Vars
August 1st, 2005, 01:28 PM
Indigo Prophecy (or known as Fahrenheit outside of North America) is an upcoming action/adventure/thriller game being developed by Quantic Dream and being published by Atari.
The game unveils in two stories basically. The first story is of Lucas Kane, a seemingly unknown man till he "accidentally" murders an innocent person in cold-blood at a diner. While in the bathroom, he enters a trance which he sees a girl reaching out to him asking for help, and then murders a man. After the murder, he comes back to reality and sees what he has done. As he tries to find out what happened, he'll uncover the "Indigo Child" and what the prophecy has in store for him.
The other story is of two detectives, Carla Valenti and Tyler Miles, who are set to investigate the murder and presumably track down Kane.
The game is an adventure game at heart, providing such themes as "cat and mouse" and "the hunter vs. the hunted" and adapting movie-like qualities from "The Fugitive". The game will have the player switch between both Kane and the two detectives. As it starts out, you'll see a cutscene of Kane murdering the innocent citizen. After the scene, you'll play Kane, and you have to figure out what to do.
A demo was released a few weeks ago (direct link (ftp://ftp.download-center.com/international/fahrenheit/fahrenheit_demo_europe.zip)) and it gives you a taste (albeit short) of how the game will play. After the cutscene, you're in the bathroom, in which you can look around (right mouse button switches camera positions, left mouse moves the camera) and walk around using the arrow keys. There are plenty of interactions you can do with the environment. Interacting brings up some small keyboard/mouse puzzles you have to do, called PAR (Physical Action Reaction), featured in games like Resident Evil 4. For example, hiding the dead body in the stall requires you tapping the left and right arrow button rapidly and opening a door requires you to hold down the left mouse button and drag your mouse to the right. After you do what you want to do, you leave the bathroom and you'll be in the actual diner. In the diner, there are more things you can do, for example pay your tab, don't pay it, use a phone, use a jukebox, just walk out, etc. After a while, a cop will go the bathroom (depending on how much time you spent even if you're still in there or not) and will eventually discover what happens. When he's going to the restroom, the screen switches to multiple panels, one panel focusing on him going and the other one you, featured in the TV show "24". The demo only features that much.
As from what previews generated and how the game will continue to play, based on what you did while as Kane, you (as the detectives) will now decipher the crime scene for clues and such. So as Kane, you can hide the body, wipe up the blood, wash your hands, but if you forget to do something important, while playing the two detectives, you can pick up on one of those aspects. If Kane used the phone, one of the detectives can trace the call. If the blood wasn't wipe up, the blood can be sent back to the lab for analysis. This type of gameplay is shown throughout the 44 levels.
Another feature the game has is a little meter showing the character's mood or attitude throughout the game. As the three characters, there will be many different opportunities that can affect your character's mood and if you decide to keep it up or down, it'll have dramatic effects. In the demo, after the murder, Kane's mood gets a big hit and is in the "depressed" stage. Doing actions like hiding the body, washing your hands and using the jukebox will higher your mood while freaking out and talking to the cop will lower it.
The demo also features a teaser movie, a brief "making of" video and an introduction done by David Cage, CEO of Quantic Dream, in-game.
In a sense, you can get the feeling of, "If I do everything from both point of views, I can cheat and just screw one side over." Well, Quantic Dream promises that there's no wrong choice. In a quote from the August 2005 issue of "Game Informer", Cage describes this.
There is no wrong choice, there are just different stories. By their actions, players just define the story they want to tell. Lucas' decision will determine the plot and the consequences. Of course, depending on their choices, the players will see a specific scene or another, or may even toally miss a scene."
The musical score is done by Angelo Badalamenti, who worked with director David Lunch on such films like "Twin Peaks" and "Mulholland Drive". The demo gives a snippet of what the score is like and I have to say, it's pretty well done.
As for July 21st, the game has gone gold, and holds a release date of September 9th. It's set for a release on PC, Xbox and PS2. Screenshots and more information can be viewed on the official site (http://www.atari.com/indigo/).
Quantic Dream's only other game to date is Omikron, released in 1999 for PC and PS. Getting decent reviews, QD recently announced of a sequel in development for PS3, PC and Xbox 360.
This was written by me. Information taken from the game's official site, my experience from the demo and the August 2005 issue of "Game Informer
The game unveils in two stories basically. The first story is of Lucas Kane, a seemingly unknown man till he "accidentally" murders an innocent person in cold-blood at a diner. While in the bathroom, he enters a trance which he sees a girl reaching out to him asking for help, and then murders a man. After the murder, he comes back to reality and sees what he has done. As he tries to find out what happened, he'll uncover the "Indigo Child" and what the prophecy has in store for him.
The other story is of two detectives, Carla Valenti and Tyler Miles, who are set to investigate the murder and presumably track down Kane.
The game is an adventure game at heart, providing such themes as "cat and mouse" and "the hunter vs. the hunted" and adapting movie-like qualities from "The Fugitive". The game will have the player switch between both Kane and the two detectives. As it starts out, you'll see a cutscene of Kane murdering the innocent citizen. After the scene, you'll play Kane, and you have to figure out what to do.
A demo was released a few weeks ago (direct link (ftp://ftp.download-center.com/international/fahrenheit/fahrenheit_demo_europe.zip)) and it gives you a taste (albeit short) of how the game will play. After the cutscene, you're in the bathroom, in which you can look around (right mouse button switches camera positions, left mouse moves the camera) and walk around using the arrow keys. There are plenty of interactions you can do with the environment. Interacting brings up some small keyboard/mouse puzzles you have to do, called PAR (Physical Action Reaction), featured in games like Resident Evil 4. For example, hiding the dead body in the stall requires you tapping the left and right arrow button rapidly and opening a door requires you to hold down the left mouse button and drag your mouse to the right. After you do what you want to do, you leave the bathroom and you'll be in the actual diner. In the diner, there are more things you can do, for example pay your tab, don't pay it, use a phone, use a jukebox, just walk out, etc. After a while, a cop will go the bathroom (depending on how much time you spent even if you're still in there or not) and will eventually discover what happens. When he's going to the restroom, the screen switches to multiple panels, one panel focusing on him going and the other one you, featured in the TV show "24". The demo only features that much.
As from what previews generated and how the game will continue to play, based on what you did while as Kane, you (as the detectives) will now decipher the crime scene for clues and such. So as Kane, you can hide the body, wipe up the blood, wash your hands, but if you forget to do something important, while playing the two detectives, you can pick up on one of those aspects. If Kane used the phone, one of the detectives can trace the call. If the blood wasn't wipe up, the blood can be sent back to the lab for analysis. This type of gameplay is shown throughout the 44 levels.
Another feature the game has is a little meter showing the character's mood or attitude throughout the game. As the three characters, there will be many different opportunities that can affect your character's mood and if you decide to keep it up or down, it'll have dramatic effects. In the demo, after the murder, Kane's mood gets a big hit and is in the "depressed" stage. Doing actions like hiding the body, washing your hands and using the jukebox will higher your mood while freaking out and talking to the cop will lower it.
The demo also features a teaser movie, a brief "making of" video and an introduction done by David Cage, CEO of Quantic Dream, in-game.
In a sense, you can get the feeling of, "If I do everything from both point of views, I can cheat and just screw one side over." Well, Quantic Dream promises that there's no wrong choice. In a quote from the August 2005 issue of "Game Informer", Cage describes this.
There is no wrong choice, there are just different stories. By their actions, players just define the story they want to tell. Lucas' decision will determine the plot and the consequences. Of course, depending on their choices, the players will see a specific scene or another, or may even toally miss a scene."
The musical score is done by Angelo Badalamenti, who worked with director David Lunch on such films like "Twin Peaks" and "Mulholland Drive". The demo gives a snippet of what the score is like and I have to say, it's pretty well done.
As for July 21st, the game has gone gold, and holds a release date of September 9th. It's set for a release on PC, Xbox and PS2. Screenshots and more information can be viewed on the official site (http://www.atari.com/indigo/).
Quantic Dream's only other game to date is Omikron, released in 1999 for PC and PS. Getting decent reviews, QD recently announced of a sequel in development for PS3, PC and Xbox 360.
This was written by me. Information taken from the game's official site, my experience from the demo and the August 2005 issue of "Game Informer