Fahrenheit Review

Needing a break from the usual, I got a copy of PS2 Fahrenheit in the hope of something new and interesting. Initially I was very surprised, the control method seemed highly original and interesting to play with. I had never seen anything like it before (bar the superb 'Fight Night' games) and so I was looking forward to playing the game very much. All the player movement and actions are performed by using the two analogue sticks. For example, opening a door simply requires you to push the right stick upwards. You control the whole swing movement of the door - depending on how much you push the analogue stick up. This control method is used for everything, from climbing poles, to interrogating suspects. Its good, but ultimately, its not right...

You play as three main characters (it could have easily just been two). You play as Lucas, detective Carla, and detective Tyler. You can't select to play as just one character though, you have to skip between each of them as you progress through the game. It adds a feeling of linearity. As a player you just have to complete each persons 'segment'. One second you will be playing basketball with Tyler, then you will be moving file cabinets with Carla, then saving a boy from drowning with Lucas. All with the use of only your thumbtastic analogue sticks.

The control system is easy enough to get used to. You can move your character about freely with the left analogue stick in the pretty nice 3D environments (similar to Broken Sword 3). You can perform actions by moving the right analogue stick in the appropriate direction. At first its quite weird and nice to be using only the analogue sticks, but the novelty wears off very soon, especially when you become tired of the Shenmue-like set cut scenes. These said cut scenes require you to move the analogue sticks in the corresponding direction shown on screen. So for example, to dive out of the way of a car coming towards you - you have to nudge both analogue sticks to the left. The interactive cut scenes become longer and harder, so you need to master the system to get anywhere with the game. The problem is that as a result, the game becomes something more like Britney's Dance Beat than an action/adventure game.

Control shortcomings aside, the story is generally quite enjoyable and the game still manages to pull together well to make an exciting experience at times. One of my favourite parts involved sneaking past police guards in order to break in to Lucas’s girlfriend’s house. The parts where you control Lucas as a young boy are also good. However nothing is ever difficult enough. Nothing is ever challenging or intriguing enough. Nothing in the game ever really requires you to use your brain. You don't even have to combine or use items very much. The only example of item combination I can remember was pairing pieces of evidence together in the police station – which was easy and just a case of testing out different combinations until you got it right. The most difficult parts are definitely the dance beat-style interactive cut scenes. But these scenes become so hard that all your concentration is on the markers in the middle of the screen, sub sequentially, you never get to see what is happening in the lovely cut scenes themselves! You miss all the animated action.

Overall I liked the game. But you definitely will NOT be missing out on much if you don't play it. Still, its nice to see something different for a change, but the game tries so hard to be a movie a la Metal Gear Solid 3 that it falls short miserably due to lack of coolness, interactivity, freedom, graphics, story and characters. The three different endings that are achievable in the game are no big deal either. Rather than choices throughout the game affecting the ending, a single encounter or two towards the end decide it. This game tries to be intelligent and groundbreaking, but it just isn't…

Overall: 6 / 10.

This review was added on 29th October 2005 by nGaming user fozzyfanatic1.