Fahrenheit

French developers Quantic Dreams introduce the world's first interactive 3d-adventure TV series.

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The gameplay will be typical of adventure games, wandering around and looking for clues and puzzles to solve, to learn what is going on in New York. What Quantic Dream are adding to this formula is the ability to play as different characters, actors if you will, through the story. They did the same thing in Omikron, if your character was being chased by the police, you could move your soul into someone else to avoid being captured, hence the Nomad Soul tag line. The developers therefore have some experience in getting this system to work. So in the above scene, you could play the cop investigating that murder scene. Piecing this one together with the other murders that have taken place and given access to different areas and information. Each character follows their own story, the player unravelling the mystery piece by piece as the plots intertwine.

This now from the developers: "New York, January 2005. For no apparent reason, ordinary people are killing total strangers in public places. Although there is no link between the murderers they all respect exactly the same ritual.

Lucas Kane becomes another of these murderers when he kills a stranger in the men's room of a restaurant. Haunted by strange visions, he must keep one step ahead of the police in order to find out what is happening to him.

Inspector Carla Valenti and her team-mate agent Tyler Miles are in charge of the investigation. A series of disturbing clues projects them into a world they had never even dreamed of"

The developers are being tight lipped about the overall story and won't spoil any details of the episodes before they are released. A date for release and pricing are also not known, but you can assume that all the episodes will be finished, or very near to, before the series is debuted so they can keep to a tight schedule and not lose any momentum if it takes off. The episodes will be available on CD from retail stores and also via the internet. There is also a distinct possibility that the whole series could be re-run as a complete box set after all the episodes are out.

It all sounds very promising but I'm reminded of what Alfred Hitchcock said about what the three most important elements for a great film are, a good script, a good script and a good script. With a game like this the script and thus the story are more important than ever in order to keep people coming back, and paying, for more episodes. If the start of the game is bad and turns people off then the rest of the game series is doomed. If done well though it could be like an interactive version of "24" mixed with "Angel" filtered through the mind of David Fincher. Now that would keep people coming back for more.

While its unlikely to change the way the majority of games are bought and sold it could appeal to more casual gamers. It might also bring a new market into the fray from people who would normally ignore computer games but like the idea of a very interactive TV show. That's what the developers are hoping for anyway in order for this endeavour to be financially viable. Until the game is released, viva la revolution.

By Richard Clifford