Heavy Rain

[Kolzig]

Personally I only ever played the first third of Indigo Prophecy, so I quite enjoyed it.

I wish I had only played the first third of that game and not the whole thing like I did...

[Korax]

My anticipation's a bit mixed. I played Fahrenheit, and had an interesting time with most of it. I find it weird that people are claiming that Heavy Rain is "inventing a whole new genre" or whatever, because it looks like Fahrenheit with better graphics and a slightly different QTE UI.

[elmuerte]

My anticipation's a bit mixed. I played Fahrenheit, and had an interesting time with most of it. I find it weird that people are claiming that Heavy Rain is "inventing a whole new genre" or whatever, because it looks like Fahrenheit with better graphics and a slightly different QTE UI.

So, it's GET READY! instead of GET READY! ?

[lobotomy42]

This is pretty much how I feel. After AdventureGamers.com feeding his ego with his own private Q&A forum years ago and him talking nonstop about how revolutionary and real his games are (as well as inserting himself directly in that demo), only to see about what exactly Indigo Prophecy amounted to (Secret societies and supernatural elements? Come on, we've got Charles Cecil screwing around already) that he's sort of just become a running joke to me once the uncanny valley boasting started.

On one hand, it sucks, because I feel personally people with such an overinflated sense of self shouldn't be encouraged and that maybe a more idealistic yet humble game designer can garner some attention based on merit instead of artificial hype.

I suppose a lot of this comes with being a name brand game designer, but it seems like the guy forced himself to become one before Indigo Prophecy was released and after Omikron, which I don't remember many people talking about.

So yeah, Cage's hype machine is just out of control and it's hilarious, especially when I see people defend how mature Heavy Rain is supposed to be when all of the game videos I've seen so far seem like pressing buttons over the movie True Lies or something.

The one thing I will say in David Cage's defense was that he wrote a great post-mortem for Indigo Prophecy / Fahrenheit over at gamasutra. He was very honest about the game's faults, and you can see how the thoughts he had in the post-mortem lead (today) to Heavy Rain. One that really sticks out to me was his observation that people will only accept one major change outside the bounds of reality, and this is part of the reason IP/F's ending was so unsatisfying -- it simply piled on the crazy. And now, here we are with Heavy Rain, which he promises will be (almost) a completely straightforward story, with little-to-no supernatural stuff.

Yeah, he's still a bit of a tool who would clearly rather be in film school. But at least he's capable of learning!

[juv3nal]

code for early demo access is available if you're willing to jump through some registration hoops and play a bit of their promo web game thing:

http://kotaku.com/5464839/want-the-heavy-rain-demo-right-now-heres-how

[Thyroid]

The more I see, the less

. That kid has got to be the stupidest motherfucker this side of Bedlam. He may qualify as being legally retarded.

I think I am going to buy this game and then just try and break it. Just run in the opposite direction or something. See what happens.

As it is, it looks like playing by the rules will just bore you to death.

(PS: David Cage: get a half-way decent writer for your dialogue, you chimp.)

(PPS: Also, those characters look like they have plastic bags over their faces. Some creepy-ass, punk-ass shit going on there.)

[Cigol]

I actually thought the first scene in the demo was extremely realistic myself. Not sure how to describe it exactly, but the characters had a weight and roundedness to them that was very lifelike. It seemed to lose some of that once you'd switched over to the FBI guys sequence, where it became very muddy and of a lower detail (presumably because it was raining and in a larger outdoor area), but I'm not sure about the scene in your youtube link as I rushed through the first part of the demos FBI sequence and my guy just drove home

I also thought the quick-time-events (which are a constant source of criticism here and elsewhere) were brilliantly executed too! I never enjoyed them in the original Fahrenheit but Heavy Rains implementation was very effective in making you feel a part of the action, and it flowed seamlessly from one sequence to the next. I suppose if you're just watching it as a spectator or going out of your way to intentionally break it then the illusion is diminished but as someone playing the game as intended it was both exciting and involving.

Okay so the dialogue wasn't perfect, and neither were the controls (which are something of an abomination) and I can see that they haven't done enough to shake off the demons of the past (which means a torrent of criticism is incoming)... there also doesn't appear to be any real gameplay innovations outside of the graphics and QTE's... but as someone who mostly enjoyed the original Fahrenheit and found the demo of Heavy Rain reassuring I'm pretty stoked. It's just disappointing it looks like it's going to be another serving of marmite.

[Thyroid]

How'd you play the demo? E3? Apparently it's not out on PSN till the 11th.

[Cigol]

Oh right, I thought you were talking about the demo - guess that scene isn't in it. juv3nal already posted the method for getting it above, doesn't take more than a few clicks if you read that.

[Thrik]

Heh, interesting.

I'm going to skip the demo though, because Fahrenheit's was awesome but not particularly representative of how the entire game would play. I'm just taking a leap of faith on this.

I do really like how the 24-esque split-screen effect is used again, though. When it was used in Fahrenheit it genuinely added a lot of dramatic tension — the only other game I can think of that's used it reasonably well is Metal Gear Solid 4, but it wasn't used much.

[syntheticgerbil]

The more I see, the less

. That kid has got to be the stupidest motherfucker this side of Bedlam. He may qualify as being legally retarded.

Oh wow, this video looks like Playstation Home with erratic button pressing directions surrounding your character. Everything is just ugly about this, but I think it's been said before in this thread.

[Thyroid]

Destructoid: "Heavy Rain wishes to be compared to movies, but it is very lucky to be a Video game, where poor narrative is more readily forgiven." Not sure what they mean, since most movies that eventually arrive at cinemas have pretty shitty writing, but fine.

The reviewer is pretty undecided about a lot of things. "If anything, Heavy Rain deserves to be played simply to see the potential of games in this style. In the hands of better writers and the throats of better voice actors, a game like Heavy Rain could be absolutely amazing. This particular game is good in many ways, and is truly a trailblazer, but it falls short of its own ambitions, possibly because it thought it was so clever that it didn't try harder. The game's plot is awful in many ways, yet it still made me wrack my brains over who the Origami Killer may be. The gameplay is more smoke-and-mirrors than life-or-death, yet it still shook my nerves and provided me with some fast-paced excitement that I won't soon forget."

The bit about the "better writers" is so true, though. Lame-as-impotence writing going on in that game.

Anyways, Eurogamer is a bit happier with it, even if the review read as more of a 7 to me.

What really irks me is that there is so much potential here that David Cage never even thought of. I mean, the FBI guy

has a drug problem. Why not make that part of the actual gameplay? Let's say you need to give him drugs, but sparingly, to continue that line of investigation. Overuse it, and he overdoses. Don't use it enough, and he's fuck-all useless. Give him a really good part of the story to make this essential

. There's so many bits like that...gah I hate you, David Cage.

Edited February 15, 2010 by Kroms
Fixed link; removed crappy words.

[Erkki]

I sometimes skip to the last paragraphs and score when reading Eurogamer reviews. However, I'm finding it quite hard to do in the case of Heavy Rain. The beginnings of paragraphs in reverse order:

It would be a shame to look past Heavy Rain for these reasons, however...

Heavy Rain also won't be for everyone. ...

Of course, there are also a few technical weaknesses. ...

Nor is it a technical wimp. ...

Heavy Rain can't be accused of narrative dysfunction either. ...

However, while the writing sometimes lacks poetry or restraint, ...

Elsewhere though there is evidence of actors speaking in their second language from time to time, ...

Other ideas, built around Ethan Mars' fear of being in crowds and the after-effects of his head injury, are more successful...

[ok, it stops here]

[Thyroid]

I decided not to get this for > $30. Fuck David Cage. Fuck him with a steel-necked giraffe. I'm playing Indigo Prophecy, and..."New movie"? "Shooting set"? Ugh. Is there going to be a director's cut special edition somewhere?

I mean, the game is fine so far (it's far more about illusion of choice than actual consequences; I

just saved the drowning kid, who is an idiot; Cage seems to think that all children are morons by default

), but his sweaty dick smells throughout, a misty ego that sticks in my hair and won't go away when I shower. As such, I won't be getting Heavy Rain on full price.

[toblix]

He's a regular Adolf Hitler, that guy.

[Garple]

He's a regular Adolf Hitler, that guy.

He eats kids.

[Murdoc]

Ok I might be insensative to this since i couldn't make it passed 2 minutes in the demo before shutting it off... but...

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ps3/heavyrain

What fucking universe did a fall into this week? Do I need to give this demo another shot? I didn't see anything closely related to a game/entertainment in my 2 minutes of getting sick of pressing uncomfortable sets of buttons to do mundane tasks... ok that description made it sound too much like gameplay.

[castorp]

Recently I read this...

[...] That's what makes David Cage's Heavy Rain blog over at IGN so incredible. This shit didn't come from the marketing department, I'll tell you that much. This guy is a fucking wreck - he's barely making it through the day. The clutch of the creative process, as experienced by Cage, is indistinguishable from a mental illness. Heavy Rain is a symptom of his condition, and he is expelling it from his mind piece by piece in an effort to save his own life.

There's simply no question that the man is a father.[...]

Haven't read it yet, but it sounds quite interesting. Sounds like this child-eating Adolf-guy might have a beating heart after all.

[Chris]

Destructoid: "Heavy Rain wishes to be compared to movies, but it is very lucky to be a Video game, where poor narrative is more readily forgiven." Not sure what they mean, since most movies that eventually arrive at cinemas have pretty shitty writing, but fine.

Not having read the review, I think it's still pretty clear what he means is that movies don't get a free pass for shitty writing, but games do. Movies with poor writing can still be successful, but they aren't very likely to be held up as fine examples of their form.

[syntheticgerbil]

Ok I might be insensative to this since i couldn't make it passed 2 minutes in the demo before shutting it off... but...

http://www.metacritic.com/games/platforms/ps3/heavyrain

What fucking universe did a fall into this week? Do I need to give this demo another shot? I didn't see anything closely related to a game/entertainment in my 2 minutes of getting sick of pressing uncomfortable sets of buttons to do mundane tasks... ok that description made it sound too much like gameplay.

Ho-lee shit. Those scores are almost ridiculous for any game, I would say. I guess you wouldn't want to be that critic. Don't want to lose those advertising dollars as well.

If a lot of people enjoyed the game, that's fine, but I seriously can't believe there's not at least one person who is publishing a review calling it complete shit. This tends to happen a lot around games with enormous amounts of hype, and it's hard to understand the reasoning and actual enjoyment until the dust has settled months later.

And ending with a quote I found in a user review:

"it makes me sad that a game like this gets a 9.5 and trash like GTA 4 gets a 10. Disgusting."

Edited February 15, 2010 by syntheticgerbil

[Thyroid]

Gamespot and Giant Bomb are missing. Maybe Sony's stopping anyone from publishing a bad review by enforcing embargo? In my experience, embargo usually lifts one day before release, so it's weird that at least two of those reviews were published three weeks ago.

Anyways, I wouldn't put much stock in game critics. No offense to anyone here who does it, but the majority of it is terrible. Most of it is just a hype measuring stick. Thumbs was one of the handful of exceptions, which is why I post here.

He's a regular Adolf Hitler, that guy.

I just dislike that he wants to be a movie director so badly that he actually has you click "New Movie" instead of "New Game". That "shooting set" is embarrassing.

The ego just makes it worse. Everything considered, I don't mind a bit of ego, but the work better live up to it. You can't go around producing mediocre "interactive movie"s, though, and then decide you should be eligible for an Oscar. It's the kind of thing that Hideo Kojima indulges in, and part of the reason why I dislike him so much as well.

[Murdoc]

And ending with a quote I found in a user review:

"it makes me sad that a game like this gets a 9.5 and trash like GTA 4 gets a 10. Disgusting."

I think my mind blanked that out while glancing at it the first time.

Yeah, don't get me wrong, I hear people like it, that's fine, I didn't "get" it, but from my opinion + many other various different opinions I'm really surprised to see there is not even a little bit of dissension.

[syntheticgerbil]

I think my mind blanked that out while glancing at it the first time.

Yeah, don't get me wrong, I hear people like it, that's fine, I didn't "get" it, but from my opinion + many other various different opinions I'm really surprised to see there is not even a little bit of dissension.

Complete agreement. Maybe there can be one review just giving the game a perfect 100 because it's hilarious to rewind, speed up, and slow down time.

This also kind of pissed me off:

Gamepro:

PROS: Superbly crafted story; believable characters; expertly evokes an emotional response from the player.

CONS: Some may not be willing to accept the breaking of traditional gaming concepts.

No part of this con is spoken about in the meat of the review, so whatever they are trying to say, to me it seems like it's just leaving it as, "If you don't like this game, you must have a closed mind."

[Korax]

"If you don't like this game, you must have a closed mind."

TRUTH. The game is so obviously revolutionary that you'd have to be a cold, emotionless robot not to immediately fall victim to seizures of orgasmic ecstasy the very moment you hit "New Game." (IGN.com)

(Alternately: New Game? More like "You Came!" - IGN.com)

[Thrik]

To be fair, despite Fahrenheit committing many of the same gameplay atrocities if it hadn't gone completely mental with the plot I'd most likely have given it a similarly high score.