Indigo Prophecy: What fails

Takes a deep breath*

…I’ve been waiting for this.

Last weekend I talked about everything I could think of that worked with Indigo Prophecy. I named several reasons why I stuck naming a certain number of things that it did right. This week, I’m going to tell everything that Indigo Prophecy perfected….if this had been a perfect world. But this isn’t a perfect world and this post is not about what they perfected, its about everything that they screwed up. I guess this is where Yahtzee stands out as a clear influence on my mine.

Influence.

My first complaint actually piggie banks on a compliment I gave the game last weekend. Last weekend I made a case for why IP should be honored for its use of nonlinear gameplay, then explained why this should not be compared to GTA IV which has many different paths one can choose to follow. This one follows an arch of a story where you simply have multiple plot lines that end up in the same place (kind of). Last weekend I made a case of why you shouldn’t compare this to GTAIV, now, here’s why you should and discover what GTA IV does a million times better.

As a sandbox game, you play as Nico and get to move around a freeroaming environment. Its part of the rules of its gaming world, the possibilities are presented as “endless”. Of course that’s not true, if it were endless I’d be able to have a disco in the middle of the park with a bunch of prostitutes and random minorities. I think what Rockstar describes as endless means you can drive anywhere you’d like, move around the world and KILL EVERYONE.

While IP is a nonlinear game plot-wise the game is the most linear rule wise game I have ever seen. You’re placed on a level where you have an objective to complete and you’re limited to only that objective. No moving around the world, exploring, nothing is allowed unless its pertinent to advancing the plot and the character. This would be fine except so much of the game takes place in open city streets where you can move in an out of buildings. Yet try to run down the street at some point you’ll find yourself running in place because the map has ended and the rest of the street is merely an illusion.

Maybe this is nitpicky or maybe its because we grew up in the GTA-sandbox generation of video games. And yes, you can also say, “What about all those video games where you go from point A to point B, like every shooter or action games?” And I would say yes, that’s all good and well provided that I’m aware that’s what I’m playing. While not directly stated, the presentation of New York City in IP makes the player feel as if they’re in a free roaming world. So when they run into the invisible wall, it only hurts that much more that we, the player, have been lied to.

Something else that made my list of complaints was the extent to which some of the “action sequences” are drawn out. Or as the rest of the world calls them, “quicktime events”. Quick time events for the most time are brief in video games, but all the action-packed moments of the game are based on quick-time events. I know on some level I compliment Quantic Dream as they attempt to make the game even more about story and offer new elements of action to the P&C club of gaming. However, ultimately this “mini game” leaves much to be desired, as the player wishes that they too, could take part in running from the angels trying to kill you, the death defying car crash escape, the matrix-style kung fu climax. And while all this is exhilarating to play and gives it an extra cinematic sense, I can’t help but also feel like my intelligence and my hand-eye coordination has been insulted as if they makers didn’t trust me to play the game right.

This scene is awesome. Too bad you play it as "Simon Says" in a quicktime event.

On a minor note, the audio often leaves more to be desired. And again, this is something where they did part of it perfect and somehow managed to screw up the rest. While the score and sound effects are often perfect, creating the perfect mood for the game, often the dialogue leaves me wondering why they didn’t get professionals to do it. Sure, I guess the voices were professional, but maybe the lack of emphasis or care is because at some points the dialogue writing is so bad that even the actors stumbled because they hadn’t expected to read the work of a third grader (perhaps this is being a little harsh, the dialogue is quite good as far as writing is concerned, there are just a couple of cringe-worthy “b-movie” lines that make you slap your forehead and call yourself Bruce Campbell.) However, most importantly the audio leaves me asking the question about how bad it is that a white actor played the white, cold, dark protagonist, as well as Tyler Miles. I mean, does it bother anything else when he goes from Lucas “I don’t know if I can handle the pain” Kane to Tyler “Ay yo, you ready to play some ball and get schooled?” Miles? I think it wouldn't bother me so much is Tyler didn't feel like a cliche with half the words that came out of his mouth. Hmm, maybe I just made this more racist. Anyway no matter, pressing on.

But you know what, there’s a chance I’m being too critical. Indigo Prophecy does so many things right. It has a unique story, and adds new elements and tries to breath life into the “Point and Click” genre. It’s characters seem more fitted for a novel than a video game. Its focus on story create a game that challenges the very point of a game, perhaps its not all about gameplay but perhaps experiencing a new form of story-telling. Yet as its treading new waters its impossible not to do things wrong. If it didn’t it would be the game that the gods play. Instead, they would rather play Portal and bond dearingly with a companion cube wondering if the cake actually exists.

Love :)

Indigo Prophecy: In conclusion, what sticks

When I originally created this blog I created it with the intent on judging games for both their good and bad qualities, mainly mentioning one good thing or two and then going on and on about why it SUCKED SO MUCH. My first three entries were primarily that, I looked at Mirror's Edge, Bioshock, and even did a review of Indigo Prophecy. Then the gods reminded me, "But Joe, this blog is for a class, you need to critique certain aspects of one game based on the different guidelines outlined in Jeannie Novak's Game Development book of whatever its called." And before I could tell the gods to shut it I realized they were right and I knew secretly as much as I liked reviewing every game and its mothers and I needed to get a good grade in the class. So I hung my head, bowed down to the gods, then they went off laughing and played a couple rounds of Hail to the Chimp.

What the gods play. I laugh.

However, my next two posts I get to do exactly what my original intent was: judge a game based on its qualities. The first entry (which, yes, you are reading, calm it) will be comprised mainly of what worked and what the game did well. Or, as I have been calling it getting back to my pasta/narcotics obsession, what makes the game stick.

My love. Both metaphorical and delicious.

So we have this game Indigo Prophecy. And its a game that arguably does a lot of things very well. Probably its two greatest stand out points is its use of story/narrative, and characters. I wouldn't go so far to call it Interactive Movie but creator David Cage and the rest of QuanticDream (who still won't return my phone calls, damn French) seem convinced to explore the ideas of character and plot with their video games. Its as if they realized that having a story was suddenly important, who would've thought.

"But Joey C," you say, "lots of video games have stories. Actually, almost all video games have stories." "Oh ho," I say back, "True that may be, but few video games exist out there solely for the pursuit of story. JRPG's like Final Fantasy may love their story but they still have character building and other elements like whining grown men who look like tiny twelve-year old girls. Adventure P&C are driven by story but still have all the puzzle solving to figure out. This game takes the ideas of plot from both of these and skims down on the other details. There's no advancing of abilities and the only thing one could consider a mini-game is the "action sequences" which work as continuously drawn out quicktime events.

One of things that I really liked was how realistic the characters were in the game. The game tried very hard to stay clear of stereotypes and archetypes. And even when it had archetypes it made sure that it followed the character arch, where the character continues to advance or develop of the course of the game. It wasn't simply about being "Master Chief" or "Marcus Fenix" where you're a shear amount of awesomeness the whole time. It was about being like "Niko" in GTA4, where you're character rises up and takes on the world. However, in Indigo Prophecy this works a little differently. Its more psychological and about taking a depressed and anxiety-stressed man who's just killed a person and making them realize their true purpose in the universe and "the grand scheme of things" in time to, literally, save the world. It's also about building relationships, saving relationships, and somehow becoming a better person in the process.

The ultimate hero.



The ultimate badass (but not without some character development first).

I want to take this time to acknowledge the power and interest of nonlinear games. I know they're all the rage with open-ended worlds and gameplay being at its finest. Everyone clamors around the "sandbox game" like its the hottest prostitute on some street corner. But however hot she may be doesn't mean she won't give you the clap. I think people should still try to admire games like Indigo Prophecy because they took a linear world where you have one specific story to follow and then gave you alternate paths on how to achieve the final goal. Its like those choose your own adventure books. You still have some sort of objective to achieve or fail in the end. If choose your own adventure books where like sandbox games you'd read the first page then you could read any of the following pages and that would be it. However with games like these your actions have consequences, and I think that's something that should still be admired today.

Anyway, those are just a couple of things that make Indigo Prophecy stick to the wall. However, soon next weekend comes, and I'll have plenty to say about it to let it fall.