Indigo Prophecy consumes you into it's dark, mysterious, engaging atmosphere and draws you in like no other game before.
I got a copy of Fahrenheit (here in Australia) and was excited to get started right away. The game itself is told like a story by a man who is your main character, Lucas Kane, and throughout the game he explains his ordeal.
Lucas begins his story about the night in a diner in the city of New York where his life was about to transcend into mayhem. It starts off in the bathroom where a moderate old man is cleaning himself at the mirror, not noticing behind in a toilet you, Lucas Kane are about to murder him. As Lucas is approaching the man he is acting psychotic, yet you see glimpses of a unknown in a robe surrounded by candles performing your exact movements, acting as he is possessing you. After you murder the old man in a Dark Ritualistic fashion you come back to your senses and wonder what has happened right in front of you. Lucas stresses quickly that he has done this act and needs to escape. Now it’s time to take action.
At the menu before you start was a option for a Tutorial which is Strongly Recommended because the controls are different than usual so it's suggested you take the Tutorial for first time players or you may be stuck at the start unless accompanied by someone who has played it.
This game is all about decision making, and within those decisions is time which gives you only a certain amount to decide what you want to do. Soon as you’re in control you have a given amount of time to get out of the Diner and escape. Options arise such as hiding the body, cleaning the blood off the floor, hiding the murder weapon, washing the blood off Lucas or simply just run out of the bathroom and out the back door. Decisions do matter as they affect you later on, so it's important to think rationally and don't jump the gun, although it is timed so you also can't dawdle.
As time dwindles down further, the screen will split into two to three smaller screens and you will see events start to happen around you. This can be best referenced to the TV series of '24'. One example is when you’re in the bathroom; the cop at the front of the diner gets suspicious so he gets off his seat and starts walking to the bathroom. During this the screen splits into two, one with the cop, and your current screen. You are still in control at this time but instead you’re watching two screens. Usually also at the top above the split screens is a time bar which decreases right to left showing you exactly how much time is left. If the bar diminishes then times up and depending what, where, or either you at your either safe, or the story’s over.
The Cinematic cut-scenes before, after or even during playing the game are really well done with the camera movement. As i said before you can refer this to the TV series of '24' ; the split screens and close-in cut scenes and just part of what the makes the game dark, mysterious, action packed, scary. There are many elements in this game which should be enjoyable. Lucas is not the only character you only play with, after you escape the diner you get to play as two cops, Carla & Tyler. Just like Lucas you get to make decisions and have their own personal path of events. Their job however is to find the murderer of the diner which we all know who is since we just played with them. Lucas must find out what is happening to himself and who is doing it while evading the cops, he has no choice but to be a fugitive. When playing with Carla or Tyler you have dialogue which could lead, or mislead Lucas to being the murderer but then that decision is up to you. There are also some others characters which you get to play a small part with but Lucas, Carla & Tyler are the main characters.
At times when you perform an action a small bar will appear at the bottom corner of the screen, this is called is mood indicator which is important because it shows what kind of mood your character is, whether they are stressed or just neutral. Throughout the game you will need to keep this high as you can at all times because during sudden events your character may get negative, and so their mood bar decreases. If the mood bar decreases all the way down your character dies and thus ends the story. You can increase your mood bar by dialogue or with items, however this may also cause it to decrease so choose wisely what you decisions you make. Another interesting part in Indigo Prophecy is the 'key press & bash button' events. It may sound annoying but it is part of what makes the game unique. The Key "Press" game happens when a action-heat event is about to occur. A "Get Ready" message will appear followed shortly after by a four colour direction button screen. One colour will highlight and you must press that key. After a sequence of colours will highlight and you must push the correct direction to be successful. Failure can either lead to loss of life, or the end of the story.
The "bashing button" game is also when a action-heat event occurs but this time you have to push a sequence of two keys (usually left & right) as fast as possible to get the meter bar high as you can. Higher means a more possibility of achieving the event.
Throughout the game, you may spot sparkling, yellow cards which will show a +5, +10, +20 message. These are terra cards which help you unlock the bonus feature on the main menu. To unlock features in the bonus menu you collect these cards in the game and spend their points on unlocking each feature. There are more than enough cards so don't worry if you forget a few on the way. Bonus features include soundtrack, picture gallery, Bonus movie clips and interaction action scenes.
Now for the low down...
Gameplay is great. With so many decisions to make with so little time and different circumstances there is much you can do. Also the fact there are three different endings to the story plus sequences of events you would have missed playing it first through. People might not like the mini games throughout the game however, opinion wise it's a good fit for the game.
Now for Graphics. People stipulate that the graphics aren't that great, I disagree. If turned on low settings it may seem a bit standard but on high it looks great, there is much difference in detail between low and high settings and most people should be able to run Indigo Prophecy on high settings. The game has low graphic system requirements.
The Music from Angelo Badalamenti is well made. He's composed great, mysterious, chilling even one or two funky music pieces and slotted them well for each environment and atmosphere. Lucas’s Theme is mostly heard but though it is a suitable piece for almost every area he plays in. My personal favorite. The Character voices are well suited to each character. I love the voice of Lucas which i believe is suited best and Carla and Tyler sync in well also. My Favorite voice character though is the 'Mysterious Robe' (I won't mention his name to spoil) guy who i believe has one of the most best evil voices I’ve ever heard, I Love his dark, deep voice.
Now for the negative points. A lot of people have said that the game is too short finishing it within a mere 10-12 hours, which is true I finished it within that time so I don't condemn that. Also about the story where it seems to trail off about two-thirds of the game which I also agree with. The mini games being too hard, especially for PC which i somewhat agree. I never particularly had trouble with it, but I can understand for others. The uncensored version which I got does contain nudity and several sex scenes so this game may not be for kiddies but i believe older teenagers should be able to live with it, it is not so bad, I’m not complaining. Beyond that there is not much too be negative about, so stay happy! Re-play value is a high. As I mentioned, the game has three possible endings, each decision to leads to different events so different choices through the second time will still be new. You should be able to play Indigo Prophecy through a good three times to explore everything so the short game query shouldn't dismiss you as much.
At near best Indigo Prophecy/Fahrenheit is one of the top games for 2005, most definitely the best adventure so if you enjoy adventure, even a little creepiness because there are some creepy moments I suggest you find your nearest outlet, get a copy, and start playing!
Thank you for reading....