26.11.2007

Point and click adventures like the fabulous Monkey Island - a genre I love very much - are seriously thin on the ground for consoles like the Xbox. The closest in real terms was probably Broken Sword 3, but Fahrenheit - known as 'Indigo Prophecy' outside of Europe - is not a bad effort either and generally deserves the accolades it received upon release.It plays like an interactive movie - basically, you have to do a minimum set of the right things in each act in order to progress to the next act. As in a classic point-and-clicker you move from location to location exploring, finding and using objects and having conversations with the various characters you meet. In addition,there are a number of high-octane 'action' sequences which you have to get through by successfully following a quick succession of joystick tweaks which flash up on the screen. Do them successfully and the action continues to unfold, fail and the character falls off the building, is run over by a car or fails to play the guitar properly - to a point and click veteran this part (waggling the sticks) probably sounds dire, but it plays much better than it sounds. Failing is frustrating, but surviving a three minute long attack sequence during which your apartment literally disintegrates around you is incredibly exhilarating, as are certain other scenes - a rooftop fight springs to mind. The down side is that you have to focus so intently on the joystick sequences that you are barely aware of the action unfolding on the screen because you dare not start watching it.Some (but not all) of these sequences can be replayed as mini-movies at the end of the game, but I would have liked to have seen a 'replay' option so you could sit back and enjoy whatever it was that you just managed to do, again.What really sets Fahrenheit apart is the superb audio-visual style employed with multiple windows showing different aspects of a scene unfolding at the same time. It borrows inspiration from many sources - from Twin Peaks, for example - watch out for the swinging traffic light and the score by Angelo Badalamenti - and from 'The Matrix' and 'Constantine'. The in-character animation of almost all of the characters is superb, Tyler moves like a well-cool black dude, Carla looks Italian-American, sexy and fairly hard and dangerous, while Lucas (the man in the wrong place at the wrong time) just looks lost and scared.Storywise, it does occasionally plumb unexpected depths but the characterisation and facial animation make all of the characters - even the waitress in the diner - so completely believable that you eventually care about them all. There are even a couple of sex scenes, done very sweetly and just right, enhancing and emphasising the humanity and fragility of the characters involved.As the plot is very linear, the game doesn't really have much replay value, and for that reason I would have loved the game (once completed) to have had the ability to play itself all the way through along the optimum path while I watched it unfold like an actual movie. An optional director's commentary voiceover during replay would have been even better. Sadly, neither of these features were includedWhen the final credits rolled I felt the same sense of sadness that I sometimes do when I've just seen a really great book or movie for the first time, because when something is this good, you just never want it to end. For me, Fahrenheit was that sort of experience.

7.10.2005

We are very lucky. Fahrenheit almost didn't make the shelves this year due to various reasons and when it finally appeared recently people picked it up and thought 'What's this then?' Well I think it's the sleeper hit of 05 and I'll tell you why later.The basic premise of the story is this. You play an IT Manager getting on with his life in a city that never stops snowing. One minute you are warming your hands with a cup of coffee in a small diner, the next minute you wake up in the gents lavvy covered in blood with a dead guy at your feet. You realise you have been in some sort of weird trance and you have just committed a brutal murder. You need to get the hell out of there and find out who or what made you do this.The game actually plays like a movie. You control the main character but as the story progresses you get to play the police actually investigating the murder you committed! Cool eh?The game is played out in chapters. You get a nice 3rd person view of your character and you control him within the environment of that chapter. For example a few episodes takes place in your apartment. You can pretty much interact with anything here, turn on the telly, open the fridge to get a drink, have a kip in the bedroom, listen to music or play your guitar. All this is done using the thumb sticks alone, you don't actually use any of the buttons in the game, which was a real first for me. The beauty of the story is the fact that anything can happen. One minute your wandering about the apartment then the screen splits in a cool 24 kind of way to see a cop ringing your doorbell. You have blood stained clothes all over the place and you need to hide all the evidence before the time runs out at the top of the screen. These surprises are absolutely fantastic and really make you feel like you are the central character in a very expensive movie.As the story develops the action really picks up. A lot of the sequences have a distinct Matrix feel about them because your character changes throughout the game and a lot of the fight sequences involve super human punching, throwing and bullet dodging. During any action "Get ready!" will appear onscreen and the thumb sticks appear that are colour coded. When they flash you have to move the sticks to correspond colour to perform the moves and it can get really tricky on the later stages. The only problem here is that you spend more time concentrating on the thumbs stick onscreen rather than the actual action, but it won't bother you all that much. There are a couple of other gripes so I may as well get them out of the way. The camera can be very frustrating in some areas, especially when you have to do something quickly your character can disappear off screen and your frantically trying to get the camera to follow. My only other issue was the length of the actual game as i managed to complete it in about 7 hours and I was by no means rushing through it. I think this was down to the fact that I enjoyed the experience so much I sort of lost track of time and one way take make it last longer is to set the action sequences on hard. All in all this is an incredibly involving game for adults with loads of twists and turns, naked lady's and blistering action. It's like watching a really good film, the only difference being the fact that you actually star in it. So get on set because you're on..............

18.9.2005

This game can be summed up in one sentence. The best adventure game for xbox. Fahrenheit has brought new features to the genre, such as the new split screen mode, where certain events will become shown in up to 4 different screens, with 3 showing the location from different angles and the last showing you. Overall, as a percentage, id give it 95% as the game is brilliant, with only two design faults, making it no less enjoyable to play. One being that when the camera angle of you changes while in gameplay, the controls can be a bit confusing while in sometimes the directional buttons staying the same, and in others being opposite. The only other critisism i could come up with, however small,

18.9.2005

Fahrenheit starts off a new genre of gaming, which i shall call - movie game! Clever i know! In this game one controls 4 different characters. As Lucas Kane one must solve the mystery of why you murdered a man, and as two coppers you must find the killer. And Marcus Kane who simply runs around a bit.Anyway enough of the characters onto the mostly good story. The story, nearly through out is very good. You are always shrouded in mystery and never really have a clue what is going on (in a good way ofcourse). It is only towards the end of the game (which is about 5 hours in) when it all begins to get a bit...silly. Won't give any spoilers but it truly is a dissapointing,

20.9.2005

Let me start by saying this is not an action game at all in the conventional sense. It is geared more towards those who like adventure games and even then it is completely different to what you may have experienced before.You are effectively playing an interactive movie. The game consists mainly of 'simon says' type games where you have to match movements on the analogue sticks to create reactions on screen and responses to questions from a list within a small time limit. The upshot of this is that you never have any direct control over a character during action sequences as this is sacrificed in favour of cinematic visual displays during the game.This game is also very adult in nature.

12.8.2009

Having never played a game like this before, I took a risk that you will soon find out I was happy to take! Here is my review;I find it rare to come across a game that I would love so much, I'd spend the whole day from 9 to 6 non-stop playing this game until it was complete. As soon as the ending credits finished, I started a new game and took an alternative route of gameplay. That is what is so good about this game. Every action you make has consequences and when you first finish the game, you may have only seen half of the available cut scenes, maybe even less!Moving on, the graphics are somewhat acceptable in 2009 standards, even when tested on the Xbox 360. (The game was bought via Xbox Live).

13.5.2007

This is definitely the most frustrating game I have ever played.The idea is ingenious, basically an interactive movie where you control multiple characters during the aftermath of a murder.You can interact and do things that will affect the gameplay alter on, not to mention the mental health of the character. However,I don't feel the game is as good as the reviews suggest it to be.The control system is basically "simon says" where you have to copy the thumbstick movements that are shown on screen, or waggle the left and right triggers. This is the awkward part, I waggle the triggers but its not actually clear what I have to do. Beleive me, you will soon get sick of it.

30.5.2007

I am writing reviews and rating all the D.V.D and games that I own on Amazon. The pc version of the game is not available on Amazon and all I have is the pc version but have tried out the xbox version and it is a hundred times more difficult and frustrating than the pc version. I do think at some stages this game is unnecessarily difficult such as the bit in the library where no real hints where given and I ended up looking at the walk free guide for that. The bit in the apartment and the wind was also I believe unnecessarily difficult for a part that is so near to the start of the game.However I enjoyed this game immensely the story is thrilling and the choices that you make are at some points shocking.

23.10.2005

What can I say a fantastic blend of set pieces and free will,You play as main character Lucas Kane who wakes up after commiting a murder with no recollection of doing so or one of three other secondary characters, detectives Carla Valenti and Tyler Miles or Lucas's brother Marcus.You must evade police in search of the killer or end up being put inside for life.This game plays very much like watching a movie BUT! don't let that this put you off,I nearly did and would have missed out on a truly thrilling experience. This is unlike any game you will ever play making the right decision with split second timing and the use of both analogue sticks in life threatening sequences in order to succeed prove to be a heart racing experience.Graphics aren't particularly ground breaking but do the job,

9.6.2013

First off I believe this to be the best game on Xbox. I just bought it to play again on my Xbox 360 and upscaled graphics look really good!One of the most engaging storylines that have you really on the edge of your seat when played in the dark! You take on the role of Lucas Kane who wakes after murdering someone and goes on the run! You also play the roles of the cops after him but all parties have a great story.Such a polished game that offers a play style that really pulls you into the story. Sometimes you need to perform an action or your character needs to perform a physical effort and you will be hammering the left and right triggers. Trust me, you'll be exhausted too!

24.9.2005

This has taken the place as my favourite game ever with it's excellent originality. I haven't playd a game for more than half an hour in the last 2 months, but I coudln't stop playing this until it was done. Trust me, you need this game. It is a masterpiece.It is an interactive movie, you control everything that happens. You decide what path to take, how to approach any given situation. San Andreas failed with real life aspects like weight lifting but Fahrenheit makes them enjoyable, just by pressing L & R, or the analogue sticks in a certain direction. Sounds tedious I know, but it is fantastic. The story is the best I've seen in a game,

13.1.2016

Used to have this game years ago but had to trade it in when upgrading from the original Xbox to the Xbox 360, however after recently seeing it on amazon I found out that it was possible to play this game on the 360 so decided to purchase at first it wouldn't play but then inbound out it was because I had recently bought a new hard drive for my 360 for extracstorage and it wasn't an offical Microsoft one and I read somewhere these games only work with offical Microsoft hard drives, luckily I still had my old hard drive so put it back in and the game worked straight away no problems, so pleased as this is a really good game with mixture of crime, thriller and horror, very good

18.9.2005

Just imagine your worst nightmare you have murdered someone . But the strange thing is, you havn't!? You Play Lucas Kane, a man trying to find out truth about myself and the crime that he has committed. This game is breath of flesh air, it boasts cinematic detail not just in graphics but gameplay and sound. Detail rarely scene on this scale. The Actions vary from saving a boy from a drowning in a lake to escaping a the scene of the crime. Look out for the fanstatic flashback when you were kid exploring a army base. The control system uses both the left and right joysticks for the action scenes. Several magerzines called this game a masterpiece. Which, truly it is.

30.10.2011

I have been a fan of this ever since I first played. The psychological aspect is brilliant, the action sequences are on the same level as The Matrix, The dialogue/voice acting is simply inspiring. I can find no fault with this game, even the puzzles were relatively good and I hate puzzles, they were well thought out.The characters are likeable, the villains are sinister, nothing more to add then this is simply a masterpiece and what would you expect when its sister is none other than Heavy Rain.If you like psychological supernatural thrillers or Heavy Rain, buy it buy it NOW!!!

26.8.2012

Works perfectly on my xbox360.This game is very well paced and the characters (although some are complete stereotypes) are interesting and likeable. Overall the controls work pretty well, but its really nothing more than quick-time events a lot of the time. Unfortunately there are few scenes in this game in which the controls really let it down, serious issues with the camera and movement make parts frustrating and awkward. However this was only really an issue once or twice.Very good game for people who like detective style games.

Fahrenheit (Xbox) - Reviews

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