Games

Fahrenheit

Platform: Xbox, PS2, PC
Price: £25.99
Publisher: Atari
Buy it now from Amazon.co.uk

Imagine you suddenly found yourself standing over a dead body, a bloody knife in your hand. You're in a restaurant bathroom, and have no idea how you got there, who the victim is or why you just stabbed him to death. It's only a matter of time before somebody comes in and finds you.

What do you do?

That's the tantalising predicament that Fahrenheit throws at you right from the start, and things only get murkier from there. A game where multiple narratives, multiple camera angles and multiple choices intertwine to create something utterly unique in the world of console gaming.

The phrase "interactive movie" was rendered pretty much obsolete back in the 1990s, when dozens of awful games used the term to try and dress up their slender gameplay and crummy video footage as something sexy and new.

Fahrenheit is the game that finally earns that title without punishing you with lousy gameplay.

Playing as both unwitting killer, and the cops on the case, it's a game unlike any other - and one that will only appeal to those with broad minds as to what constitutes adventure gaming.

Using a novel control system that allows you to interact with objects, carry out conversations and navigate your environment all with movements of the analogue joysticks, the fractured storyline and open-ended options will frustrate and annoy many.

Right from the start, the game shifts to accommodate your choices. Do you hide the body, or leave it where it lies? Do you saunter out casually, and pay your bill, or do you run for it? Every step of your journey impacts what happens next, usually in small ways, sometimes in big ways.

That the game manages to show both sides of the pursuit, from the man on the run to the detectives on his trail, and still remain intriguing and engrossing is a testament to the high production values on display. While the character models are a little clunky in 2005, the animation is full of subtle real-life touches and the voice acting is top notch.

The only technical drawbacks are a confusing and badly placed camera system, and the blind conversation choices which mean that choosing the right thing to say is as much a matter of luck and intuition as judgment.

Other than those minor gripes, Fahrenheit is the sort of game that hardcore gamers looking for something fresh will relish. For everyone else, this is the very definition of a try-before-you-buy offering.