Indigo Prophecy
Game:
In this highly innovative adventure you play in multiple roles; a fugitive, as well as the police detectives who attempt to track him down.
A young man named Lucas Kane has just stabbed a complete stranger to death. He has no idea why. He only knows that he is not the true murderer. Every choice you make in the game affects the storyline, and the ultimate fate of poor Lucas.
Comments:
I want to start out this review by saying that I really like David
Cage, the creator of ‘Indigo Prophecy’. This is a young man who wears his heart
on his sleeve. You can tell he’s proud of his baby. He is your amiable guide
through the game’s training level, and even writes a short intro to the game in
the manual. I quote:
Indigo prophecy is my contribution to the transformation of videogames into a true form of expression that conveys emotion.
Yes! Testify!
I was under the impression that videogames were only exploiting a tiny part of their amazing creative potential, because they concentrated on “Action” and totally neglected a fundamental element of all human experience- emotion.
Well yes, true, but one must never underestimate the need for “Action” (not sure what those quotes are all about) and its effect on the emotional experience.
…Indigo Prophecy’s huge merit is that it asks real questions and offers concrete answers. It shows how it’s possible to create an interactive experience that is more than just killing monsters in corridors and shooting crates to find ammunition.
I hear the voice of Nolan Bushnell on the wind, and I’m getting a very bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.
Yeah. This game has been getting some rave reviews, but frankly I’m loath to toss my two cents in. My pocket change just ain’t that glowing.
The production value is mixed; the voice acting is very good, and many of the environments are beautiful. (The snow-shrouded city streets had me pumped!) Unfortunately the game suffers from low-res character models and cheesy ‘Resident Evil’ style fixed camera angles. Which brings us to play control.
Despite any artistic aspirations, this is a video game, and at the
end of the day must compete on such a level. Unfortunately, while it is
brilliantly conceived, it’s just not very fun. In order to navigate through
action cut scenes the game utilizes an odd control scheme which involves you
flipping both joysticks simultaneously to match the colored on-screen
directional segments. These controls are responsive, but silly. A truly great
game makes you forget that you’re manipulating buttons as you experience a
Zen-like union with the game universe. Matching colors and directions in order
to punch kick and weave makes you feel needlessly separated from the on-screen
action. (And having to focus on these visual queues makes it very hard to
appreciate what‘s going on.) Character exploration suffers a little worse due to
awkward walking controls and the aforementioned camera angle issues.
The
game allows you to interact with most objects in your environment, many of which
can seriously impact your character’s outlook. The idea of exploring such a huge
and meaningful universe as well as managing your avatar’s mental health may both
sound magnificently inspired, but taken together, they tend to cancel each other
out. You’ll need to do some nice stuff for your character like having a cup of
coffee, using the laboratory, laying your ex-girlfriend (my favorite part of the
game, by the way J ) in order to keep from losing
your wee liver-snap mind. However this system can also seriously discourage
exploration by hurting your character at unpredictable times. (Such as looking
at a photo or reading a newspaper.)
This leads to constant repetitive replays of each level after you’ve
made a mental checklist of which objects hurt or aid. If you think this adds a
large dollop of tedium to the proceedings, you’d be right, but no more than the
psychotically mundane challenges you’ll encounter such as doing sit-ups, and
playing hoops with a geeky co-worker. (I already do 50 real live sit-ups every
day. Why would I need to simulate them? After trudging through the workout
mini-game for the second time. I began to cast envious eyes on the half-finished
philosophy term paper I had sitting in the corner.) If you should happen to fail
one of the game’s little tests, you’ll have to suffer through unskipable cuts
scenes over and over again. In a game this pre-occupied with its own plot, this
just seems sort of masturbatory.
There is no doubt that ‘IP’s story is innovative, but there’s a difference between doing something first and doing it well.
Reviewing the plot is quite problematic. On one hand, the ability to manipulate your character’s path as well as choosing the dialogue makes the game quite interesting. Characters are well-drawn and do develop nicely throughout the story. (I was a bit put-off by the stereotypical portrayal of Tyler Miles, right down to his funky 70’s apartment and Dolomite-esque swagger, but he does turn out to be a well-realized character.) Even a cynical bastard like myself has to admit that I cared about what happened to these people, even as I toyed with their pitiful lives. However, this brings up a major contention for me. While you can control minor events and a few character-specific plot points, you are led by the hand from chapter to chapter without any real impact on the overall story arc. While Cage gives the player the ability to affect some events, most characters are fated to live, die, or act in a certain way no matter what you do. This false sense of freedom is in some ways more frustrating than simply having the entire story dictated to you. As an example I am going to discuss a major plot point, so you’ll have to highlight to read. Tiffany will die, no matter what the player does. Lucas will then hook up with Carla and conceive a child. The choice to save Tiffany and even have Tyler dump the needy Samantha for Carla would have led to some interesting developments.
Even if the outcome was much worse for the characters, I would have liked to decide it for myself.Speaking less of mechanics and more to the plot itself I have to say I was very disappointed. Cage shows a tremendous amount of creative energy, but I feel that he just lost focus towards the end of the game. The opening plotline in which you find yourself an unwilling murderer and must flee from persecution is utterly engrossing. The second act drags a bit, but gives us some genuine character development as well as some tense scenes, so I can forgive it. The final act however, is crap. I’m sorry, it is. Just total crap. Cage just starts plagiarizing chunks of ‘The Matrix’ trilogy with both hands, and the mounting plot involving Aztec rituals and a prophetic birth just falls to pieces in a cheesy nerdgasm of wire-fu, cyborgs, and Byzantine world domination conspiracies.
Unfortunately, while the game possess a creepy setup, it doesn’t do anything with it. Despite a few ghostly jump scenes, and some of Carla’s claustrophobic panic attacks (why are all the cute girls either spoken for or bat-shit insane?) the game isn’t scary, or even very atmospheric. As the game really isn’t attempting to be horrific, it may seem unfair to even be reviewing it by such a standard on such a site as this. However, there’s no denying that the game attempts to create an aura of mystery and dread, but between the tedium of daily activity and the mushy hash of a plot, it fails miserably.
Overall, ‘Indigo Prophecy’ is a unique experience, just not $40.00
worth of unique. Despite its innovative nature and endearing characters, the
experience is not drastically different from playing your little brother’s old
Simonâ game while watching ‘Matrix Reloaded’. I hope
David Cage makes another game, but what I really hope that he gives us more
action and a much better plot to sink our teeth into.
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Production Values: 7.0 |
Gameplay: 7.5 |
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Plot and Writing: 6.5 |
Atmosphere: 2.5 |
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Overall: 6.0 |