Heavy Rain

    Given it a quick go and first impressions are very good. The demo was cool but didn't really win me over as it was mostly a demonstration of technology, whereas in the full game I've only been introduced to one character and the first major thing that happens to him, yet I'm already completely invested in his story and found it hard to stop playing. The whole opening sequence is pretty powerful too.

    The gameplay can hardly be considered taxing, yet it's somehow completely engaging — even when the action scene consists of little more than frantically checking your pockets or walking through a crowd.

    Quote from Erratic

    Innovation in being 2 steps shy of a movie.

    That's not really the point. The point is that the audience is prepared for something different, if it's done right.

    Quote from arhurt

    That's not really the point. The point is that the audience is prepared for something different, if it's done right.

    But...it's not.

    Oh yeah, forgot to mention I finished this last week. While I'm all too aware of the fact it is exceedingly linear (apart from the multiple paths obviously), I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed every single moment of playing the game — and I can't say that about too many games. It's pretty easy to spot how certain actions basically toggle certain scenes in the game, but it does give a weird feeling of control.

    I dunno, I wouldn't want many games like this but it's nice to have one every few years (Quantic Dream's Fahrenheit being the last example obviously). I'd definitely like to see a third.

    My problem with the way Heavy Rain does it is it is still very much contrived by the gamepad. They've been very smart from what I can see (I haven't played it yet) in their justification of controls, and the icons themselves are as unnoticeable as they could be, but the gamepad is still very much in my hands when playing and that usually destroys this particular immersion they are trying to convey.

    I think we are going to see this kind of design become more and more present through the use of Natal, Move, and other new hardware to come. You remove the gamepad, and suddenly you can finally act like you're in a movie.

    The final achievement will be to make the potential game over moments planned in the whole game. The best game to have done this for me was Sands of Time. If told in a past tense by the main protagonist, him saying " Wait, that's not how it happened" and seeing the game rewind like a movie tape would, that would definitely sell me.

    Until we can do this, I still prefer playing a game that makes me feel in a game, rather than a game that makes me feel I'm in a movie.

    I played Heavy Rain until my save file corrupted and I was having a great time actually. If anything, it makes you laugh at how cheesy and bad some of the scenes were made!

    Quote

    (the scene where you have to change the diapers of a baby, or even cook an egg, ROTFL, wtf. But hey, I bet you never did that in a game before!

    )

    Art wise, it's top notch stuff. both characters, and environments, gotta give 'em that.

    prolly will give it a second chance when my gf comes over this week.

    The Heavy Rain is a fantastic game. The boldness that it brings combined with its efforts in innovation are to be looked upon as something great. I played entirely as quick time events.The game is different, but I like the game.It is the game that can be enjoyable and compelling and with so many endings,the game has a high level of re playability.

    Finally got to play this on my friend's PS3... my God the visuals are fantastic.. they're not perfect but they are stunning. The gameplay is pretty neatly done, lots of different choices to make about what actions you take or don't do that effect the outcome of the game. Came across a major glitch though, where Ethan's wife's neck twisted around in some kind of japanese horror-take off and just stood there frozen.. really quite creepy lol! Couldn't progress from here for some reason, his kids just carried on playing instead of triggering the next scene, so we had to skip ahead...

    Someone tell me why

    Quote

    you must make Ethan shower but Madison's is optional.. what's up with that?

    Oh and I completely sucked balls during

    Quote

    Madison's dream, she'd be so dead if that was for real

    Quote from D3ads

    Someone tell me why

    Oh and I completely sucked balls during

    Madison's dream, she'd be so dead if that was for real

    Cos ethan shower is still part of the "tutorial" of the game, it's a perfect scene to teach you some of the controls.

    my gf loved the game, she played it in almost a single play trough, Jesus, never seen her this hooked in a game, lol.

    Ethan showering is the one of best parts of the game -- or at least this is how I think the game is working with the typical hardcore gamer heterosexual 18-30 male who would own a PS3 and think to purchase this game:

    Are you feeling so uneasy at watching another dude shower? Are you afraid it makes you gay, that someone will walk in on you playing and think of you "in the worst way possible?" Just keep chanting "no homo" while playing it. Then everything will be okay.

    But wouldn't you expect a guy to shower at the start of the day? A lot of men shower every day -- does that fact make you uncomfortable? It's completely logical and reasonable in the sense of the narrative, that it is just another normal day.

    It's the male gaze vs. the female gaze. It's mandatory because you wouldn't have made him shower otherwise.

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