Retro Review: Indigo Prophecy

<p>Quantic Dream&&num;8217&semi;s <em>Indigo Prophecy<&sol;em> was David Cage&&num;8217&semi;s first big budget title for current consoles in 2005&period; Yes they had <em>Omikron&colon; The Nomad Soul<&sol;em> out on PC and Dreamcast six years before <em>Indigo Prophecy<&sol;em> dropped&period; But<em> Omikron<&sol;em> wasn&&num;8217&semi;t the easiest game to play on a console&semi; I&&num;8217&semi;m still trying to make some progress in that game&period; Cage&&num;8217&semi;s PlayStation game seemed to be a much more streamlined affair&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Built for a console&comma; this title made the most of its platform’s power&comma; delivering an experience that was both visually captivating and immersive&period; For the record&comma; I played it using a component cable on my flat screen&comma; and if you still own a PS2&comma; I’d recommend doing the same for the best quality&period; Beyond the visual appeal&comma; it reminded me of the thrill players get from finding a <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;instantwithdrawalcasino&period;com&sol;">fast payout online casino<&sol;a>&comma; where the focus is on both quality and seamless enjoyment&period; Every game I&&num;8217&semi;ve played since moving to my main TV has looked significantly better&comma; and with that improvement&comma; the experience of playing this early David Cage game felt even more engaging&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>THE STORY<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>Cage&&num;8217&semi;s games are largely story based with little action to go around&period; This fact generally turns the casual gamer away from his games&comma; they want explosions and shooting&semi; they don&&num;8217&semi;t want to have to think and figure out a twisting and turning narrative&period; Personally&comma; I enjoy games like these&comma; ones that have multiple branching story arcs and several endings&period; When I was little I was an avid reader of a little series called <em>Choose Your Own Adventure<&sol;em>&period; In those books&comma; you were given options at the end of certain pages&period; Then your story would go the way of your choice once you turn to that page&period; Cage&&num;8217&semi;s games are very similar to that&comma; other than the fact that his games are aimed at adults&period; I&&num;8217&semi;ve seen many digital boobs while playing his titles&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>This story is somewhat of a murder mystery&period; It starts off in a diner where you see the murder take place&period; Then it all gets funky&period; You get to see the story through four protagonists eyes&comma; first you play as Carla and Tyler the two detectives on the murder case&period; Then as a switch&comma; you get to play as Lucas&comma; the murderer&comma; and his brother&comma; Markus&period; You get to see a lot of New York&comma; a lot of the past and some very interesting &&num;8220&semi;other&&num;8221&semi; places&period; I don&&num;8217&semi;t want to delve too much further into the story just in case you&&num;8217&semi;ve not played through this title&semi; spoiling it would be pretty crappy&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>THE GAMEPLAY<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;138062" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-138062" style&equals;"width&colon; 640px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-138062" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;05&sol;10013126&sol;indigo1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"640" height&equals;"480" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-138062" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Indigo Prophecy<&sol;em> &&num;8211&semi; Atari&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>Now&comma; seeing as this game is billed within the game as a movie the gameplay isn&&num;8217&semi;t too advanced&period; You control one of the four protagonists with the left thumbstick&period; The right thumbstick controls the camera&period; And when it is time for action you press the right thumbstick in the direction the game tells you&period; There are &&num;8220&semi;mini-games&&num;8221&semi; that you must pass to continue your story&period; If you&&num;8217&semi;ve ever played&comma; Simon&comma; you should be pretty good at these games&period; Two circles come up on the screen and you must use both thumbsticks to match what the circles are doing&period; They aren&&num;8217&semi;t too difficult&period; But when you do some battles and it lasts five to ten minutes it can run you dry&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Other events have to do with pressing left trigger and right trigger quickly to pass an event&period; There are a few design options that can almost halt your progress in the game unless you have the patience of a Jedi&period; Once I got the hang of the &&num;8220&semi;mini-games&&num;8221&semi; I began to tear through all the levels and really sink my teeth into the story&period; This actually the most important part of the game&semi; to tell an amazing story without letting controls get in the way&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>THE GRAPHICS<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<p>There are some PS2 games that have not aged well&comma; <em>Indigo Prophecy<&sol;em> is NOT one of them&period; This game looks as though it was made yesterday&period; Quantic Dream really knew how to take the PlayStation 2 hardware and push it to its limits&period; The mo-cap on the faces it great&period; And it looked better than <em>Mass Effect&colon; Andromeda<&sol;em> before they patched the game&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The game does play and look like a murder mystery movie&period; New York looks beautiful&period; And the snow falls constantly upon it&period; The background characters aren&&num;8217&semi;t just fluff&period; They all look pretty unique and I find that pretty amazing for a PS2 game&period; David Cage loves to do split screen action and he does it well&comma; there are moments when you are being timed and you get to watch who&&num;8217&semi;s coming for you as you attempt to escape or search for something&period; I love that effect&comma; it makes it feel like an actual interactive movie&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>One thing that I do like&comma; that most gamers hate&comma; are the widescreen bars&period; I enjoyed this effect in <em>The Evil Within<&sol;em> and I enjoyed it in <em>Indigo Prophecy<&sol;em> as well&period; I don&&num;8217&semi;t see how it takes away from the game&period; It makes it feel more like a movie to me&period; But I did grow up in the day where you had to buy &&num;8220&semi;widescreen&&num;8221&semi; DVD&&num;8217&semi;s for your television to see everything&period; Most people aren&&num;8217&semi;t used to that now and think it is a negative&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<h3>THE VERDICT<&sol;h3>&NewLine;<figure id&equals;"attachment&lowbar;138072" aria-describedby&equals;"caption-attachment-138072" style&equals;"width&colon; 640px" class&equals;"wp-caption aligncenter"><img class&equals;"size-full wp-image-138072" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2018&sol;05&sol;10020935&sol;Indigo&period;jpg" alt&equals;"" width&equals;"640" height&equals;"480" &sol;><figcaption id&equals;"caption-attachment-138072" class&equals;"wp-caption-text">&lpar;<em>Indigo Prophecy<&sol;em> &&num;8211&semi; Atari&rpar;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<p>With David Cage writing and directing this title&comma; you know it is going to send you on a twisted tale of murder&comma; suspense&comma; and love&period; You won&&num;8217&semi;t be blown away by the controls or the mechanics&comma; but you will be blown away by the story and the graphics of this game&period; When they released the HD version of this title&comma; I&&num;8217&semi;m sure they didn&&num;8217&semi;t need to do a lot of sprucing to get it to look gorgeous&period; It looked gorgeous running off my PS2 with a component cable&period; Quantic Dream knows how to make a game gorgeous and David Cage knows how to make a game suspenseful&period; I&&num;8217&semi;m always excited to play whatever they release&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;