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  1. #1
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    Fahrenheit (PS2) review


    Pros: presentation, gameplay, story

    Cons: usual camera and control issues

    The Bottom Line
    Merging together elements from a number of different games into something fairly original, and pulled off with enough flair to become the years most absorbing game.


    The term 'interactive movie' was once banded around way too frequently to describe a product that allowed players to release hours of cut scenes at the simple push of a button. It was very boring! Then evolution kicked in and game developers discovered that they could create an interactive movie by simply inserting a lot of stylish, though completely uninteractive, movies into an otherwise run of the mill game. A step in the right direction, but still recreating the true feeling of cinema in an interactive game is something that only a few elite titles have ever truly managed. Virgin Interactive's Fahrenheit is one such example.

    Right from the start Fahrenheit succeeds in drawing you into what is clearly one of the best written stories in videogame history. It opens in the mens room of a small New York diner as your character, Lucas Kane, sits in a stall carving strange symbols into his wrists. Into the bathroom walks another man who remains completely oblivious to the danger he is in. Marcus suddenly lurches out of the stall like a puppet on a string and proceeds to stab the poor sap three times through the heart. Coming to his senses Marcus is both shocked and perplexed by his actions, but will need to get himself out of this building before he can even begin to figure out why he just murdered a total stranger in cold blood.

    This is where you come in as you are introduced to one of the games many ingenious gameplay mechanics. You are controlling Marcus from a Silent Hill type perspective, but instead of shooting your way past an assortment of enemies you just need to get out of the building without causing undue suspicion. At this point I was simultaneously reminded of an old Monkey Island type graphic adventure, and one of those choose your own adventure books that I was hooked on as a kid. As Marcus you can choose to simply walk out of the toilette and leave, but then the patrons will all notice your cut wrists and you'll face an unexpected, and slightly unsatisfying, epilogue that explains how you were caught before you'd even left the building. Reverting back you then find the sink is actually interactive and you wash your hands. The only question is, are you going to attempt to clean up the scene before you leave? Bearing in mind there's a cop in the diner who could choose to relieve himself at any moment. (and yes you are on an unseen time limit) Your first instinct will be to leave, but what about evidence? Will you attempt to hide the body, mop up the blood, dispose of the knife ect... Nearly everything in the room is interactive and so you have hundreds of options at your disposal. Even after you leave the rest room you can search the area, make sure you don't draw too much attention to yourself by not paying the bill, try to find any personal artifacts you left lying around, oh, and try to get the hell out of there before that damn cop visits the gents!!!

    You see once you succeed in getting Marcus out of the place the game will switch your control over to detectives Carla Valenti and Tyler Miles. You can switch between these characters at will (by hitting the triangle button) as each will observe different things about the crime scene. How easy their job is going to be will depend on how much time you spent cleaning up the crime scene as Marcus. Little things you may have over looked (for example I left a novel sitting on my table) suddenly become major pieces of evidence from this fresh perspective, and you'll be kicking yourself with every potentially incriminating item you manage to find.

    I admit that at first I found this style a little disorientating. One minute I'm a convict struggling to evade the law, the next I'm a police officer trying to track this killer down. I couldn't bring myself to perform sloppily in the police work since my desire to catch the killer was just as strong as my desire to see that same killer get away. As a result I had to continually play the game through to the early hours in the desperate hope that both stories would find a satisfying conclusion.

    Now while I've tried to avoid mentioning any major plot points you will no doubt have realized that most of my review so far has been based around the story. This is because Fahrenheit is very much a story led game. Anyone expecting the next Resident Evil or Tomb Raider will be disappointed to find a game where moving items and talking to people is of far more importance than shooting stuff. This means that the game does feature a lot of cut scenes. In fact the cut scenes probably take up around 80% of the games total play time. Yet rather than being a hindrance these cut scenes are where the game scores it's next master stroke in the form of ATB. (Active Timed Battles)

    Anyone familiar with Sega's Shenmu series will already know how ATB works. Basically the mechanic enables you to copy a series of on screen button presses that will correspond to the action on screen. This game actually utilizes the PS2's duel analogue sticks perfectly in this regard, forcing you to hone your reflexes in order to win. Is Marcus really going to dodge that bullet? Only if you get the button presses right. Is he going to run up the wall? Again, only if you keep tapping the analogue sticks with every footstep. In the short term this makes the cut scenes a lot more fun than any other game has managed. In the long term it means that you never feel like these scenes are taking away your gaming experience while the programmers show off some fancy moves. The action scenes themselves have been choreographed with skills that could put the Watchowski Brothers to shame, but it's still the fact that you control them that makes them so much fun. There's a palpable sense of danger preceding each fight, and a real sense of accomplishment once you beat them. Heck even the mundane cut scenes that involve nothing more than a discussion utilize the old ATB in a simple manner. Hit those directions again and the character will better grasp what is being said to them and you the player will have a better insight into the story. As a result even the most mundane cut scenes become compelling in their own rights.

    Really then the only area that could truly make or break this game would be it's presentation. Thankfully Fahrenheit is easily the most slickly presented games of the year. There's a little room for improvement graphically I suppose but it really isn't a problem. Main characters all look absolutely stunning, with some incredible attention to detail. (Carla is actually one of the sexiest videogame heroines yet) Smaller characters tend to look a little rough around the edges, and the locations tend to get a little grainy, but since the game is so interactive then you never really have any time spare to observe the minor details, which leaves them more than acceptable. Besides once you witness the jaw dropping animations found in the slow motion Matrix imitations then all minor graphical glitches will be forgiven.

    The sound however is perfect. Remember how annoying the characters sounded in Shenmu and how it distracted you from the game. Not so here, Marcus sounds genuinely disturbed by the events of his life, Carla has a real sense of determination to her voice, and Tyler adds a believable comic relief to the Proceedings. Heck even the minor characters have been cast with immaculate attention to detail. It's all really about the games music though, in fact this may be my all time favorite game score. I recently learned that the guy who did the score for this also scored David Lynch's Lost Highway and his experience in film really shows. The haunting violin music adds a real sense of foreboding to the story and renders some of the games, already disturbing, imagery unforgettable.

    Still as much as I want to hail this as the ultimate game of the year I am still faced with some major flaws in it's design. Mostly it's the camera angles used throughout, yes it may be atmospheric on a cinema screen, but when I'm expected to control the guy sneaking across a military base then I would really like to see where I'm going. Then the camera is rendered even more irritating by an overly glitchy control system. It's often impossible to know which direction will make the characters go forward, and as a result you will often find yourself running in a figure eight pattern. As funny as this may seem it just gets slightly frustrating when you're trying to run for your life and the idiot character starts jogging around in circles.

    The only other thing comes toward the end and is again related to the story. I can't say too much, but when the game suddenly takes a six month leap and introduces some very unexplained relationships then you feel a little unsatisfied. Like the writers got lazy and quickly scribbled together the last few levels.

    Still, despite not being the best of the best Fahrenheit remains an incredible experience. Merging together elements from a number of different games into something fairly original, and pulled off with enough flair to become the years most absorbing game. A must play for anyone tired of the usual action adventure games we see.

    4/5





    Yes she gets naked. Twice!!!


  2. #2
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    Fahrenheit: COMPLETED! (x-box)
    {no spoilers}
    the more i played the game.. the less addicted i became..and the realism factor also depleted to 0. i kinda jus wanted to play it to complete it. Dont get me wrong.. its a great game..but If it wasnt for Carla Velenti.. i wud have lost intrest in the game alot earlier. Also another downside of this game is that it just aint long enuff but at the same time had it of carried on i also myt have lost interest due to the lack of story grabbing towards da end. I repeat... The game was definetly much better at the start. wuda got full marks had the games story value n realism not dropped. Still an intriguing and very atmospheric game ... a change from the ordinary!
    3/5

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