With an intricate story and unique gameplay mechanics, Indigo Prophecy is a welcome addition to the adventure genre.
The first thing to keep in mind about Indigo Prophecy is that it isn't a traditional game. Your character won't be running around room after room fighting dozens of enemies as you repeatedly hit the A button. You won't be behind your character's eyes firing your gun at everything that moves and you definitely won't be worrying about timing jumps correctly in order to land on a string of moving platforms. Instead, you move your character with the left analog stick while his or her actions will all be focused on the right analog stick. Stand in front of a door and a number of options open up to you: Move the right-analog stick up to peek through the peep hole, move it right to open the door, or down to pick up an item off the floor. You'll be able to perform different actions depending on where you stand, all with the same simple mechanics.
This is not to say the game is action-deprived. Setting itself apart even from other adventures games, Indigo Prophecy truly applies the meaning of "interactive cutscenes." The moment a cutscene shows up in a game you'd normally put the controller down and eat that chicken sandwich you've been dying to take a bite of as you gasp in the glory of pre-rendered or in-game footage. Well, try that with Indigo Prophecy and your character might just die. With a few exceptions, every cutscene has you interact with it by using your left and right analog sticks in a simon-like minigame. This minigame is used in tandem with the scenes going on in the game. While being interrogated as Lucas Kane, correctly inputting the commands flashed on screen will allow him to momentarily read his interrogator's thoughts on the discussion. In another setting, playing this minigame allows you to evade direct danger. In these, which the game calls "action sequences," you'll occasionally be required to alternatively press the left and right triggers in order to perform feats of strength. However, while most of the time you feel as if your input in the cutscenes is rhythmically changing the action going on the screen, there are a few times when you'll be playing the minigame without having a clue as to what elements of the cutscene you're affecting. Also, there will be situations where you'll be able to move your character with the left-analog stick when there's a time limit before something happens, and these might get a little frustrating as the characters aren't well controlled thanks to a faulty camera. While you can choose several camera perspectives and positions, the character's controls seem to change along with it. At one point, I had my left-analog stick buried in the up direction, and my character would roll in circles after a few steps of moving forward. Thankfully, there aren't many sequences that require precise character movement under a time limit.
The fact that you have several options to choose from depending on what objects are in front of you is to carry the story along depending on the choices you make. While you may want to interact with everything that's around you, use caution. For example, if your character takes medicine, you might want to hold off on having an alcoholic beverage. If you don't heed warning, you may be treated to unwelcoming consequences. The same goes for the choices you make in conversations. You have a limited amount of time to give your answer, and if you don't pick something to say quick enough, the conversation will either end or the character will choose a default answer. While this keeps a steady pace of the game, which sets it apart yet again from other adventure titles, it's a vehicle to branching paths in the story. After beating the game, you'll likely want to try out doing different things and pick your answers differently in order to see what effects you'll bring to the story.
And what a story it is. In the tutorial, the writer and director of the game says something to the effect of "In Indigo Prophecy, anything can happen." He really wasn't kidding. You think you have the theme of the game figured out, and all of a sudden they throw elements that at first don't seem to fit at all with what's currently going on. Towards the end of the game, you'll be playing a much different story than what you started with. This shift in the story begins to occur at a quarter of play time, but it isn't blown over until about the midpoint of the game. While by the game's conclusion the story contextually makes sense, it may turn off players who were expecting a much more... shall we say, down-to-earth experience, as it was originally shaped up to be. Still, while I wasn't particularly accepting of the use of the source material applied for the last portion of the game (You'll be naming one of the characters after a very familiar movie protagonist), it didn't make the story any less compelling. Be warned, however, that Indigo Prophecy is intended for mature audiences only. There's a lot of blood and morbid themes to go around, so if you're weak of heart you may want to skip it.
To help the story along there's some admirable voice work done by the game's cast. Every character's voiceovers feel completely natural and fitting to their personalities, and the smart dialogue keeps it from being cheesy. A diverse soundtrack, from licensed rock songs to moody themes, help set the tone for every situation in the game. The sound effects are not all that impressive, but they just fade in the background thanks to the high quality of the rest of the sound work. In the graphics department, while the characters look lifelike and can easily show emotion, the textures in the game look grainy, even on the Xbox. Also, some of the animations during conversations are reused a lot, and some of the inanimate objects, like cars on the street, look like stuff made for the PS1 hardware. Thankfully, the art and color usage in the game is enough to overlook these flaws, and actually sets the correct feeling of the situation along with the soundtrack.
Indigo Prophecy is like a breath of fresh air in a time where the industry is too cautious about taking risks with original gameplay ideas implemented in brand new properties. The game offers a simplistic control scheme that can be picked up by people who wouldn't normally play games, and the branching story paths along with the intense story should attract gamers supportive of story-driven and adventure games. The quest may be a little too short, with just under ten hours after the first playthrough. Still, with several unlockable bonuses, and different paths to the development of the story, it's a game that can be easily played more than once. If you want to take a break from sequels and unoriginal titles, give Indigo Prophecy a try.