"Great concept, sloppy execution"

Indigo Prophecy (called Fahrenheit in Europe) is a unique game that combines drama, cinematic action, and point-and-click style adventure. Sounds good? Yeah. But there are many flaws marring what could have been an unforgettable experience.

Gameplay: 3/10

One of the most famous aspects of this game is the decision-making options you have. At the beginning of the game, you gain control of yourself standing over the corpse of a man you didn't really murder. You're supposed to protect yourself: hide the body, hide the murder weapon, clean up the blood, wash your hands of the blood, pay your bill and act like nothing happened before leaving. But guess what? If you just leave and run out the back door with your hands still bloody, it doesn't make any difference whatsoever. All roads lead to Rome--there are no more than minor variations in dialogue as the result of your earlier actions. As long as you make it from chapter to chapter with a moderate amount of your mental health remaining, the rest is inconsequential.

Worth mentioning is the bonus points scattered throughout the game, in the form of cards. Presumably this is to increase replay value, and force you to explore. Well, it does that, but this mainly succeeds in detracting from the cinematic aspect of the game. There's one point in which, hungry and tired, you scour an apartment for food, and the game does a good job of putting you in this desperate moment. Then, "Ooh! I found a bonus card in the cabinet! Score!" Furthermore, there's really no reason to hunt down all those cards. When I finished the game, I had enough points to buy every bonus feature and still had over 60 points remaining... plus, there's an easy way to earn unlimited points once you've completed the game.

Control: 4/10

Your character controls are pretty clunky (it spoils some of the game's cinematic feel when your character swerves all over the room as if (s)he's drunk), although that's forgivable in a game of this nature. The action sequences consist of three types of minigame: one that simulates fear/nervousness or concentration, one that simulates stamina, and one that simulates trying to keep calm. All three are simple, yet brilliantly force the player to feel the emotions that the designers wanted to evoke. Unfortunately, there are so many of these, and they all (especially the first one) use the same mechanic, so it starts to get repetitious and frustrating after a while.

Another aspect of which the designers were very proud is the way you "control" every action of your character. If you tilt the analog stick slowly, your character opens the door slowly. At least, that's how it's supposed to work. In practice, if you tilt the stick slowly, your character performs a portion of the action, then hesitates awkwardly, then continues. For some actions, this looks just plain idiotic--tilt the controller slowly while sitting down, and you could end up impossibly suspended in mid-air.

Then there's the camera. In some scenes, it is in fixed positions, and the R1/L1 buttons cause it to switch between those positions. In others, the camera rotates freely. Why it doesn't rotate freely everywhere, when every area is fully 3D, is a mystery to me. It can be very difficult to navigate at times; I continually found myself walking into a bathroom when I intended to go through a different door.

Graphics: 7/10

The designers put a lot of work into this game. They used motion capture for every character action in the game. The guy using the urinal in the restaurant? They motion captured that. (I don't want to think about the sex scenes.) Every environment is fully 3-D rendered and highly detailed. The downside: the graphics quality just isn't that high. It's pretty low-end for a PS2 game, even compared to launch titles. Again, great ideas, but the result just doesn't shine.

Music/Sound: 7/10

I found none of the music to be especially memorable, although none of it detracts from the moment. Other reviewers have disagreed, so take that for what you will.

Story: 7/10

The plot starts out gripping, and you just want to keep playing to unravel the mystery. It continues like that for the bulk of the game. Then the ending falls apart. Many of the mysteries you were dying to have explained just aren't, and at least one mystery is explained, but the explanation is bizarre and nonsensical. One gets the feeling that either the authors wrote themselves into a corner, or time constraints forced them to finalize the script before they had time to really go over it.

Replay value: 3/10

As I mentioned before, the replay value is an illusion. When you finish the game, you think that if might be fun to go back and make some different decisions (even if it means repeating those blasted action sequences), but once you try this for a little while, it becomes clear that your decisions never did have any consequences. This is one of the greatest disappointments of the entire game: coming to the realization that you've been led by the nose the entire time and didn't even know it.

Buy or Rent?

Renting is a great option, as there's no reason to own this game. You can easily complete it during a rental period (it's less than 20 hours long), and there's little reason to replay. On the other hand, you can buy it used pretty cheaply (I got my copy for $10 US), and if you trade it back in, that's about the cost of a rental anyway.

I will say that it is worth a rent. The cinematics are great (if a bit fuzzy), 90% of the plot is engrossing, and it gives you a real emotional ride. Disappointing in the end, but I'm glad I played it.

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 04/12/07