A fantastic sci-fi thriller that keeps you guessing. It's a wonder that this game didn't get too much attention.
Indigo Prophecy is a paranormal thriller about a man named Lucas Kane who lived a normal life in New York City up until one night he found himself standing over a dead body in a diner bathroom holding a bloody knife. He had no recollection of what had happened and the only thing going through his head was that he had to get out of there before the police find this body. The story also follows two police investigators, Carla Valenti and Tyler Miles, who are investigating the murder that Lucas Kane had unwillingly committed.
GAMEPLAY: 8.50/10
The gameplay in Indigo Prophecy is different from anything I have ever seen before. Most of the game is figuring out puzzles and making choices. All of the choices you make throughout the game effect your character's stress and mood and that has an effect on how many choices you can make throughout the game. For instance, if your character is almost completely free of stress (neutral), then you will have more responses to people in conversations than you will if your character is completely stressed out (overwrought).
The default controls are pretty terrible, but easily changed. By default, you're supposed to use the arrow keys and number pad to move around and do your QTE sequences, which is, by today's standards, an absolute no-no. But as I said, this is forgivable because they can be changed and, if changed to the right settings, are very easy to learn through the optional tutorial you can take at the beginning of the game.
The fighting sequences use what is called QTE, or Quick Time Events. What this means is that the fights are pre-determined but in order to complete them you must press a series of buttons in the order that they come up or your character will fail the sequence and get hit by whatever he is either dodging or being attacked by. QTE is also sometimes used in this game for telling quick lies; if you do not pass them, you tell a lie and the person you are speaking to becomes suspicious and may not believe you.
GRAPHICS: 6.75/10
The graphics in Indigo Prophecy are the weakest point in the game, but in all honesty it really has no major affect on how much I, or anybody else for that matter, enjoyed the game. They are about as good as the graphics used in the game Max Payne 2: The Fall of Max Payne. This has adverse effects on the look of the game since Max Payne 2 was released two years prior to Indigo Prophecy.
One thing that the game did have that you don't seem to see quite enough of in video games is motion-capture animations. Every movement that the characters make in both cut scenes and in-game are very lifelike and add to the movie-like qualities that this game has.
STORY: 9.25/10
Indigo Prophecy is completely story driven, so it was important that it be at least satisfactory or the gameplay would suffer greatly. The story I will admit was very strange but it kept me in suspense throughout almost the entire game. It's almost like a good book that you just can't put down; it keeps you guessing up until the very end. It's like a mix of the story from an episode of Law & Order and the sci-fi thrill of The X Files. The only issue that I had with the story was that all of the endings were all a bit anti-climactic. They were satisfying, don't get me wrong, but there were so many better ways for it to end than the ways that the writers chose.
SOUND: 8.50/10
The sound in Indigo Prophecy plays a big part in the overall feel of the game. The creepy ambience of the game fits very well with the movie-like sound track by fairly well known bands like Theory of a Deadman. The only bad music sequences were the ones where you play as the supporting role of the investigator Tyler Miles. Almost all of the scenes where you play as Tyler there is this ridiculous funky music playing in the background that makes him seem like the stereotypical black man in a 1970s movie.
Another issue that I had with the sound is the voice acting; not only was the voice quality a little questionable but the voice acting itself was pretty monotone and just good enough for the characters to be somewhat believable. It's a shame that they couldn't have gotten any known celebrities for this game; it would have made it even more like an actual movie.
ORIGINALITY: 10/10
Indigo Prophecy is different from any game that I have ever played before. There are a few games out there that follow strong story as well as use QTE action sequences, Shenmue for the Sega Dreamcast for instance, but I have never seen anything that combines the two in the way that Indigo Prophecy did. In games like Shenmue, no matter what you do, the outcome will always be the same no matter how well you do in the QTE sequences; if you fail the sequence in Shenmue, you have to go back to the beginning of that sequence and try again. In Indigo Prophecy, however, if you fail a QTC sequence, depending on where you are and if you've fail multiple sequences of course, the scene will change and the outcome will be a little different, most of them will not really have an affect on any major points, but you still get to see a few different things throughout the game.
OVERALL: 8.50/10
Indigo Prophecy is above all the best and most original game of it's kind. It does have its issues, but overall the game is very satisfying and the good very much so outweighs the bad. I would definitely recommend this game who enjoys a good sci-fi adventure game but for those of you looking for a hardcore action game, this is not the choice for you. This game is a lot of talking and investigating and doesn't focus so much on the action sequences.