8 / 10
11 May 2006 at 21:04
Review by: manutdfan_2006
Fahrenheit was published by Atari and developed by Quantic Dream. And was released on the 9th September 2005 and is a single player game with surround sound. In a quick glance you play as the hunter and the hunted in the chilling thriller that combines ancient prophecies with modern kick-ass action and plenty of 24-style split-screen action.
Drenched in a love of cinema, Fahrenheit cribs from the biggest sci-fi blockbusters and darkest serial killer flicks to tell a twisted tale of mysticism and murder. Unashamedly aimed at adults, all the usual shockers like sex, gore and sailor talk are here, alongside more mature themes like faith, love and zombification. Billed as an ‘interactive drama experience’, it plays like a dance mat game with a plot. Oddly, this is not a bad thing.
In this dual narrative tale, you will control not only Lucas Kane, a possessed murderer trying to clear his name, but also the two homicide detectives trying to nail him for the crime. Kane’s fugitive adventures tend to be the most action-packed, while the police procedural sections are all about CSI-style fibre hunting and putting clues together. Sleuthing has never been this well done before, and it is a thrill as you slowly tighten the noose around your own neck. Later on, things take a turn for the bizarre as New York begins to freeze and Lucas starts to develop mysterious powers…
In addition to traditional adventuring pursuits, like walking around and picking things up, Fahrenheit’s heavily punctuated by Hollywood-scale set-pieces, the outcomes of which are decided by your ability to quickly match on-screen prompts with the thumbsticks. Succeed, and you will be able to dodge bullets, outrun helicopters and fight like a Muay Thai warrior. Fail, and you will feel like killing yourself (I’m not joking either; see the ‘depress-o-meter’ for details). Throughout the game you will have to keep an eye on your mood bar in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. It gauges how well you are handling things, with positive actions cheering you up, and negative ones bringing you down. You can never actually be happy though, and if the bar reaches the bottom, you might even top yourself. You can abuse the system by getting your bar as low as possible and then trying to find the most mundane event to push you over the edge, i managed to make a character commit suicide over a broken vending machine. Anyone who has tried the coffee machine slop will completely understand this reaction.
It is not just button-bashing, though. When you are playing as a detective, slower paced rhythm action sections enable your characters to make deductive leaps while talking to people and examining clues. It is immersive stuff. Interacting with people and the environment is easy and intelligent. You feel like you are constantly making major decisions, and it is only during a second play through that you realise how cleverly you are manipulated into making those choices. It means there is less replay value than you would imagine, and as Fahrenheit’s a streamlined experience – with only nine or ten hours’ play required to take you to the tale’s conclusion – you are not getting a lot of game for your cash. At times it feels like an interactive movie where the emphasis is on the ‘movie’ rather than the ‘interactive’, but that said, it is ten solid hours of unrelenting storytelling, featuring fantastic production values and some interesting hexagonal breast.
All in all the graphics have great environment the gameplay is smart adventurous, the sound is fantastic with surround sound but this game will not last you very long as I have already said but the quality is there.
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