Having failed in just about every way imaginable to make a good game with The Nomad Soul, David Cage realized the true meaning of the words "The only way to win the game is to not play". How this translates into Indigo Prophecy is an experience that is more of a suggestion of interactive storytelling which defines "interaction" into the most patronizingly condescending gameplay imaginable. Only David Cage can design a videogame whose primary method of interaction is Simon fucking Says.
Regardless, I may be inclined to agree with the design practices of Indigo Prophecy if this "minimalistic" gameplay method was in service of complex, multi-faceted, and masterful storytelling. But of course, Indigo Prophecy fails at that too, but perhaps the fact that it fails so spectacularly is what makes the game ironically entertaining as a result. The beginning hours are a slog of Cage's usually offensive portrayals of sex, race and violence combined with convoluted storytelling meant to give the impression of depth by means of confusion more than complexity.
But, after a glorious moment of what I can only describe as "enlightenment" the game makes a hard switch into stupendously over-the-top action schlock that is so non-sensical and so emotionally charged that it circles back into being a fun time, though if only because it's easier to laugh at the game than alongside it.
Go ahead, play it with a few friends and see what I mean. You may not regret it. Or just don't play it at all.
Regardless, I may be inclined to agree with the design practices of Indigo Prophecy if this "minimalistic" gameplay method was in service of complex, multi-faceted, and masterful storytelling. But of course, Indigo Prophecy fails at that too, but perhaps the fact that it fails so spectacularly is what makes the game ironically entertaining as a result. The beginning hours are a slog of Cage's usually offensive portrayals of sex, race and violence combined with convoluted storytelling meant to give the impression of depth by means of confusion more than complexity.
But, after a glorious moment of what I can only describe as "enlightenment" the game makes a hard switch into stupendously over-the-top action schlock that is so non-sensical and so emotionally charged that it circles back into being a fun time, though if only because it's easier to laugh at the game than alongside it.
Go ahead, play it with a few friends and see what I mean. You may not regret it. Or just don't play it at all.
This is one of the funniest things i've ever experienced
Me: Hmm, I'm going to play this old David Cage game. Can't be that bad.
David Cage: Sex QTE
Me: what
David Cage: Push the analog stick to FUCK
The thing about playing Quantic Dream stuff in 2024 is that we know it's not going to go well. Several years ago, it was possible to have a generous interpretation of David Cage's works by assuming he was just an eccentric man who adored movies and who was trying to make this new brand of adventure games work. QD's games are different from the norm, even if their quality is inconsistent and their content, often questionable. And yes, Cage does have a history of displaying an inflated ego in public, but one could excuse that as hustle from a person who has to confidently sell unusual ideas.
Of course, since the Quantic Dream lawsuits, looking at things kindly like that has gone from hard to impossible. It now is publicly known that the company is a cesspool, that its founders are crooks ("I'm not under oath, so can I lie?" is more unforgettable than any line in a QD game) and that the auteur at the center of it all is by no means a misunderstood genius, but a bigot and a jackass. Well, alleged bigot and jackass, one might say, as many of the cases are still on-going, but the problem is, the mere knowledge of what went on during those trials informs the consumption of the works and prevents any sort of charitable interpretation.
Why am I saying all this? Because Indigo Prophecy desperately needed a charitable interpretation.
Its opening is deceptively strong: The bathroom at a diner. A man inside the stall, shaking. Possessed by a cloaked figure. He gets up, opens the stall door. An older man, washing his hands. Doesn't see the first man walk up behind him. He falls to the ground and is stabbed, again and again. The murderer raises his head, his task done, and comes to his senses. His name is Lucas Kayne, and he will need the player's help in order to flee the scene without being caught.
Lucas is not the only playable character, however, as once he is home free, we cut to detectives Carla Valenti and Tyler Miles, who arrive at the scene of the crime to investigate the gruesome murder. These scenes very quickly and effectively establish a central mystery as well as a (criminally underused) cat-and-mouse game that our protagonists are about to play. There's tension and intrigue to work with, backed by surprisingly good voice acting for a game of its time, as well as an exceptional orchestral score by the late Angelo Badalamenti of all people.
All of which is wasted by the most worthless vision, starting with the thoroughly incompetent writing. Anyone who's read reviews for Indigo Prophecy has probably heard that the game falls off during the last third, and it must be clarified that those reviewers are overselling the story: in truth, the script's quality begins to decay almost immediately after the opening, completely jumping the shark by the halfway point. The final third is simply when time and money started to run out and plot points had to be compressed, but no investors or sequels could ever have saved such drivel.
To call the writing amateurish would be hyping it up: Indigo Prophecy is what one would get if they took an 11-year-old boy, took him to watch some of IMDB's top rated films, then asked him to pen his own movie. The result would likely be a jumble of incongruent themes and lousy plot devices, much like this one: Would you like a detective story, a supernatural one, or sci-fi? How about all three? Because IP is a game about mayans, AI, interdimensional bugs, the Force, the military, Dragon Ball fighting, visions, racist stereotypes, the Illuminati, getting impregnated by the undead, alien tech, secret societies of homeless people, irradiating the undead baby with the alien tech...
And that's not even mentioning the awkward rip-offs of famous and successful films: Silence of the Lambs, The Matrix, you'll know it when you see it. However, it's the power fantasy at the core of it is the most embarassing: Lucas Kayne is our 11-year-old's OC, a mediocre man at first that becomes The Chosen One, the almighty saviour of humanity, becoming ever more powerful in a barrage of scenes of escalating absurdity. Of course, he also gets to sleep with all the women, who for some reason find him irresistible.
Carla and Tyler, on the other hand, while initially promising to replicate the buddy cop dynamic from old police movies, become almost set dressing by the halfway point. Carla, in particular, has her personality and motivations entirely wiped by the end of the story in order to achieve a conclusion that's entirely centered on Lucas. There are three endings, entirely decided by the player's performance in the last scene, but whichever one the player gets, the story ends on an egregious note of Heavy Rain-grade bullcrap, and they're not even allowed the pleasure of an ending where everyone dies.
Speaking of Heavy Rain, as painful as it is to give any kind of credit to that game, Indigo Prophecy is the predecessor and it shows. The whole QTE gameplay was still getting figured out, and most of the scenes use this Genius-style UI that has you moving the analog sticks in the directions it shows to pass each scene. That it's garish is a given, but it's the nonstop prompts having nothing to do with the action onscreen that stings. In later games, there's far less inputs to perform and they all have something to do with the action and/or motion going on in the screen, fostering some sort of connection while allowing the player to watch what's happening.
Then again, early on in IP, you do push the analog stick forward over and over to make Lucas thrust into a woman, so maybe less connection can be good in some situations. It might sound like I'm making a big deal out of this, but it goes back to the idea of interpreting things charitably. Indigo Prophecy could maybe be written off as a camp classic if some credence could be given to its creators. Instead, the sex minigame reads as childish; the numerous movie rip-offs, "Citizen Cage" posters and "New Movie" instead of "New Game" in the main menu all register as pretentious slop; and the questionable depictions of race, gender and mental illness are perceived as intentional and heartfelt.
If anything, the fact that Quantic Dream got any investors for its later games after delivering this rubbish is a sign that, at the very least, they have some fierce negotiators among them. As a consumer, however, unless you need something cheap to point at and laugh for about five hours, then walk away from with fewer brain cells than you started with, Indigo Prophecy is an easy pass.
David Cage: Sex QTE
Me: what
David Cage: Push the analog stick to FUCK
The thing about playing Quantic Dream stuff in 2024 is that we know it's not going to go well. Several years ago, it was possible to have a generous interpretation of David Cage's works by assuming he was just an eccentric man who adored movies and who was trying to make this new brand of adventure games work. QD's games are different from the norm, even if their quality is inconsistent and their content, often questionable. And yes, Cage does have a history of displaying an inflated ego in public, but one could excuse that as hustle from a person who has to confidently sell unusual ideas.
Of course, since the Quantic Dream lawsuits, looking at things kindly like that has gone from hard to impossible. It now is publicly known that the company is a cesspool, that its founders are crooks ("I'm not under oath, so can I lie?" is more unforgettable than any line in a QD game) and that the auteur at the center of it all is by no means a misunderstood genius, but a bigot and a jackass. Well, alleged bigot and jackass, one might say, as many of the cases are still on-going, but the problem is, the mere knowledge of what went on during those trials informs the consumption of the works and prevents any sort of charitable interpretation.
Why am I saying all this? Because Indigo Prophecy desperately needed a charitable interpretation.
Its opening is deceptively strong: The bathroom at a diner. A man inside the stall, shaking. Possessed by a cloaked figure. He gets up, opens the stall door. An older man, washing his hands. Doesn't see the first man walk up behind him. He falls to the ground and is stabbed, again and again. The murderer raises his head, his task done, and comes to his senses. His name is Lucas Kayne, and he will need the player's help in order to flee the scene without being caught.
Lucas is not the only playable character, however, as once he is home free, we cut to detectives Carla Valenti and Tyler Miles, who arrive at the scene of the crime to investigate the gruesome murder. These scenes very quickly and effectively establish a central mystery as well as a (criminally underused) cat-and-mouse game that our protagonists are about to play. There's tension and intrigue to work with, backed by surprisingly good voice acting for a game of its time, as well as an exceptional orchestral score by the late Angelo Badalamenti of all people.
All of which is wasted by the most worthless vision, starting with the thoroughly incompetent writing. Anyone who's read reviews for Indigo Prophecy has probably heard that the game falls off during the last third, and it must be clarified that those reviewers are overselling the story: in truth, the script's quality begins to decay almost immediately after the opening, completely jumping the shark by the halfway point. The final third is simply when time and money started to run out and plot points had to be compressed, but no investors or sequels could ever have saved such drivel.
To call the writing amateurish would be hyping it up: Indigo Prophecy is what one would get if they took an 11-year-old boy, took him to watch some of IMDB's top rated films, then asked him to pen his own movie. The result would likely be a jumble of incongruent themes and lousy plot devices, much like this one: Would you like a detective story, a supernatural one, or sci-fi? How about all three? Because IP is a game about mayans, AI, interdimensional bugs, the Force, the military, Dragon Ball fighting, visions, racist stereotypes, the Illuminati, getting impregnated by the undead, alien tech, secret societies of homeless people, irradiating the undead baby with the alien tech...
And that's not even mentioning the awkward rip-offs of famous and successful films: Silence of the Lambs, The Matrix, you'll know it when you see it. However, it's the power fantasy at the core of it is the most embarassing: Lucas Kayne is our 11-year-old's OC, a mediocre man at first that becomes The Chosen One, the almighty saviour of humanity, becoming ever more powerful in a barrage of scenes of escalating absurdity. Of course, he also gets to sleep with all the women, who for some reason find him irresistible.
Carla and Tyler, on the other hand, while initially promising to replicate the buddy cop dynamic from old police movies, become almost set dressing by the halfway point. Carla, in particular, has her personality and motivations entirely wiped by the end of the story in order to achieve a conclusion that's entirely centered on Lucas. There are three endings, entirely decided by the player's performance in the last scene, but whichever one the player gets, the story ends on an egregious note of Heavy Rain-grade bullcrap, and they're not even allowed the pleasure of an ending where everyone dies.
Speaking of Heavy Rain, as painful as it is to give any kind of credit to that game, Indigo Prophecy is the predecessor and it shows. The whole QTE gameplay was still getting figured out, and most of the scenes use this Genius-style UI that has you moving the analog sticks in the directions it shows to pass each scene. That it's garish is a given, but it's the nonstop prompts having nothing to do with the action onscreen that stings. In later games, there's far less inputs to perform and they all have something to do with the action and/or motion going on in the screen, fostering some sort of connection while allowing the player to watch what's happening.
Then again, early on in IP, you do push the analog stick forward over and over to make Lucas thrust into a woman, so maybe less connection can be good in some situations. It might sound like I'm making a big deal out of this, but it goes back to the idea of interpreting things charitably. Indigo Prophecy could maybe be written off as a camp classic if some credence could be given to its creators. Instead, the sex minigame reads as childish; the numerous movie rip-offs, "Citizen Cage" posters and "New Movie" instead of "New Game" in the main menu all register as pretentious slop; and the questionable depictions of race, gender and mental illness are perceived as intentional and heartfelt.
If anything, the fact that Quantic Dream got any investors for its later games after delivering this rubbish is a sign that, at the very least, they have some fierce negotiators among them. As a consumer, however, unless you need something cheap to point at and laugh for about five hours, then walk away from with fewer brain cells than you started with, Indigo Prophecy is an easy pass.
When I watched the staff roll after finishing this abomination, I was absolutely, positively convinced of being considerably dumber than before.
Demastered version of the original. Pioneer in it's genre. Important game in the industry, but it can give you worse experience compared to the original. (uncinematic framerate, broken gamma control, pc controls being horrible, etc)
Also the whole game feels very silly when played today. Like watching the worst movie ever.
I still respect the game a lot.
Also the whole game feels very silly when played today. Like watching the worst movie ever.
I still respect the game a lot.
It started good but ended horribly. How can someone waste a potiential like this? Additionally, it cannot be considered as a remaster, nothing is improved.
Turkish:
Bunu alacağınıza gidin 8-10 tane sulugöz alın.
Turkish:
Bunu alacağınıza gidin 8-10 tane sulugöz alın.
Ok, este juego es mi placer culposo.
Es un interesante juego sobre cultos y la psique humana, mostrando tres puntos de vista que se relacionan casi en el Climax de la obra, aunque sin carecer de fallos, ya que la trama tiene mas agujeros que un queso suizo y existen un par de situaciones en las que no puedes evitar reír por lo watafac que son. Uno de los personajes que manejamos tiene una conclusión muy ¨XD¨. Y en términos de gameplay las mecánicas de ¨Simón Dice¨ esta mal implementadas, poniéndolas en medio de la pantalla muy grande, tapando las secuencias de acción para que no entendamos un carajo de lo que esta sucediendo y estemos mas concentrado en acertar los botoncitos de colores que prestando atención a lo que pasa. Y los niveles de sigilo de Lucas-chikito son de lo peor.
And I remember the day when you left for Santa Monica.
You left me to remain with all your excuses for everything.
And I remember the time when you left for Santa Monica.
And I remember the day you told me it's over.
Es un interesante juego sobre cultos y la psique humana, mostrando tres puntos de vista que se relacionan casi en el Climax de la obra, aunque sin carecer de fallos, ya que la trama tiene mas agujeros que un queso suizo y existen un par de situaciones en las que no puedes evitar reír por lo watafac que son. Uno de los personajes que manejamos tiene una conclusión muy ¨XD¨. Y en términos de gameplay las mecánicas de ¨Simón Dice¨ esta mal implementadas, poniéndolas en medio de la pantalla muy grande, tapando las secuencias de acción para que no entendamos un carajo de lo que esta sucediendo y estemos mas concentrado en acertar los botoncitos de colores que prestando atención a lo que pasa. Y los niveles de sigilo de Lucas-chikito son de lo peor.
And I remember the day when you left for Santa Monica.
You left me to remain with all your excuses for everything.
And I remember the time when you left for Santa Monica.
And I remember the day you told me it's over.
Senaryosu ilgimi çeken bi oyundu. Oynamak istedim ve yaklaşık 2 günde bitirdim. Şimdi ise düşüncelerimi paylaşacağım.
Senaryo iyi başlıyor ve gerçekten iyi ilerliyor. Hatta beni oyunda tutan şeyin senaryo olduğunu rahatlıkla söyleyebilirim. Son bi saatinde ise senaryoya bi boklar olmaya başlıyor. Bilgisayarın başında sövdüm resmen "Ne oluyor amk". Finali de ayrı boktan olmuş. Gerçekten bu kadar iyi ilerleyen bi oyuna bu final yakışmamış. Onun dışında oyunda tutacak denli bi senaryo var.
Karakterler için 2 tanesi hariç hiç biri ilgi çekici ve oynamasını isteyeceğimiz karakterler değiller. Fakat oyun oynamanızı zorluyor ve oynarken isteksizlik yaşayabiliyoruz.
Oynanış namına çok az şey var. Yürüme, kapı açma-kapatma, tırmanma vs. gibi eylemler ve quick-time eventlerdan oluşuyor. Genelde çok epik şeyler olurken siz ekrana gelen tuşa zamanında basmaya uğraşıyorsunuz bu hiç iyi olmamış.
Özetle;
Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy sağlam bi senaryo, boktan bi finale sahip, oynanış namına çok az şeylerin bulunduğu interaktif film gibi bir oyun. İyi bir senaryo içeren bi oyun arıyorsanız bakabilirsiniz.
5/10
Senaryo iyi başlıyor ve gerçekten iyi ilerliyor. Hatta beni oyunda tutan şeyin senaryo olduğunu rahatlıkla söyleyebilirim. Son bi saatinde ise senaryoya bi boklar olmaya başlıyor. Bilgisayarın başında sövdüm resmen "Ne oluyor amk". Finali de ayrı boktan olmuş. Gerçekten bu kadar iyi ilerleyen bi oyuna bu final yakışmamış. Onun dışında oyunda tutacak denli bi senaryo var.
Karakterler için 2 tanesi hariç hiç biri ilgi çekici ve oynamasını isteyeceğimiz karakterler değiller. Fakat oyun oynamanızı zorluyor ve oynarken isteksizlik yaşayabiliyoruz.
Oynanış namına çok az şey var. Yürüme, kapı açma-kapatma, tırmanma vs. gibi eylemler ve quick-time eventlerdan oluşuyor. Genelde çok epik şeyler olurken siz ekrana gelen tuşa zamanında basmaya uğraşıyorsunuz bu hiç iyi olmamış.
Özetle;
Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy sağlam bi senaryo, boktan bi finale sahip, oynanış namına çok az şeylerin bulunduğu interaktif film gibi bir oyun. İyi bir senaryo içeren bi oyun arıyorsanız bakabilirsiniz.
5/10
Sony looked at this game and was like "Yeah, we can let this team make more/bigger/better titles like this."
And I am STOKED they did, but oh boy, I don't understand why.
Truly an applicable "so bad it's good" game. I wish the controls still weren't all funky on the remaster.
And I am STOKED they did, but oh boy, I don't understand why.
Truly an applicable "so bad it's good" game. I wish the controls still weren't all funky on the remaster.
Many movies are described as being "so bad they're good", but that's much more rare for a video game. As an enjoyer of both I think that has to do with games being fairly long and interactive. The Video Gamer can't just sit back and enjoy the ride – they must engage with the mechanics. It can be difficult to extract any fun out of whatever is "so bad it's good" about a game if the moment to moment interaction with its systems is unenjoyable. Fahrenheit, though, is the moment David Cage realized he doesn't actually want to make video games – he wants to make movies.
The tutorial takes place at a movie set with an appearance from Mr. Cage himself, saying he's the director of the game and guiding you through the basic controls. There's an in-game news headline saying director David Cage has won an Oscar for the latest entry in his movie trilogy. The top option in the main menu isn't even "New Game", it's "New Movie".
Fahrenheit still meets the minimum of interactivity to qualify as a game. Even if most of that is just basic adventure game use-item-on-thing-puzzles and dialogue choices. The actually challenging gameplay sections usually make the player literally play Simon (like, the thing where you just repeat a sequence of colored buttons) to represent whatever action is going on. The other mode of active gameplay is stealth sections where getting spotted leads to an instant fail. I wish those were also just Simon.
The real joy is seeing Mr. Aspiring Hollywood Director David "David Cage" De Gruttola absolutely COOKING with the story for the last time in his career. It's a goofy 8 hour B-movie that keeps jumping increasingly larger and more toothy sharks until it's unrecognizable from the relatively subdued opening moments. Every single time you think it's peaked it surprises you 30 minutes later with some fresh new bullshit. Kino.
The tutorial takes place at a movie set with an appearance from Mr. Cage himself, saying he's the director of the game and guiding you through the basic controls. There's an in-game news headline saying director David Cage has won an Oscar for the latest entry in his movie trilogy. The top option in the main menu isn't even "New Game", it's "New Movie".
Fahrenheit still meets the minimum of interactivity to qualify as a game. Even if most of that is just basic adventure game use-item-on-thing-puzzles and dialogue choices. The actually challenging gameplay sections usually make the player literally play Simon (like, the thing where you just repeat a sequence of colored buttons) to represent whatever action is going on. The other mode of active gameplay is stealth sections where getting spotted leads to an instant fail. I wish those were also just Simon.
The real joy is seeing Mr. Aspiring Hollywood Director David "David Cage" De Gruttola absolutely COOKING with the story for the last time in his career. It's a goofy 8 hour B-movie that keeps jumping increasingly larger and more toothy sharks until it's unrecognizable from the relatively subdued opening moments. Every single time you think it's peaked it surprises you 30 minutes later with some fresh new bullshit. Kino.
absolute dogshit
Port on PS Vita.
Onde Heavy Rain, Beyond Two Souls e todos os games desse estilo ainda estavam no útero de suas mães (ou se pensar bem no "testículo" de David Cage), em 2005 existia o que pode se considerar como o pai (ou a mãe) de todos esses jogos, o grande Fahrenheit: Indigo Prophecy. Um jogo que deve ser muito valorizado por apenas existir, pois sem ele creio eu que não existiria ou talvez prolongaria bastante a existência de decisões em jogos e sendo assim tendo muitas outras obras sendo perdidas no processo. Eu poderia falar de cada parte específica desse jogo: a trilha sonora que eu pessoalmente acho incrível, a narrativa que é interessantíssima, tudo aqui é de se orgulhar e dizer que daria um puta de um filme cult de Hollywood, mas como nem tudo são flores a mecânica do jogo se ultrapassou um pouco com tanto Quick Time Event inserido nele, agora falando especificamente desse "Remastered", acho que é um dos mais porcos ja criado, só da Quantic Dream não portar ele para a nossa linguagem PT-BR já é um tanto decepcionante, mas além disso, nada aqui é novo de verdade nem mesmo os gráficos que nem polidos foram, o que eu vi foi só a mudança do logo para o da Quantic Dream no ínicio e alguns objetos com imagens de jogos atuais como Beyond Two Souls e etc, se pudesse nomear o Remaster mais inútil dos videogames acho que esse taria no Top 10, mas fora isso, o jogo é incrível e vale ser conferido, ah e vale sonhar em um Remake nos moldes atuais desse jogo, seria muito foda...
David Cage is a weird dude...
This review contains spoilers
I was enjoying the game... Until it went full Dragon Ball Z meets Deus Ex Machina.
Places where it could've been interesting it became totally predictable. A lot o' clichés are there:
☑ Incarcerated psychopath that sounds just like Hannibal
☑ Police officer falling in love with an apparently sensible murderer
☑ Some special girl related to some whatever prophecy
☑ Some special boy irradiated with some whatever substance unlocks whatever powers
☑ Protagonist being a pawn to an damn obvious evil plot he's totally unaware of
☑ "AI's gonna conquer the world" subplot
☑☑☑ Lots of murderous furniture
Places where it could've been interesting it became totally predictable. A lot o' clichés are there:
☑ Incarcerated psychopath that sounds just like Hannibal
☑ Police officer falling in love with an apparently sensible murderer
☑ Some special girl related to some whatever prophecy
☑ Some special boy irradiated with some whatever substance unlocks whatever powers
☑ Protagonist being a pawn to an damn obvious evil plot he's totally unaware of
☑ "AI's gonna conquer the world" subplot
☑☑☑ Lots of murderous furniture
I cannot believe someone willingly gave Cage money for his next project after this. I cannot believe I'm asking, begging even, to make David put LESS gameplay into his games.
Lucas, our main boy, wakes up in a restaurant bathroom after just killing a man while he was possessed by some shady dude. Police arrives and Lucas has to run, making this the start point of our investigation. Who was that dude? How was Lucas possessed? Why him? What's next?
Well. That was a two-thousand year-old mayan priest trying to find a kid that has the secret to everything. Lucas was possessed with the power of ancient mayan ritual because he won possessing lottery. Nothing. I'm absolutely not sorry for spoilers by the way, fuck Cage and fuck you if you unironically love this game.
So now we are in the story about supernatural cults trying to conquer the world. Turns out, Lucas was supposed to die right after murder because everyone who did it in the past went mad and killed himself. But Lucas didn't. Why, you may ask. Midichlorians. That's literally the answer our uncaged storyteller gives us. Bloody midichlorians. And now, because Lucas knows he has them, he can fly, kill people with his mind, dodge bullets, and do anything else that could come to batshit insane mind of David Cage. A little bit later in the plot a sentient AI appears from author's ass to... ... ... look, it appears to give us third ending, okay? So, we find the prodigal kid, and all three powers gather for one last final battle to learn the secret of the universe.
Obviously Lucas destroys everyone with his huge midichlorianic balls and absolutely fucking nothing happens. The end.
Obviously evil cult kills everyone with the power of two thousand year-old priest-ness-y and absolutely fucking nothing happens. The end.
Obviously a sentient AI made from pure energy easily kills everyone and humanity fucking dies. The end.
Considering this was David's first experience with movie-as-a-game genre, let's see what he has for us in gameplay department. Three difficulties, wow. First being the literal movie and the third being fucking exhausting. Just so you know, the game has five minutes long QTE sequences where one mistake can send you to the start. And the timing is everything but generous. I'm talking about hard, of course. Stealth segments are absolutely retarded where you can't believe anything you see until you tried and errored your way through. And the dialogue options locking other dialogue options making you wonder what the bloody hell is going on here are making me hollow.
Do not under any circumstances touch this abomination. Even with a three meter stick.
By the way, the remaster you're offered is a disgrace. It's basically an emulator on a disc with the PS2 game. Thanks for nothing, David.
Lucas, our main boy, wakes up in a restaurant bathroom after just killing a man while he was possessed by some shady dude. Police arrives and Lucas has to run, making this the start point of our investigation. Who was that dude? How was Lucas possessed? Why him? What's next?
Well. That was a two-thousand year-old mayan priest trying to find a kid that has the secret to everything. Lucas was possessed with the power of ancient mayan ritual because he won possessing lottery. Nothing. I'm absolutely not sorry for spoilers by the way, fuck Cage and fuck you if you unironically love this game.
So now we are in the story about supernatural cults trying to conquer the world. Turns out, Lucas was supposed to die right after murder because everyone who did it in the past went mad and killed himself. But Lucas didn't. Why, you may ask. Midichlorians. That's literally the answer our uncaged storyteller gives us. Bloody midichlorians. And now, because Lucas knows he has them, he can fly, kill people with his mind, dodge bullets, and do anything else that could come to batshit insane mind of David Cage. A little bit later in the plot a sentient AI appears from author's ass to... ... ... look, it appears to give us third ending, okay? So, we find the prodigal kid, and all three powers gather for one last final battle to learn the secret of the universe.
Obviously Lucas destroys everyone with his huge midichlorianic balls and absolutely fucking nothing happens. The end.
Obviously evil cult kills everyone with the power of two thousand year-old priest-ness-y and absolutely fucking nothing happens. The end.
Obviously a sentient AI made from pure energy easily kills everyone and humanity fucking dies. The end.
Considering this was David's first experience with movie-as-a-game genre, let's see what he has for us in gameplay department. Three difficulties, wow. First being the literal movie and the third being fucking exhausting. Just so you know, the game has five minutes long QTE sequences where one mistake can send you to the start. And the timing is everything but generous. I'm talking about hard, of course. Stealth segments are absolutely retarded where you can't believe anything you see until you tried and errored your way through. And the dialogue options locking other dialogue options making you wonder what the bloody hell is going on here are making me hollow.
Do not under any circumstances touch this abomination. Even with a three meter stick.
By the way, the remaster you're offered is a disgrace. It's basically an emulator on a disc with the PS2 game. Thanks for nothing, David.
This review contains spoilers
how much I'd pay to see the writing process for this game go from hardboiled thriller about murder to mayan matrix vampire Prophecy holy fuck
Jogo impressionante para a época em que foi lançado (2005) slc. Não é só inovador no estilo de gameplay e na narrativa interativa, como também nos visuais e apresentação cinematográfica. Críticas ao David Cage à parte, esse é um dos jogos mais bem produzidos do PS2.
game doesnt work amına koyim
I wish it wasn't so broken so I could play it. David Cage makes the funniest games.
"One of the Most Hilariously Awful Games I Have Ever Had the (Dis)Pleasure of Playing"
Oh. My. Goodness. This was one of the worst games I have ever played in my life. I am genuinely concerned as to what David Cage was thinking when he released this title. I loved Heavy Rain , and was excited to see what this game was about considering I had never really heard much about it before. I honestly don't even know where to properly begin, so I'll just get into a couple of talking points.
This game has awful controls. Movement feels clumsy and inaccurate, with characters stumbling around during timed action sequences without any controller input being read properly. Sometimes, when performing an action, the game will just cancel it as if it never happened. This caused me to fail a few scenarios, leading to me sitting through multiple cutscenes again and again.
The voice acting, writing, story, characters - whatever you want to focus on, they are embarrassingly terrible. Lucas Kane is a one-note, unremarkable, and annoying character. Carla Valetti is stereotyped into being a strong, responsible, and independent woman...until she becomes a sexual interest for Lucas, who is the main suspect she is trying to catch. Tyler Miles is an ignorantly designed portrayal of an African-American character, with funk music, basketball, slacking off, and sleeping with white women being his main attributes to his character (honestly, this was the most shocking of all three to me). Through all of this, David Cage and his team provide almost zero context into who these characters are. It's embarrassing.
The "Simon Says" styled quick-time events are so populated within the game, that I honestly think there are over an hours worth of them. Whether it is a scene where literally every object within Lucas' apartment is flung at him (requiring him to dodge them), to a completely out of touch/random basketball minigame, to Lucas becoming Neo from The Matrix , to a simple interrogation scene! All of these involve clicking on a pattern of buttons in order not to fail them.
However, the awful story is what did it for me. This game went from being a slightly intriguing murder-mystery, into a pseudo superhero-suspect simulator, into a supernatural crime drama! It never flowed properly by any means, and every character's limited personality traits were completely thrown out of the window. I had to give up after dodging bullets in slow motion, sliding under tanker trucks, and backflipping onto a moving train - this destroyed all sense of seriousness in a game I was already hating.
In conclusion, do NOT buy this game. It is a self-praising, shallow, and poorly executed experience. I do Not Recommend this to anybody. However, watching someone else suffer through it on Youtube could get you some enjoyment I guess.
It is a turd of a game. A cinematic turd, but a turd nonetheless!
Final Verdict: 2/10 (Bad)
Oh. My. Goodness. This was one of the worst games I have ever played in my life. I am genuinely concerned as to what David Cage was thinking when he released this title. I loved Heavy Rain , and was excited to see what this game was about considering I had never really heard much about it before. I honestly don't even know where to properly begin, so I'll just get into a couple of talking points.
This game has awful controls. Movement feels clumsy and inaccurate, with characters stumbling around during timed action sequences without any controller input being read properly. Sometimes, when performing an action, the game will just cancel it as if it never happened. This caused me to fail a few scenarios, leading to me sitting through multiple cutscenes again and again.
The voice acting, writing, story, characters - whatever you want to focus on, they are embarrassingly terrible. Lucas Kane is a one-note, unremarkable, and annoying character. Carla Valetti is stereotyped into being a strong, responsible, and independent woman...until she becomes a sexual interest for Lucas, who is the main suspect she is trying to catch. Tyler Miles is an ignorantly designed portrayal of an African-American character, with funk music, basketball, slacking off, and sleeping with white women being his main attributes to his character (honestly, this was the most shocking of all three to me). Through all of this, David Cage and his team provide almost zero context into who these characters are. It's embarrassing.
The "Simon Says" styled quick-time events are so populated within the game, that I honestly think there are over an hours worth of them. Whether it is a scene where literally every object within Lucas' apartment is flung at him (requiring him to dodge them), to a completely out of touch/random basketball minigame, to Lucas becoming Neo from The Matrix , to a simple interrogation scene! All of these involve clicking on a pattern of buttons in order not to fail them.
However, the awful story is what did it for me. This game went from being a slightly intriguing murder-mystery, into a pseudo superhero-suspect simulator, into a supernatural crime drama! It never flowed properly by any means, and every character's limited personality traits were completely thrown out of the window. I had to give up after dodging bullets in slow motion, sliding under tanker trucks, and backflipping onto a moving train - this destroyed all sense of seriousness in a game I was already hating.
In conclusion, do NOT buy this game. It is a self-praising, shallow, and poorly executed experience. I do Not Recommend this to anybody. However, watching someone else suffer through it on Youtube could get you some enjoyment I guess.
It is a turd of a game. A cinematic turd, but a turd nonetheless!
Final Verdict: 2/10 (Bad)
I feel like people only play this game as a joke.
this game sucks I love it
I think this might just be the dumbest game I have ever played.
Starting off with a now legendary opening, where as Lucas Kane you need to cover up a murder you unwillingly committed in a diner restroom, the game effectively immerses you in its story. The chosen setting, a snow covered New York, plays really well with the potentially supernatural murder mystery the game seems to be going for in the beginning. I also really enjoyed the fact that you get to control both the perpetrator and the two policemen chasing him (a plot device that would return in Quantic Dream’s later games). And that’s pretty much everything positive I can say about ‘Fahrenheit’.
Before I delve deeper into the disastrous plot (especially in the second half of the game), let me quickly go over the ‘gameplay’ side of things. This is pretty much a QTE-fest with very little actual interaction available to players. Many of those button mashing sequences are ridiculously long (vide Lucas’ visions), and in some cases they appear in places they have no business being in. Why are we forced to do quick time events during an interrogation? Is it because otherwise the players would realize how shallow and poorly written this scene is? There’s also a level where we’re forced to do a painfully slow QTE sequence over a character delivering lengthy exposition. What is the purpose of this? Were the writers afraid that otherwise the players would get bored and not pay attention? If so, I hope it was caused by the writers’ awareness of the poor quality of their work rather than lack of faith in the players’ ability to focus on the game when they’re not actively mashing buttons like a maniac.
The controls are horrible and often I’d get frustrated with the controlled character for going in the total opposite direction I needed them to go in. There’s a dubious lives system that I see no other reason for being here than because it’s something that apparently should be in a video game (even though this video game tries desperately to fool you into thinking it’s more of an interactive movie). There’s also a mood meter affected by the characters’ actions and it also plays no important role in the game (other than sometimes reaching a failstate and retrying the scene). It’s just a trick to give players an illusion that what they do has some bearing on the story (oh, you’re depressed because you killed an innocent bystander? Here’s a cup of coffee, that’s +10 to mood, chin up!). You get some bonus points for ‘exploring’, which is not difficult as the levels are rather tiny and easy to navigate. There’s no other point to exploration, though, unless you enjoy opening and closing empty drawers.
Every little action - opening a drawer, then closing it, opening a door, climbing up or down a pipe or wall - is needlessly long due to the creators’ choice to have the player move the right analog stick rather than simply press a button. At times it was simply infuriating, especially in the many sections where you’re working under a time constraint. Also, the two sections with Carla walking around the police archive and the psych ward where she needs to hold her breath are simply annoying.
Returning to the story, the game takes some time to completely jump the shark, but even before it does there are a lot of serious problems with the writing. The dialogue is mostly terrible and very cliched, the characters are either a wet blanket (Lucas), a pretty offensive stereotype (Tyler) or a woman with big tits that gets undressed by the devs on numerous occasions (Carla). Most NPCs show up only for short episodes and they’re not given too much time to be developed properly. The worst part, however, is that the characters seem like total idiots. They take forever to reach the most obvious conclusions or make decisions so baffling that they would surely cause a collective burst of laughter in a movie theater. An old cop didn’t arrest a killer on the loose because he saved a kid from drowning?! Carla, a detective with years of experience, falls without a single question for Lucas’ story about ancient prophecies and secret societies?!
Another thing: the game throws in so many different inspirations from (or sometimes even blatantly copies) famous movies and tropes that it’s truly hard to keep track. We’ve got a scary psychiatric hospital, a serial killer in NYC, the chosen child who was born to save the world, The Matrix-like combat scenes with characters flying all over the city, a noir crime story, Mayan beliefs, secret military bases, alien artifacts, secret societies, the apocalypse, premonitions, ancient prophecies, rogue AIs trying to take over the world, brain controlling microchips. This is a total mess and there isn’t a writer that’d make anything coherent out of this. It seriously feels like a parody, but I have a suspicion it isn’t one, simply because Quantic Dream lack the self-awareness required. If this was turned into a movie or a series, its only hope for any relevance would be reaching a cult classic status a la ‘The Room’. You can’t even use the argument that player’s choices force them down these odd paths as until the very end of the game there aren’t any choices affecting the outcome - all this talk about ‘giving players ability to choose their story’ is just a ruse, always has been.
Fuck this game for wasting 10 hours of my life.
Starting off with a now legendary opening, where as Lucas Kane you need to cover up a murder you unwillingly committed in a diner restroom, the game effectively immerses you in its story. The chosen setting, a snow covered New York, plays really well with the potentially supernatural murder mystery the game seems to be going for in the beginning. I also really enjoyed the fact that you get to control both the perpetrator and the two policemen chasing him (a plot device that would return in Quantic Dream’s later games). And that’s pretty much everything positive I can say about ‘Fahrenheit’.
Before I delve deeper into the disastrous plot (especially in the second half of the game), let me quickly go over the ‘gameplay’ side of things. This is pretty much a QTE-fest with very little actual interaction available to players. Many of those button mashing sequences are ridiculously long (vide Lucas’ visions), and in some cases they appear in places they have no business being in. Why are we forced to do quick time events during an interrogation? Is it because otherwise the players would realize how shallow and poorly written this scene is? There’s also a level where we’re forced to do a painfully slow QTE sequence over a character delivering lengthy exposition. What is the purpose of this? Were the writers afraid that otherwise the players would get bored and not pay attention? If so, I hope it was caused by the writers’ awareness of the poor quality of their work rather than lack of faith in the players’ ability to focus on the game when they’re not actively mashing buttons like a maniac.
The controls are horrible and often I’d get frustrated with the controlled character for going in the total opposite direction I needed them to go in. There’s a dubious lives system that I see no other reason for being here than because it’s something that apparently should be in a video game (even though this video game tries desperately to fool you into thinking it’s more of an interactive movie). There’s also a mood meter affected by the characters’ actions and it also plays no important role in the game (other than sometimes reaching a failstate and retrying the scene). It’s just a trick to give players an illusion that what they do has some bearing on the story (oh, you’re depressed because you killed an innocent bystander? Here’s a cup of coffee, that’s +10 to mood, chin up!). You get some bonus points for ‘exploring’, which is not difficult as the levels are rather tiny and easy to navigate. There’s no other point to exploration, though, unless you enjoy opening and closing empty drawers.
Every little action - opening a drawer, then closing it, opening a door, climbing up or down a pipe or wall - is needlessly long due to the creators’ choice to have the player move the right analog stick rather than simply press a button. At times it was simply infuriating, especially in the many sections where you’re working under a time constraint. Also, the two sections with Carla walking around the police archive and the psych ward where she needs to hold her breath are simply annoying.
Returning to the story, the game takes some time to completely jump the shark, but even before it does there are a lot of serious problems with the writing. The dialogue is mostly terrible and very cliched, the characters are either a wet blanket (Lucas), a pretty offensive stereotype (Tyler) or a woman with big tits that gets undressed by the devs on numerous occasions (Carla). Most NPCs show up only for short episodes and they’re not given too much time to be developed properly. The worst part, however, is that the characters seem like total idiots. They take forever to reach the most obvious conclusions or make decisions so baffling that they would surely cause a collective burst of laughter in a movie theater. An old cop didn’t arrest a killer on the loose because he saved a kid from drowning?! Carla, a detective with years of experience, falls without a single question for Lucas’ story about ancient prophecies and secret societies?!
Another thing: the game throws in so many different inspirations from (or sometimes even blatantly copies) famous movies and tropes that it’s truly hard to keep track. We’ve got a scary psychiatric hospital, a serial killer in NYC, the chosen child who was born to save the world, The Matrix-like combat scenes with characters flying all over the city, a noir crime story, Mayan beliefs, secret military bases, alien artifacts, secret societies, the apocalypse, premonitions, ancient prophecies, rogue AIs trying to take over the world, brain controlling microchips. This is a total mess and there isn’t a writer that’d make anything coherent out of this. It seriously feels like a parody, but I have a suspicion it isn’t one, simply because Quantic Dream lack the self-awareness required. If this was turned into a movie or a series, its only hope for any relevance would be reaching a cult classic status a la ‘The Room’. You can’t even use the argument that player’s choices force them down these odd paths as until the very end of the game there aren’t any choices affecting the outcome - all this talk about ‘giving players ability to choose their story’ is just a ruse, always has been.
Fuck this game for wasting 10 hours of my life.
When the game first released back in 2005, I'm pretty well sure there was nothing like it at the time, this is the beginning of the David Cage formula for the world to see. Playing it, after play Heavy Rain and Beyond Two Souls. This game aged like milk honestly, the controls sucked; only utilizing the joysticks and the bumpers for gameplay might seem pretty innovative, but, the thing is, YOU HAVE at least 12 other buttons to use for gameplay other than those 4. The Joystick QTE-Simon-says type mini-game was not as bad as the ball busting bumper mashing one, that one was physically painful at times. The story was fucking bat-shit insane, but, I guess that's David Cage writing for you. Overall, this is not his best work, honestly.
Me falavam q esse era o pior jogo de David Cage e não estavam errados, QUE PORRA É ESSA CARA. EU NEM SEI EXPLICAR, É SÓ RIDÍCULO KKKKKKKKK.
4 volim içtiğim gece gördüğüm rüyalar
very funny bad game i love everything except the actual controls
По началу игра показалась устаревшей в отношении графики и игровых механик. Но это пилотный проект легендарного Дэвида Кейджа и на этом продукте он набивал свои первые шишки, поэтому считаю не заслужено занижать баллы за некоторые погрешности. Стоит учитывать тот год, когда эта игра была сделана. Для того времени, это был не то что прорыв в игровой индустрии, это был проект, опережающий игры на десятки лет вперёд. К сюжету нет никаких нареканий. Хорошо проработанный и качественно написанный сценарий. Персонажи чувствуются, события нагнетают, огорчают, радуют, улыбают, вводят в депрессию.
Преклоняюсь пред тобой, легенда интерактивного кинца
Преклоняюсь пред тобой, легенда интерактивного кинца
There's a moment where the protagonist of this hard-boiled murder mystery starts flying and dragon ball fighting the antagonist, and I think that's great.