playing as the cops trying to solve the murder. This usually involves you finding clues hidden in parts of the level or talking to someone who may have some insight on what happened. While doing this you'll usually get a cut scene where you have to either hit your left and right triggers simultaneously or moving your left and right thumb sticks in the direction shown on the screen. Failure to complete this usually results in death or a sanity loss.

While on the topic of sanity, I should mention that everything you do in this game affects it. For example, cleaning your hands of the blood of the person you just murdered increases your sanity while examining the victims body reduces it. I think if your sanity reaches the bottom you end up killing yourself. I never got it that low (it's not exactly hard to remain emotionally stable if you use logic). So pretty much anything that would potentially upset you hurts your sanity, while things that might relax you or make you feel better fix it.

I must discuss this game's story. The concept sounds pretty good so far, doesn't it? It is good, but then later in the game, it gets just plain ridiculous. What had the potential to be great, gets turned into a joke. I honestly was wondering how in the hell they thought this would be good and not laughable. I literally was laughing at most of the stuff towards the end because it just got so fake and sci-fi.

I'd go into better detail, but I doubt you want me to spoil it. Later you will be encountering Matrix-esque fighting scenes where your character is apparently now such a badass, gravity no longer applies. He's just that awesome. Ugh. It's such a joke that this game prides itself in it's story when it turns into what it is at the end. It seems that the writer's got bored halfway through and they thought:

"Hey, you know what would be badass or completely laughable, I'm not sure which....But wanna know? Okay, hear me out. You get powers. Like super strength, flying, and psychic powers that you can create energy balls with and send towards enemies! Oh, oh! And we could write some Ninja's in there, too. Ninja's kick ass."

"Ninja's do kick ass... But that's just crazy. Ninja's are too much, let's leave that part out. But let's keep it in mind for like a sequel or another game or something. Because we all know: Ninja's>Pirates."

"Totally."

Graphics:
Yet another disappointment in this game. The character models are very blocky and dated looking. Even the environments look just okay at best. Everything's bland and boring. The character's movements look semi-realistic. I'd comment on the cut scene's, but they just use the in-game graphics engine.

Sound:
People who say this game has great voice acting have apparently never played a game with good voice acting. Examples would be Mafia and Jade Empire. Everyone's (and this isn't an exaggeration) delivery is flat in this game. The emotion in their voices never change no matter the situation or conversation they're in. Whoever recorded Lucas' voice sounds like they just woke up after being slipped some Rohypnol. Overall, average.

What background music there is sounds nice, but nothing memorable. Theory of a Deadman's "Santa Monica" plays on Lucas' stereo, during cutscenes, and during the end. ...What, you say you don't like that song? Well, that just too damn bad then, isn't it?

Should you buy this game?
If you want a disappointing story with mediocre repetitive game play, then your local Gamestop has just what you're looking for! This game lasts about 5 hours. 5 very long hours at which towards the merciful end, you just wish it was over already. And it is.

Reviewer's Score: 4/10, Originally Posted: 01/25/06