Indigo Prophecy

Argue all you like, but adventure games are alive and well in their present state. Even though there’s hardly room for growth, developers appear to be making adequate reparations in order to market their products. This may not be the ’Lucas Arts’ vision of success, but there are plenty that are carrying the torch proud:  Funcom, Quantic Dream, even Capcom have secured respectable Metacritic standards for the anthropomorphic ‘Zack and Wiki’. I suppose we’ll be working with Quantic Dream’s vision for growth today- as their million dollar baby, Fahrenheit, made it onto Xbox Live Originals earlier last year.

Fahrenheit’s repertoire is a work on the commonly applicable doomsday predictions, and pits regular Average Joe ‘Lucas Kane’ in quite the predicament: In an East Side diner bathroom, he has brutally murdered a bystander without even being consciously aware he did it. The game enables you to control two detectives investigating the murder ‘Carla Valenti’ and ‘Tyler Miles’, in addition to Lucas himself- With the interface composed of a scheme similar to the ‘FREE’ system utilised in ‘Shenmue’; actions can be carried out by moving the analogue stick in a mannerism similar to their on screen representation. While some features, such as dialogue trees, do not use this method- the majority of the content, even combat, uses this technique. But I suppose this is where one of Fahrenheit’s follies arise, the controls feel too rigid- you’ll find yourself walking into walls often, and this doesn’t help when some actions require precise timing.

Fahrenheit dubs itself an ‘Interactive Cinematic Experience’, and for the most part, I believe it seeing as the Gameplay feels indiscriminately shallow- but even so, that’s not to say that Quantic Dream have been remiss from any standpoint. The story deals with a number of drastically different themes, like: Science Fiction, Mystery and Horror- all are executed  remarkably well. Infact, early on in the game, you’ll find yourself deeply sympathising for each character’s wellbeing due to their charisma. Leading me to another point of praise: the voice acting is remarkable.

A feature that differentiates itself from the majority of the commercial adventure games on the market these days, is the inclusion of a ‘Sanity Meter’. The character being controlled will deal with a number of events, and this will be met with a positive or negative effect on their disposition- forcing them to deal with a number of emotions, such as: Depression, anxiety and tenseness. If not monitored appropriately, this could possibly drive your character to the point of suicide, or in the Tyler or Carla’s case giving up on the case altogether. The Sanity Meter, and your character’s actions, can potentially differentiate the story ark in future episodic instalments within the game. An example of this comes to fruition from the beginning, how Lucas deals with covering his tracks from the crime. Depending on the outcome, this will lead the authorities to believe whether he is either a lunatic or a cold premeditated murderer.

Perhaps the most enticing thing about Fahrenheit, bar none, is its wonderfully coherent presentation. Seeing as Quantic Dream have access to the motion capture technology ‘Immortal (Ad Vitam)’, the character’s animations are remarkably fluid; a similar technology was used in their, less popular, previous title ‘Omikron: Nomad Soul’. But from a design standpoint, the majority of the skyline bares a striking resemblance to their real New York counterparts- even the fictitious areas still are remarkably life like.

I don’t quite know how to summarise Fahrenheit without conforming to it’s glowing qualities, and not forgoing it’s shortcomings in the process- but suffice it to say,  £10/$20 is immeasurable value for this Interactive Cinematic Experience. Fahrenheit does little to follow it’s predecessor’s gameplay mechanics, removing all intended combat entirely, utilising the aforementioned FREE system. But you can’t begrudge it on that accord, considering the experience itself has proven deeply immersive. If you’ve never experienced Fahrenheit, I’d strongly recommend an Xbox Live Originals purchase; the emulation stays true to the source material.