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Excellent

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 4
Date: September 24, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I recently purchased this game for the PS2, though I wanted it for XBOX. The graphics aren't mind blowing anyway (they don't need to be) so it doesn't really matter what system you get it for. Just get it. The story and gameplay are all top notch. Being an adventure game, there are "puzzles" but not in the tradition sense. Since the game is set in the real world, all items and puzzles are things you would find and use in the real world in a real fashion. You won't be killing a giant wolf to find a magic amulet or pixel hunting, you'll be using your brain the way a normal human being does. As for replay value, the jury's still out on that. Being an adventure game, it does have a fairly linear story, but the overwhelming number of choices you have in your actions and dialogue really do affect what path you take. I've only been playing the game for about 5 hours and already I can think of 8 or 9 things I would have done differently. A definite must rent for everyone, and a definite must by for gamers with more mature, discriminating tastes.

Terrific melding of video games and movies

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 18 / 20
Date: September 26, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Note: I own the Xbox version of the game. From what I've seen, the two games are about equal in terms of graphics so my review should be accurate for the PS2 version as well.

There have been games throughout the years that have truly done something original, different and completely engaging. It always seems to be that these games fall by the wayside in terms of popularity which is a shame. Indigo Prophecy falls into this category as an original game with a fantastic premise and incredibly exciting gameplay.

Never before have I played a game that was so interactive in its story-telling. When trying to describe this game, I would point to God of War, a PS2 game in which there were scenes where you have timed button presses that would move forward a cutscene. It helped bring you into the story, the cutscenes so that it was you that were doing all of the cool acrobatic manuevers killing the hydra. Another game that used this to a lesser effect was Resident Evil 4, for example with the knife fight that you had to push buttons to keep Leon safe. Indigo Prophecy takes this idea and pushes it to the extreme.

IP is basically and incredibly interactive movie. It mixes the adventure genre, which is seldom seen on console, and movies and melds them into a cohesive and incredibly engaging story. It starts off with a bang as you immediately find yourself killing someone you don't know in a diner. You feel like you're not in control of your actions and as a result you have a body in a restroom and a policeman drinking coffee in the restaurant. What do you do? You're free to act from here on out. Do you leave the body and rush out? Do you hide the body? What about the blood? What about the blood on you? What about the knife? When you leave do you pay your bill? You can take care of all or none of the options above. And the story will be different, sometimes marginally sometimes drastically. Oh, and by the way, that cop sitting outside needs to use the restroom and soon the screen will split and you better be out of there before he makes it to the restroom.

This opening sequence exemplifies everything this game is about. Choices, story and gameplay all merged into one. But innovation doesn't end there. As soon as Lucas (the murdering protagonist) is free of the diner, you take control of two police detectives who investigate the scene. You can switch between the two on the fly and you have to find clues, make theories and basically do everything in your power to catch Lucas. Its this give and take gameplay, where you have to play one side against the other, that truly gives the game a sense of urgency and excitement.

Going back to the God of War example, when you have cutscenes in this game, you better not put your controller down. Gameplay pushes forward the story-centered bits as well. Whether its doing a simon says type control scheme to manuever your character past cars that are hurtling toward him, alternating between the L and R trigger as fast as you can to save someone who's drowning or using the R stick to make dialogue choices on the fly (you're timed) to hear all you can, the game makes sure to bring you into the story. Its very effective and really ratchets up the tension.

If there is one sore spot in the game its the graphics. While not bad, exactly, they don't necessarily push the Xbox in the way that this last year of Xbox life should. It looks like a first or possibly second generation Xbox game. Artistically the game is good. The characters in the cutscenes move really well and realistically. And there is never a moment of lag or skipping seen in a lot of games today. The character's faces have some nice emotion to them and the graphics aren't stellar, like I said, but they do a decent job. There's a ton of aliasing, however, which is sad.

Another sore spot is the controls. When you are in direct control of your character (i.e. actually moving them as opposed to having control of the cutscenes via button pressing) the game is pretty loose. It reminds me of playing the old Resident Evil games. You have the cinematic camera which causes some confusion as to which direction you should push your character. As a result, you will do a lot of figure 8s in the game which can cause a lot of problems when you have to hide the evidence because a cop is at your door and the timer is going down. Character animation while moving is also very stiff and a big difference from the cut scene animation.

The audio is terrific, however. While the box says the game does not run in 5.1 in game, I think it lies. My receiver lights up whenever 5.1 is being used and its always lit with this game. And it sounds like 5.1 is being used. The voice acting is absolutely wonderful and professional. Each voice matches the character and it helps enhance this feeling of playing a murder mystery movie. With voice acting becoming so important in games today, this is most welcome and really helps sell the game. Musically, the game also excels by using the very talented Angelo Badalamenti to score it. That name might not mean much on the outset but he has created scores to many Hollywood movies including most by David Lynch (Lost Highway, Mulholland Dr., Twin Peaks) but also Dark Water, Arlington Road, etc. The score is absolutely beautiful and moving; it really fits in with what is happening on screen.

What this game does best is meld the story-telling of a movie with the gameplay of video games. It exposes the limitations of both and yet uses the best of both to create an engaging, moving and very interactive story. For me, this game is a perfect building block for video games. I can overlook most of its flaws because it is so different, so exciting and so damn cool. It warrants a 5 star review simply because of what it did. I would most heartedly recommend this game to those who love a good story, like action adventure games and want to be impressed with what video games and movies can accomplish together.

Different than I was expecting...but in a good way.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: September 26, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I would like to point out, before we go any further, that I am a huge Silent Hill fan and I purchased this game solely based on the fact that it seemed a lot like my favorite series. It isn't much like Silent Hill at all, but now that I've played it all the way through, I am not disappointed in that at all.

It begins much like any survival horror game. You wake up, and discover that, oh no, you've killed someone. And why have you done this? You have absolutely no idea. And that isn't the worst part. You spend the rest of the game (or at least the next two-thirds of the game) covering for what you've done. Of course, you'd love to look into, say, the reason why you committed this crime, but much of your time is spent running from the police, hiding evidence and so forth.

This is where the game gets creative. You not only play your main character, Lucas Kane, but you also control the two detectives who are responsible for catching you and tossing you in the nearest prison, or rather, mental institution. I found this fun, especially since I knew exactly where I had hidden all the evidence, although I think I kind of screwed myself in this one part while making a composite sketch of the murderer (me). I made it exact, and then when one of the detectives came to question me, he knew exactly who I was.

It's all in the little details, you see. Every action, and I mean EVERY action makes a significant difference in what happens to all of your characters.

And then, there's your mental health, a very important factor that is reminiscent of the same feature from Eternal Darkness, although it isn't nearly so integral. All of your characters are stressed out, especially Lucas, who can't seem to get a grip on reality ever since he became a murderer. It's all the psychic visions, I think, but he seemed like an unstable guy to begin with. Just keep all your characters as calm as you can. Give them water. Let them sit down for a second. There's no need to rush...unless your being timed, which you usually are.

The gameplay itself is innovative, and I have to say that overall I approve of the new techniques that were explored. You do move your characters with the classical analog, pick up items and move things around in much the same manner as any other action oriented game, but there's a lot more that you'll have to become familiar with if you want to make it past the first scenario. I strongly suggest that all players, even the most seasoned, make use of the convenient tutorial offered at the beginning of the game. Now, even I was hesitant to use this feature, but trust me. I was so glad that I did.

You never truly have to fight your boss battles. The game uses a strange sort of Simon Says system by placing two dials in the center of the screen. You move your analog sticks up, down, left, or right, to mimick the flashing lights, and, presto! Your character survives, dodges, jumps out of the way, or does whatever it is he has to do in order to not die. It simplifies the gameplay immensely, and the patterns never become too complex or too quick to follow. It's almost like watching a weird movie.

Another less innovative but still mentionable facet is yet another creative use of the right analog stick. You move it according to the choices presented to you at the top of the sceen in a conversation, interrogation, ect. You are also timed, so move the stick quickly, or the game will choose your answer or question for you, and usually it picks the most suspicious or useless choice available. You'll also use this to do things like climb, open doors, sit down, turn on computers, look at stuff...yeah. It's real important, but it never varies, and you will get very used to it.

Now, here are the downpoints, and these are only the things that stick out to me after having beaten it. Firstly, while I love the idea of making the action sequences based on your movement of the analog stick, I rarely got to see what was going on with my characters in moments when I was having to copy the commands being shown. The problem is in two parts. You have to copy the patterns in a timely manner, and depending on how quickly you repeat them determines whether you pass or fail. So I am heavily concentrating on watching the pattern and executing it through my two analog sticks. Meanwhile, all the action is happening but I'm too busy to watch. This wouldn't have been such a big deal, but you only have to do the analog controlling DURING the most important and exciting scenes in the game. And the second part? The dials are right in the center of the screen! Even if I did want to look up for a split second to watch my character act out what I told him to do, there's these two big dials right over all the action.

The second downpoint isn't nearly so important as the first, but it is worth mentioning. I bought the game from my work, around four o'clock in the afternoon, and I immediately went home and played it, until about midnight. I woke up the next morning, played on the computer for awhile, and then picked the game back up around three pm. It is now 7:20 pm, and I am writing this review. I just wish that it had been a little longer. This isn't to say that the plot is short or boring. Trust me, it isn't. The game that I started to play in the very beginning almost seems like a completely different game than the one I finished. Major character development, and a plotline worthy of an eighty hour RPG. I was HOOKED. I could barely put it down to go to sleep, and even the most frustrating parts didn't chase me away for a break. I cared about Lucas Kane.

Overall, I would definitely tell you to buy this game if you are at all interested in doing so. The game gets mildly frustrating at times, especially when you realize that you have to play each and every scene over and over again until you get it right, but even in that there is some fun. You never run out of replays, so you have as many opportunities as you need to become familiar with your surrounding. The game is never boring, and even though I missed all the good parts because I was too busy making them happen, you unlock every scene in the bonus features when you beat the game. So I've already watched everything I missed.

And just so you know, there is an opportunity to make your characters woohoo (sim language: sex!) But only one, so good luck finding it! It's relatively hard to miss, but I bet you'll never guess which characters.

And a side note to all of you who hate timed missions.This game is full of them, but fear not, for they are all easy enough to be completed in a few tries, and you are rarely forced to watch the same dialogue over and over again. I've had a deep seated fear of time based gameplay ever since FF8, and Indigo Prophecy has helped me admit to my fears, which is the first step towards recovery. Tom Clancy, fear me! I am no longer afraid!

Cinematic Gaming At Its Best!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: September 26, 2005
Author: Amazon User

So many games have attempted to bring a cinematic experience to the video game medium. This game actually is a movie (the main menu says "Play Movie"), but the interactivity that "Indigo Prophecy" features is truly awesome.

Lucas Kane, just another New York citizen, enters in a hypnotic trance, and murders another man in the restroom. When he snaps out it, he realizes what a brutal murder he's just committed. After escaping the diner, police inspectors Carla and Tyler investigate the crime. I refuse to reveal any more than that for two reasons. One, I'm a purist who hates spoilers.

But more importatnly than that, what happens in this game is, mostly, up to you. What questions do you want to ask? How successful do want to be in combat? Writer-director David Cage claims that you control the story. Well, you do and you don't, but more on that later.

So how does one play a game that's a movie? The best way to sum it up is that one-half is third-person gaming, while the other one-half is actually a collection of mini-games with a story beings used to drive the experience. To comment on the latter, you will participate in timing-based exercises. For example, when Tyler and another cop play a basketball game, you won't play as if it's a traditional NBA game. Instead, two compasses will appear in the middle of the screen, and you will have to push on the analog sticks in the direction(s) that light up. Do it right, you score in very cool fashion. Do it wrong, and you get schooled by the nerd. You will always be using the controller, and very rarely just watching. The whole game is a collection of cutscenes that have slight variations depending on how attentive you are. I don't want to give away much more than that, but this game will always throw something new at you.

The other half of the game is played in a traditional third-person perspective. You will interact with a lot of your surroundings, and with it comes more choices. Want to turn on your radio while solving the mystery...suit yourself! Feeling like playing a guitar instead of gettings some sleep...go for it! Don't feel like saving that drowning kid in the lake and risking being noticed by the cops...don't! To be fair, these portions of the game are very clunky in controls, but they work well enough.

The voice-acting is superb, and Angelo Badalamenti's music score is very memorable. Also, some licensed tracks made their way into the game. Most of them are actually cool beats and hip-hop songs, instead of modern rock (though there are a few of those).

So what's not good about this revolutionary experience?
I have a few problems, and one huge one! My little quibbles are that the third-person controls could've been smoother, the few stealth-portions in the game aren't much fun, and the the graphics' framerate gets choppy (especially in the PS2 version). Because the tale is so captivating, you won't care too much, but these problems are there.

Here's the big complaint: This game's goal was to allow the player to control the story. As I said, for the most part you do, but the plot is painfully obvious about what it wants you to do. In the game "Deus Ex", when you made certain unwise choices, your experience wasn't ruined, but instead forced you to find alternatives. There are some sequences in "Indigo Prophecy", mainly the ones where you ask questions, where you get the feeling that you're not 'controlling' the story, but instead putting little variations on it. For example, you getting caught by the police doesn't change the story, it downright ends it with an inner-monologue saying "I'll never know..." Well, who wants that ending? I respect that David Cage had a vision, and wanted gamers to complete a game, but what about more branching paths? Because it's not as free-forming as the creators have claimed, I kind of felt a little disappointed.

Don't get me wrong, this is a top-notch character-driven tale that I won't forget; "Indigo Prophecy" is a great story that I would gladly revisit because it has redefined rrelationship between the gamer and the story. As a rookie-critic, I'm giving the game an overall 4 stars because of its technical merits. But I had so much fun with this game before it was all over. Once in a while, a game comes along and redefines genres. This is one of them, and I eagerly await to see what kind of impact this game has...

A great concept translated well

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 20 / 20
Date: October 04, 2005
Author: Amazon User

So I receive my copy of Indigo Prophecy last week and I can't help but be intrigued by all of the hype about playing a "movie". I'd read the reviews on the gaming sites and I kept saying to myself that this is an awesome concept if it can be pulled off right.

It's been done right. From the onset you know you're controlling something truly different. The tutorial will walk you through the basics, as this game play like no other. Basic movements, slight shifts of the right analog button and you;re controlling every slight action the character has from opening a refrigerator to closing a window.

You start the game as Lucas Kane, but you dont know that. basically you're the murderer in a restaurant killing and the police are now after you. You manage to escape, but now the entire story unfold in a very detailed, very story oriented fashion.

Split screens, flashbacks, odd lighting and off the beaten path chapters make this game unreal. You play through the eyes of a few characters, and some acts may have you simply pouring some coffee and heading to work, or having a workout in the gym, but overall everything you do affects the storyline somehow.

As the game progresses you have tons of mini games which can feel frustrating or reptitive, but they downright make you sweat as you help one of the characters do what they need to do.

You almost always get the feeling that something is lurking behind you or about to flash before you and sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesnt. But everytime you get chills from every corner.

This game is downright addictive, I've played it just about through in my first week, and I never do that.

Not so good

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 2 / 14
Date: October 14, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I didn't like two things of the game: the graphics, they were rudimentary, and the game play, to me, very slow.

An interactive movie

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: October 15, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Have you ever shouted, "Why the hell did you say that, you idiot!? Now they'll know for sure that you killed that guy!" at the TV screen while watching a movie, getting dirty looks from everyone else who's trying to watch the movie? Well, now you can come up with your own answer. That's what Indigo Prophecy is all about - making important decisions during dangerous situations within a few seconds. The first choices you get to make are right after you (Lucas Kain) cut your wrists and then kill an innocent man in a restroom. There's a cop in the same restaurant as you, and at any moment he could decide to use the toilet. How will you hide the evidence of the murder? And will you do it quickly enough so you can get out of the restaurant before anyone finds the body? What will you tell people about the wounds on your wrists?

The system works like this: you have multiple choices during dialogue and certain situations. You have to pick the right one to convince people to help you, convince people that you didn't kill anyone, etc. You only have a couple of seconds to comprehend the question, read the answers, and pick which one will work. The answer you choose sometimes affects the plot drastically, causing you to get arrested or causing people you care about to die. It's worse if you run out of time before making a choice. Then you might blurt something out like "I wasn't at that restaurant," when no one mentioned the murder in the restaurant, which completely gives you away.

Another speed test is the Simon-type reflex game. If you're in a dangerous situation and you have to dodge flying objects, or you're trying to read someone's mind so that you know how to answer to their question, two color pads will appear on the screen. You have to move your analog sticks in the direction it shows to succeed, and you only have a second to react. A small problem with this game is that, sometimes the sequences drag on too long, like a boss that just won't die. You have to concentrate, so it can get tiring. If you mess up, you have to start all over again. That can be a little frustrating.

In this game, you get to play as each of the two cops working on this case, and Lucas Kain, the accidental killer. You take turns playing each one. They have their own personalities, abilities, and lives, which makes for an interesting story.

A fairly unique feature is the stress meter. When something upsetting happens to your character, the meter goes down. If it goes low enough, the character will give up or commit suicide, resulting in a game over. You can eat, drink, rest, contact friends, etc. to increase the meter.

I had a few small problems with this game. There is an "Otherworld" that you can occasionally see into, which is inhabited by ghostly green bugs. These bugs range in size from the size of a penny to the size of a car. That doesn't seem very creative to me. They make it out like the Otherworld is a pretty horrible place, but all you see are radioactive cockroaches. I just think that they could have come up with something better. Another issue is that one of the powerful, evil people in the Otherworld sounds like he has inhaled helium. It sounds funny, which seems out of place in this type of game. These don't affect the game too much, so it's no big deal.

I enjoyed playing this game. It was like a book I couldn't put down. Some parts are spooky. For example, one of the cops investigating the murder goes to a mental asylum to visit someone who was involved in a case similar to this one. The power goes out and the electronic locks on the doors malfunction. All of the psychopathic killers come out. It's dark, there's maniacal laughter, and the guy who was with you just got attacked. You have to sneak out without alerting the inmates to your presence. How exciting! Each new scene had something interesting happening. There weren't beautiful cutscenes, but the overall graphics were good. The music added to the atmosphere. I recommend this game.

Great concept but over rated game.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 0 / 5
Date: October 22, 2005
Author: Amazon User

Well first off to play this game is totally unique which is the games biggest plus but if your looking for a long lasting challenge then this game isn't for you since I only bought Indigo Prophecy (or Fahrenheit as it is called here in the UK) Thursday and completed it Friday with a pretty poor two endings with the only real difference between the two being a few lines of dialogue and the background and the bonus material isn't that impressive and the only challenge I found in the game at all is simple reflex work with little to or zero thought involved.

The good news is that the ending does hint at a sequel which would be good since the impression I got is that Indigo Prophecy was more of an experiment then an all out game and hopefully another installment is made which is more challenging then the first with a more concrete plot, the sudden love story here is totally out of the blue and the final quarter of the plot felt totally rushed.

My advice to people buying Indigo Prophecy based on the reviews here or else where is don't beleive the hype or you may be very let down.

Masterpiece!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: November 14, 2005
Author: Amazon User

This game is completely refreshing.
New ideas from the creator of the game ,David Cage about the gameplay! This is the first time, that a game is really "cinematic". Yoy feel like you are IN the story, you don't only play your character, you are there..
The music is by A.Badalamendi, so its amazing and atmospheric!
The graphics are very good with nice style and fancy. And the expressions of the characters in the game.. I loved ths game and I didn't want to finnish it.
I recommend to everyone who wants to play a well structured game, to try somethnig new BUT succesful.
Its not for you if you think that video games is just shooting monsters!
Thank you for the new experience David Cage!

Excellent Game, Not for Buying

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 3
Date: November 21, 2005
Author: Amazon User

I'm going to start out by saying that this is probably one of my all-time favorite games. It resembles an adult-oriented Choose Your Own Adventure book (remember those?), of which I was a fan way back when. This game was a breath of fresh air compared to the more generic games out there today.

The storyline in this game is complex, and the script is very well-written. It plays out very dramatically, with you influencing the outcome through the decisions you make. There are three final endings, not to mention the countless sub-endings you can get throughout the game for screwing up. The game gives you a strong sense of control, as you get to pick what your character will say during conversation and what your charcter will do in a situation (hey, that rhymes), and every decision you make changes the scene. There's also some action thrown in to very the gameplay. The cops are comming to check out your girlfriends apartment. Where do you hide? After picking a place, you must perform a series of timed thumbstick movements to keep your cool and prevent yourself from sneezing. Situations like that make the game what it is.

Every scene in the game is motion-captured, with top of the line voice acting. It would feel like a real movie if it wasn't for the graphics, which are very lacking for a game of today's standards. That's not to say that the graphics take anything away from the experience, they just could have added more.

As you complete scenes, you can replay them to see how they'd go if you'd done something different. Also, there's a variety of extras to unlock if you can find bonus cards throughout the game. These include funny extra scenes (all the characters from the game dancing in a parking lot, for example), concept art, making-of movies, and songs from the soundtrack.

The only drawback I find in the game is its length. I finished it entirely in a weekend: every ending, and all the bonuses unlocked. As good as it is, I don't recommend buying this game. Instead, rent it. It won't take that long to complete.

All in all, this is an excellent game that allows you to shape the storyline however you want. It's a game to play at night in a comfortable chair, wrapped in a thick blanket with a cup of cocoa at your side. You'll want to savor every moment, and experience it in the most plesant way possible. I cannot praise this game enough.

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