Going beyond the gaming ghetto

Tom Loftus Columnist • E-mail

Video game makers have been making World War II games longer than than actual war lasted, there are few comic books short of Little Lulu that haven't already been turned into a game and as sure as summer follows spring, we will have a new "Madden" football game next August.

Inspiration for video game fodder may seem limited to war, sports and 'toons, but it doesn't have to be that way. Here are three games with distinctly different inspirations:

"Indigo Prophecy" is a strange game. Strange not for its story of violence and possession and otherworldly beings — gaming's meat and potatoes — but strange in how these themes entwine in ways that bear more resemblance to melodrama than science fiction.

In the opening cut scene a man is stabbed to death in the bathroom of a New York City diner.  As it turns out, the killer is you. And when the cut scene gives way to actual game play, your first tasks center around hiding the body, disposing the weapon and leaving the diner without attracting the attention of a policeman nursing a coffee at the counter.

After the body is found — presuming you have managed to escape — detectives arrive at the scene. Now you assume the role of the detectives: quizzing witnesses and dusting for fingerprints.

Jumping between the killer and the two detectives, you must solve two mysteries. As the detectives you must identify and capture the killer. As the killer you must explain the reason for your hallucinatory premonitions and homicidal actions.

But rather than jump into car chases and shoot-outs, "Indigo Prophecy" opts for a more heady experience.

"Indigo Prophecy" is one of those games where the player's actions have a noticeable effect on the plot. As a detective what you choose to investigate determines how soon you will track down your quarry (or not).  And as the killer your decisions throughout the game may determine whether you reach the game's end knowing the secret of the prophecy or just a poor homicidal schmuck.

The game's controls are primarily devoted to moving, looking and indicating what objects you would like to interact with. For more traditional action such as fighting the game relies on a button mashing version of Simon Says. Colors flash on screen indicating a sequence of left and right joystick movements. Match the sequence to win.

Simon Says game play appears in less frantic moments, too.  During the autopsy of a murder victim early in the game, the mortician spills out more clues as to the cause of death whenever the player succeeds in meeting the sequence.

As the controls betray, "Indigo Prophecy" is not your typical console-based thriller. The settings include gray office cubicles, greasy-spooned diners and snow-covered city parks.  There is talk about murder and cults, but also about relationships and insecurity. 

The game protagonists — the killer, the killer's brother, the hard-driving female detective and the outwardly happy-go-lucky street-wise detective — all have skeletons in their closets. The bad news is that this means many, many interior monologues. And the ominous sounding music has a habit of peaking during the most mundane discussions of relationships.

The good news is that this approach has a way of allowing you to see the story from a multiple of perspectives, something rare in console gaming. And to underscore that approach, the primary measure for your character's longevity is not the standard health bar, but a mental health bar.

Like the "X-Files," "Indigo Prophecy" is a science fiction story wrapped with all the trappings of a melodrama. This kind of stuff has appeared on the PC before. But "Indigo Prophecy" also appears on the Xbox and PlayStation 2 as well and that's to be admired.

Slow. Primitive even, but nevertheless engrossing. "Indigo Prophecy" reveals its clues slowly and only after listening to too much music and dialogue. But by the end you'll be happy to have stuck with it.

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