Vital Stats
Name: Fahrenheit (UK and PAL)/Indigo Prophecy (US and NTSC)
Developer: Quantic Dream
Publisher: Atari
What is it?
Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy is not a video game. As its developers, Quantic Dream, put it, it's an 'interactive film', rejecting conventional video game genre labeling. Using motion-captured actors, split-screen with different camera angles, and organic and intuitive real-time controls, the game creates an impressively atmospheric cinematic experience that is involves more than just watching a film, but is not really like a traditional video game either.
The story involves players solving a supernatural psychological thriller revolving around ritualistic murders, a mysterious child, and various organizations that wish for the power the child can provide. Players primarily control Lucas Kane, the main protagonist in the story and the first character players can control - right after he apparently has stabbed a man to death in a diner bathroom while in a trance.
However during various story sequences later, players may play as other characters or are able to select which character they would like to control at that time.
So how do you 'play' this?
Players who have experienced with the classic arcade games Dragon's Lair or the quick-time events in Shenmue would be familiar to how Fahrenheit is played. The game is originally designed to be played with a gamepad, and is primarily controlled by the two analog sticks. The left stick controls character movement, while the right stick controls context-sensitive actions.
The cop might be entering any moment but there's always time for hygiene!
Degree of movement of the right stick also affects the degree of the action it controls - for example, how fast and how far a door opens. This gives the player a very tactile and immersive experience whether he's making his character wash his hands, or moving a dead body into a toilet stall.
To make conversations feel real and organic, there is a timer involved during which time the player must select a response. Failure to do so either cause the game to select a default response from the player, or the other character responds to your lack or slow response, usually negatively.
There are also scripted sequences during which time, colored directional bars appear on-screen, directing the player to quickly react in order to complete the sequence. Although continuing with its subversion of gameplay mechanics, some sequences play out more positively if the player knows when not to react as well. There is also action sequences that use endurance test style button presses, such as rapidly alternating between left and right trigger buttons to make your character run faster during an action sequence.
Through all this, there is also a Sanity meter for characters. In the case of the main character, Lucas, initially waking up and finding out he has murdered a man by stabbing him to death causes him to go into a despaired state. Through user actions, a character's Sanity can go up and down, with different reactions and possible responses potentially opening up in any given scene. Having the Sanity meter deplete fully will have dire consequences for the character currently being controlled. For Lucas, it would mean he goes mad or commits suicide and the story ends. Other characters would have different reactions, but generally the game will end if the Sanity meter depletes completely.
Is it a good 'game'?
Well, there is the problem with Fahrenheit not being exactly a game. As its developers assert, it's more of an interactive movie, and what you take from it is how well-written (at least in the front half, the story devolves somewhere in the end of the middle) and how well-acted the entire interactive movie is. Its use of a DVD-like menu structure in its start menu clearly shows its developers intentions of how gamers should perceive this game.
For what it is, Fahrenheit is an excellent piece of interactive media. The supernatural and psychologically thrilling story it tells melds the best of occult dramas, a little bit of the Da Vinci code, and its action sequences are clearly inspired from the Matrix. Told with characters that act better and more well-written than many that make it to the big screen, the game makes you feel completely that you are in a movie, and not just watching it. Players are given just enough control over the characters actions and movements to make them feel still part of the action and the consequence. There are many branching paths and possible outcomes throughout the story, and with its DVD style menu system, it allows gamers to go back and re-tread a Chapter just a little differently, for better or for worse.
Quantic Dream clearly took a huge risk in developing this game so far from conventional norms, and it paid off. They won multiple accolades back in 2005, and now are developing the highly anticipated Heavy Rain which is building on their idea of creating truly interactive movies with characters that act and aren't just polygons. They showed that gaming consoles and the gaming genre should never limit themselves from a good story.
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