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The first thing I have to state; Fahrenheit is
not the game you are expecting. All the previews and video
footage would have you believe the title plays out like a
high-octane psychological-action-thriller protagonist to Resident
Evil’s psycho-analytical horror reaper – rooms seemingly
viewed at a pre-set angle containing all manner of puzzles to
either be solved or avoided. Well Fahrenheit does put the
emphasis on the puzzle-based environment, but not in the way
you’d think.
The title is an interactive film. You may have heard this
statement before and, regardless of my reluctance to label games in
such a regimented fashion, the tag-line comes with ease with Fahrenheit.
The comparisons to the Resident Evil franchise are
predictable, and none more so than the renovations the series has
seen with Resident Evil 4. Though it’s inescapable that Fahrenheit
uses the same sense of interactive story-telling with its strong
play-lead narrative and character-focussed interaction, I would
consistently defy any comments in reflection of play between the
two.
The title plays through a series of scenes, with our preview
code limited to only the first, within which your character has an
objective to complete, in which ever fashion you should choose.
Interaction with your environment is placed by simply flicking the
right Analogue Stick in the desired direction when the icon
representing that action appears at the top of your screen. The
first scene places you in a diner in what appears to be a Fahrenheit
offering of a small section of
Manhattan
. You’ve just committed a gruesome murder in the toilets and
regain your consciousness just in time to realise that any second
someone will come walking in through that washroom door – time to
get busy.
Mopping-up blood and removing bodies is all fine and dandy
– but is restricted to some degree by the emotion-based meter in
the bottom left of the screen. For each action either you or anther
character commits the  meter will either increase or decrease
affecting your characters state-of-play. To what extent this meter
will either help or hinder your progress is currently very far from
clear, however the minor differences seen in the basic avatar are
at least a nice effect.
Fahrenheit has the makings of a game poised to
destroy all preconceptions and move forward the seemingly
newly-founded movie-game genre leaps and bounds with the solitary
release. However, with the usual interpretation of finished titles
such as this extraordinary new venture from ATARI coming as
half-baked approaches to a stylish piece of work, only time will
tell if Fahrenheit becomes as exceptional as its initial
conception, or falls into the territory of sorely missed
opportunities.
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