Tuesday, November 1, 2005
QuickView
Good: Story, voice acting, music
Bad: "Gameplay," graphics, ending
RIYL: Suspense movies, but don't play videogames
There's something seriously wrong with Lucas Kane. While going to the bathroom at a local diner, he loses his mind, carves some symbols into his arms, and stabs a random man to death. Shortly after the crime, he regains consciousness and realizes what has taken place.
At this point, the gamer assumes control of Lucas. There isn't much to do outside of interacting with the environment, which is a running theme throughout the duration of the game. Granted, the environment is utilized very well. You can mop up the blood on the floor, wash your hands, and hide the knife, among several other options.
After this initial chapter, the player assumes control of the other two main characters in the game Carla and Tyler, who are both working on solving the case. Most chapters heavily involve one of these three main characters, although you'll control a couple others for brief periods of time. There really isn't any clear 'enemies' in the game per se, but you'll encounter intense run-ins with police and some horrifying hallucinations.
All cutscenes are beautifully directed, and the story is genuinely interesting. It gets a little crazy (in a bad way) near the end, and is heavily influenced by a certain popular film. The huge group of gamers who were put off by the ending of Metal Gear Solid 2 should probably steer clear of the last couple hours of Indigo Prophecy, because it's just as initially confusing and not nearly as good. Regardless, the story (ending aside) is very smart, and very intriguing. Voice acting is much better than the average game, and the music complements the mood perfectly. Unfortunately, the graphics are extremely dated and look downright ugly sometimes.
The story is clearly the best thing the game has going for it, because there's very little actual gameplay to be found. Sure, you can manage items in the environment, but that's about it as far as exploration. When events occur that require action on your characters part, the game shifts into a Simon Says-esque sequence of analog movements. It isn't involving, and just seems unnecessary. In fact, considering you have to focus so much on the button inputs, it's almost impossible to really get a good sense of what's going on in the action scenes. Events that don't require use of the analog sticks simply make you press L1 and R1 as fast as you can to get the desired effect.
Indigo Prophecy is a game built on dialogue, which will become apparent very soon after booting up the game. Expect to do a lot of talking to characters, and exploring different dialogue branches. Gamers with a short attention span should certainly stay far away from Indigo Prophecy. It may have an intriguing story, but the complete lack of true gameplay keeps the game from being something worth buying.
Graphics: D
Sound: A-
First Play: B
Last Play: C
Gameplay: D+
Overall: 76% C
Comments
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Supercat1 (Andrew Monshizadeh) says...
"The huge group of gamers who were put off by the ending of Metal Gear Solid 2 should probably steer clear of the last couple hours of Indigo Prophecy, because it's just as initially confusing and not nearly as good."
here's looking at me!
November 2, 2005 at 2:10 p.m. ( permalink | suggest removal )