Topic: Heavy Rain

[broodwars]

I have to admit, I was extremely skeptical of Heavy Rain ever since it was announced.  I have heard some rather unkind things about Quantic Dream's previous game, Indigo Prophesy, and many of the interviews I had read on this game made it seem incredibly pretentious and full of Peter Molyneux-esque promises that wouldn't likely be upheld.  However, the trailers looked interesting and when the demo came out last week, I gave it a shot and really liked it.  The voice acting and character models seem really spotty in places; some of the button pressing events are a little obnoxious (I particularly don't care for the twister-esque sequences where you hold down strings of buttons at once); and the movement controls are abysmal in close quarters, but I found the story very interesting and the emphasis on your choices intriguing.  Of course, I'm also a big fan of P&C Adventure games, and this game is very much a modern incarnation of that genre.

So, is anyone else looking forward to the release of Heavy Rain next week (2/23/2010) on the PS3?  I was going to wait until the game dropped in price a little (as is kind of inevitable given how niche-y this game is), but I found I needed a game to fill in the gap between Bioshock 2 and Final Fantasy XIII in March.  Besides, it has been a long time since I've seen a really good detective murder movie (not since...geez..."Copycat"?).  I also really like that the pre-order bonus is actual additional gameplay in the form of a code for the first "episode" of the DLC adventures (which feature the Heavy Rain characters before and after the events of the main game), and Amazon has it for sale for $55.

[GoldenPhoenix]

I am broke so no game buying for me for quite awhile, but I am definitely interested in this.

[Plugabugz]

I played this at that expo last year and went through a several-minute actiony sequence. I was sold then.

However, the launch price seems to be around £38. I will just wait.

[NWR_Neal]

I played the demo the other day and it was enjoyable. I don't know if I'll get it at launch, but I definitely want to play this game sometime soon.

I need more time to play all these games...

[ShyGuy]

Yeah, I tried the demo too, and in spite of the controls I enjoyed it. I'm always in favor of more adventure games.

But who thought these controls were a good idea? They were cleary designed for motion control (the developers have said as much in an interview) but even then, they just seem random and disconnected from what's happening on screen. It truly feels like they designed the game then went back to figure out where they could make it interactive.

I liked finding the clues and the conversation weren't bad, but I could see the quick time events driving me crazy.

[ThePerm]

heavy rain sounds like the rebirth of the adventure genre

[GearBoxClock]

As long as the game doesn't have the sudden change of plot that Indigo Prophecy did, this could be good.

[Stogi]

I played the demo and it is SOOOOOOOOOOOO SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.

Sorry to do that, but it really was. It's not even slow in like a "Mist" game type fashion, it's just slow because it wants to be a movie more than a game.

[broodwars]

I played the demo and it is SOOOOOOOOOOOO SLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW

WWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW.

Sorry to do that, but it really was. It's not even slow in like a "Mist" game type fashion, it's just slow because it wants to be a movie more than a game.

Considering the developers have said they're going for a very cinematic-style presentation, that's fair enough.  To also be fair, though, the Adventure genre has traditionally been incredibly slow so this is nothing new.

[BlackNMild2k1]

I watched a video of the 1st 9 minutes so that I even knew what this game was. It was 9 minutes of waking up and getting dressed in the morning.
He sat up in bed, looked at a picture, took a shower and brushed his teeth. Now I'm hoping that is just the introduction to the game for controls and interface and not something you have to do all the time.

What is this game even about?
I caught my girl looking up PS3 on an Ebay auction and my birthday is this next week. so I might be looking for PS3 games pretty soon.

[Stogi]

Since when is the adventure genre this slow though? It's mind-numbingly boring.

For example, the OPENING SCENE of a demo mind you...a DEMO, usually demo's are filled with a hook, but I'm getting off topic. The opening scene of the demo has you "Open the car. You can open the car slow if you'd like. Take your time, no rush here. Oh, so you finally made it out the car. Well I invite you to walk down this alley in a incredibly slow fashion. Seems pretty easy, right? I bet you can't do it with a REVERSE ANGLE!......alright, I lied. That's pretty easy as well. But wait! Now you have to slide yourself between the dumpster and the wall. This could be kinda tricky so take it real slow. Nicely done. Now continue to walk down this alley for another 5 minutes for the **** of it."

[broodwars]

I watched a video of the 1st 9 minutes so that I even knew what this game was. It was 9 minutes of waking up and getting dressed in the morning.
He sat up in bed, looked at a picture, took a shower and brushed his teeth. Now I'm hoping that is just the introduction to the game for controls and interface and not something you have to do all the time.

What is this game even about?

From what I've heard, Heavy Rain has one hell of a slow opening with mundane tasks like you saw dedicated to teaching you how the game plays and introducing you to the characters, but that that is by far the worst part of the game.  Thankfully, the game allegedly picks up not too long after that.

As for what the game is about, well...I'll let this this trailer do most of the talking but suffice to say it's a murder mystery with 4 separate people trying to track down a serial killer known as the the Origami Killer, their stories intertwining in places.

[Caliban]

Since when is the adventure genre this slow though? It's mind-numbingly boring.

I would say it has the right pace. You played a game that is in essence an evolution of the point and click adventure genre, which was an evolution of the text based adventure games. They all have a similar pacing.

It's hard to do a demo for such a kind of game, but for the type of game it is, I think it was well made.

[ShyGuy]

Guided First Person shooters and Interactive Heavy Rain movies.  I can't wait to see how next gen further cripples game interaction.

I look forward to Gears of War 4:Books on Tape!

[Caliban]

Guided First Person shooters

Rail-on shooters? lol Got plenty of those on the Wii...

[broodwars]

Guided First Person shooters and Interactive Heavy Rain movies.  I can't wait to see how next gen further cripples game interaction.

I look forward to Gears of War 4:Books on Tape!

Whatever.  If this were a Wii game, I'm sure the usual suspects would be all over this.  I'm actually surprised you mock the game's interaction as "crippling" considering the game constantly asks you to make choices and then replicate actions on-screen using button commands and control stick gestures that are often reasonable reproductions of real-life interactions.  Wait, what does that remind me of...oh yes, something like Zack & Wiki, a much-lauded Wii Adventure game that was especially praised for its interactivity.  In fact, I'm kind of surprised that Quanticdream is releasing this before Arc comes out, because they could have easily held this game back to incorporate Sony's new motion controller and the game seemingly wouldn't be all that different.

[NWR_insanolord]

I wouldn't be interested in this regardless of what platform it were on. Then again, I wasn't interested in Zack & Wiki, either.

[broodwars]

I wouldn't be interested in this regardless of what platform it were on. Then again, I wasn't interested in Zack & Wiki, either.

That's fair enough.  This is a niche game that will appeal to some people and alienate many, which makes me wonder just how well Sony really thinks this will sell.  My point is that you can dislike this game for many legitimate things (I listed but a few problems in my original post, and several others have stated others), but anyone who complains that this game is lacking in interaction ("cripppling", even) obviously has no idea what they're talking about (and are probably just assuming it's a modern-day version of something like Dragon's Lair).

[Ymeegod]

I'll back up Brood .

I loved Indigo Prophecy myself and you really should try it IMO.  Yeah if you're looking for fast action look than look else where's because most of the action came from button-sequences.  But it was the story telling that was king :0.

Heavy Rain amps it up because YOU are the story.  Your actions effects the story in so many ways it's almost unthinkable.  How many games lets the story continue if your main character dies?

As for the rest you can just reviews--it's getting 9/10.  The game is similar to the Shenmue series where the charm is what you make out of the world not by the fights.

[broodwars]

I've actually been interested in Indigo Prophesy since Jonny had that long discussion of it back on the RFN "Adventure Game" episode.  However, although a copy is relatively easy to obtain, it's incompatible with my 80 GB PS3.  Maybe Sony will eventually put it up on the PSN and I'll get a chance to try it.

[NWR_insanolord]

I wouldn't be interested in this regardless of what platform it were on. Then again, I wasn't interested in Zack & Wiki, either.

That's fair enough.  This is a niche game that will appeal to some people and alienate many, which makes me wonder just how well Sony really thinks this will sell.  My point is that you can dislike this game for many legitimate things (I listed but a few problems in my original post, and several others have stated others), but anyone who complains that this game is lacking in interaction ("cripppling", even) obviously has no idea what they're talking about (and are probably just assuming it's a modern-day version of something like Dragon's Lair).

From the sound of it, it's not lacking in interaction. It's got too much interaction if it makes you do actions for all those little things.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Guided First Person shooters and Interactive Heavy Rain movies.  I can't wait to see how next gen further cripples game interaction.

I look forward to Gears of War 4:Books on Tape!

Whatever.  If this were a Wii game, I'm sure the usual suspects would be all over this.  I'm actually surprised you mock the game's interaction as "crippling" considering the game constantly asks you to make choices and then replicate actions on-screen using button commands and control stick gestures that are often reasonable reproductions of real-life interactions.  Wait, what does that remind me of...oh yes, something like Zack & Wiki, a much-lauded Wii Adventure game that was especially praised for its interactivity.  In fact, I'm kind of surprised that Quanticdream is releasing this before Arc comes out, because they could have easily held this game back to incorporate Sony's new motion controller and the game seemingly wouldn't be all that different.

They can always patch it later or release the Arc Edition and maybe get people to double dip or at the very least breathe some new awareness back into the title.

[broodwars]

From the sound of it, it's not lacking in interaction. It's got too much interaction if it makes you do actions for all those little things.

Yeah, that's one of my beefs with it.  I really don't find the idea of spending the opening minutes of the game waving my Dualshock 3 around to simulate my character "shaving" all that fascinating, among other tedious tasks.  The game's ambitious, I'll give them that.  For its faults in over-reaching on the interaction, though, I did feel when it worked that I was really drawn into the moment.  Hell, that's the same philosophy I've had to adopt with Wii games, come to think of it.

[NWR_insanolord]

Being ambitious isn't enough, though. Just look at Scribblenauts.

[BlackNMild2k1]

It would be a perfect Arc showcase title.

hold the wand up to your own face and shave/brush your teeth.
I'm sure it will be one of the first games patched for compatibility.