Indigo Prophecy is a game that needs to be imitated and badly.
Indigo Prophecy is, literally, an interactive movie. It begins with protagonist Lucas Kane exiting a trance in which he murdered a stranger in a restaurant restroom. The player controls Lucas right after he realizes what he's done, and the player must decide how he makes his getaway, and ultimately piece together what has just happened. As is the case for the rest of the game, players will then switch over to control detectives Carla Valente and Tyler Miles, who have been charged with solving the aformentioned murder. The game has players controlling the three above characters in their day to day lives (and the occasional secondary character and flashback sequence.
The story is a murder mystery made all the more intriguing in that you're alternating control between two forces working against each other. Lucas Kane is attempting to solve the mystery of what has happened to him while dodging the police, and at the same time, you'll control the police trying to catch him. It does add a bit of tension in that you'll have to assist in the hunt for the very person you're controlling, but it is also rewarding to make advances in the case.
Prepare to know these characters very well, as you'll be controlling their day-to-day tasks. Feed their meals, go to the washroom, go to sleep, make phone calls, every mundane deed in their lives is under your control. You'll use the right analog stick to more or less simulate the motion of opening doors, climbing or whatnot. The game encourages making slow motions to recreate the feel of the task in question, but that isn't necessary. What you do or don't do affects what happens later in the game, and most of what happens is up to you. However, you will be required to watch over your character's sanity meter, which measures his or her mood, for if it sinks too low, your character snaps and it's game over. Brining your sanity up can involve anything from grabbing a drink to solving a mystery.
The right analog stick is also used in conversations. When prompted, you'll have a limited amount of time to respond in a conversation, and you can only make a select few choices in a conversation. Some choices are merely for information, while others will affect what happens later in the game. While the time to read your choices can be a bit short at times, it does keep you on your toes. The choices you make both in life and in talking to others has an effect on what happens later on in the game.
Indigo Prophecy handles its action sequences in a similiar manner to the way Shenmue handles action sequences. In a throwback to Simon, the game has you recreating the on-screen action by moving the two thumbsticks in the directions that the screen prompts you to. Other sequences recreate a struggle by having you alternate pressing the left and right triggers as fast as you can. The Simon...system, works great in giving you a feel of what's happening on screen. The struggle sequences aren't so fun, because of the Xbox controller's deep triggers, your index fingers will be left rather sore.
And that sums up the gameplay of Indigo Prophecy. Despite the seemingly mundane nature, Indigo Prophecy does not get stale, as the game always keeps you interested. The game succeeds in keeping the player intrigued. You'll always want to keep playing to uncover piece after piece of the mystery. The characters are fleshed out, whom you will become attached to. While Tyler Miles often falls a bit too closely in the token-black-guy role, such a complaint is minor, as he does succeed as the game's comic relief. Even though the game finishes in 6 hours give or take, which is normally considered short by most standards, you will clock in a lot more time replaying the game, going over various decisions you didn't make previously to see what happens. The included bonus features that you can unlock, such as brief making-of movies, concept art and the soundtrack, aren't a huge deal but they are nice to have.
The graphics in Indigo Prophecy can be best compared to Max Payne. The character models lean barely the blocky side and some of the effects can look a bit hokey in comparison to the Half-Lifes and Metal Gears of the world. However, the game succeeds with flying colors when it comes to atmosphere. The enviroments are very down to Earth and believable, and the game always captures the right mood, whether it's having fun at a hockey rink or alone and paranoid in an apartment. The motion capture is exceptionally done as well, and you'll get a kick out of the game's action sequences. The game's menus are designed to look as if you're watching a DVD.
As one would hope for a cinematic-heavy game, the voice-acting in Indigo Prophecy is top notch. The game relies on narration provided by whomever you're controlling, and the script does a great job of getting you inside of their heads. The game does deliver a great ambiance in it's use of background sounds. The soundtrack, should you ever activate a stereo or what not, consists of a variety of licensed music that matches the personality of your character, but with a particular favoring for Canadian rockers Theory of a Deadman, the most uninspired band of all time, but at least they fit in the game's context.
Indigo Prophecy is game that needs to be imitated and badly. This is a proper take on creating an interactive movie, complete with excellent storytelling and atmosphere. It's extremely accessible, and made for older people than the target audience of most games, and they would do well to play this. At the same time, that shouldn't discourage gamers from this original title. This is a game that stands out in a crowd of trigger-happy FPSs and street-cred hungry underground racing games and one that should start a genre in itself.