One of the Greatest Concepts ALMOST Pulled Off
An interactive cinematic expierence allowing you the player to control every decision the characters make and effectively change the story.
now that right there, is genius. what falls short of genius though is the execution of this rather daring stunt. it really doesnt work.
You play Lucas, Carla, and Tyler. the 3 main characters in a seemingly amazing detective movie. all of the story is smooth and amazing in the beginning. without giving much away, you investigate a series of crimes around the City of New York that have a strange resemblence to eachother. the plot is truely brilliant in the beginning. i was hooked. their are some really intense and well done scenes, in the beginning. you feel attached to these characters, and even like you control what their personalities are like, in the beginning. why the repitition of "in the beginning"? well because as much as i hate to admit it, the game FALLS APART story wise for the second part of the game. inclusion of ridulous plot turns, relationships, and action scenes that feel totally out of place from the in depth amazing deep meaningful first half.
one minute your characters feel like people, like real people that you have crafted, and controlled. then a few disatorous plot turns later, their running on walls, flying from rooftops, causing multi-car pile-ups, and you sit here thinking, "why are they doing this?" and that question quickly turns into, "why am i even still playing?". i felt so detachted from these characters that i felt were so rational and realistic in the first half.
Now about that whole control everything thing. while amazing in concept this game does not pull it off. while when you play it through the first time you may have the illusion that if you replayed the scene you just did that you could completly change it, truth is, you really cant at all nearly as much as they would like you to believe. once you beat the game you can play through again, and let me tell you, its never going to be much of a different game. while a couple scenes really can go totally different directions for the most part, the choice system that seems so great in concept never takes you too far from the suprisingly linear story.
an example of this is the multiple endings. you might think the game would calculate how good or bad you've done through the whole entire game behind the scenes and give you a good bad and OK ending or something. this is not the case. you can literally just replay the very last scene differently and get a whole different ending. thats right, the ONLY time the plot branches off in the entire game is during the final scene of a game. with a game so revolved around its tagline of "every choice has a consequence" you think that would have an affect before the FINAL scene of the game.
while i sit here and tear apart this game, i really did have fun with it. i just have a problem with the way its being advertised and sold to people as being a story that you control everything in, because its only an illusion to get people to buy the game. if the concept was pulled off, and the game really could be totally different every time you play then it could be one of my favorite games, but it doesnt pull it off. sadly, indigo prophecy is one of the greatest concepts of gaming history that was ALMOST pulled off.
Gameplay: 8/10
its a fairly fun game with a choice system, but the fact the choice system doesnt really affect much, and that the story totally is ridiculous for the last half brings it down a couple points
Graphics: 6/10
not that good at all, but suprisingly that shouldnt be what holds you back from playing it since when you're playing you really dont notice how bad they are becuase of the great cinematic feel to it all.
Sound: 9/10
the sound is one of the highlights. its a great score composed as if for a real hollywood drama. it really stands out as being amazing. the voicework is also very well done too. my only complaint is they overused a few of the songs. i would have like to see a little more variation in the music.
Value 6/10
i might even be a little too genorous with that, considering its a 6-8hour game that you will play once through, watch a couple extras, and MAYBE play through a couple scenes differently. once all thats done, you wont go back to it. it does have a price tag of $40 which is better than it being $50, but i dont know how many people want to pay $40 for 10 hours or less of entertainment.
Reviewers Tilt: 7/10
i did like this game, its an enjoyable game, but its not the revolutionary game that everyone wants you to think it is. the choices dont affect much of anything, and the story completly falls apart in the second half of the game.