Heavy Rain (PS3 game)

I finished that lol. That however was not epic gaming. Ocarina of Time was epic gaming. Windwaker was one man and his boat with graphics from a crazed 5 year old who vomited crayons.

 

Yeah, Wind Waker wasn't a fun game.

 

you have a point but i don't think the exclusiveness its the main reason people rebel against the game. You hit it right on the head everything is a correct guess and if people are ending this game in 1 day and the makers told you not to play it again afterwards there is a reason why i did'nt buy it. I borrowed it from my friend who ended it in 2 and played on my bro PS3 and was not entertained at all. Shit for the matter Uncharted is more gripping and compelling. QTE is so old and played that you could'nt possibly say that it entertaining the most knowing Shenmue does'nt better. The game look good at but its still Meh!!! 4 years too late plain and simple.

 

Personally I appreciate games that offer 100% substance, short length or linearity doesn't bother me in the slightest.

What part of the 90's would be the "glory days of gaming"? Fuck, most awesome NES and SNES games can be finished in mere hours, doesn't make them less awesome.

 

Right, just finished the demo. Yes very impressive graphics I'll give it that but a few things pissed me off:

1. Terrible camera angles, the fixated camera angles feel very cheap and it made me feel as though I've never actually walked forward in my life before.

2. Absolutely crazy control scheme and on-screen commands. Seems like a very gimmicky selling point of this game. I did indeed like the whole "react to this punch" aspect during the fight scene but there's simply no reason for it to be present when walking up a slight slope. I will be honest I failed quite a lot on those on-screen commands I could not tell whether it wanted me to rapidly press, hold down the button or hold down the button while simultaneously holding down other buttons. Conclusion - mind rape.

3. During the forensic part of the demo due to the shitty camera angles I had to get myself in a specific spot then walk around in circles to see the new bits of information I had not yet investigated.

4. When talking to the NPC's or when holding L2 the options are all moving about. This was actually very annoying for me; I don't see why they wouldn't just be stationary so I could actually read what each button does before being overlapped by the text of another button. I'm a good reader but in order for me to read something effectively I must take my time otherwise the words are just passing through my head without linking any meaning to them.

5. Lack of a run button. Ties in with the problem of the camera angle - you think you're walking in the correct direction but instead you move backwards, have to turn around and walk painfully slowly back again. As a side note I can only assume that the lack of a run button would actually be very inconvenient for the few which are trying to run through (pun intended) the game multiple times to get the different endings.

These were a few problems I encountered just from playing the demo. I'm sure the fact that this game is particularly short will also be a bad point for most.

RPG games, for me, are all about character development I cannot see characters being developed very well if you can complete the game in a single day.

Also for a short game will it really make you want to play it again? Imagine you buy the game for £40 on a friday and come sunday the game is already beaten. Is the game really that good that you will play through multiple times - just for a different ending? Considering even the developers suggest deterring from playing through the game more than once I would suggest not. Is there even anything to encourage you to play through multiple times? An example would be in the MGS series you complete the game and on the next several playthroughs you get new items (such as active camouflage) MGS is probably the only game (infact series of games) I've ever felt compelled to play through multiple times.

Enjoy your short-lived, terribly thought out game mechanics in Heavy Rain while I am on my Xbox playing Lost Odyssey in all of its well written, well developed, incredible story line and excellent sound track glory!

EDIT for minor grammar issues and the overuse of the word "simply" in this post was driving me nuts!

 

Quite a few people couldn't get on board with the games graphics, after ocarina, but how any core gamer could say the game wasn't fun, blows my mind. I guess we all find different things fun.

The Toon shaded, real-time, per pixel graphics of Windwaker are technically really difficult to achieve on the Gamecube's hardware; and wasn't successfully imitated on either the ps2 or the Xbox, or on the PS3/360/Wii or PC for that matter.

Windwaker's Toon shader isn't the same as trivial shader code you see on graphics programming websites on the internet. The renderer is far more sophisticated, giving a far more plausible hand drawn cartoon crayon effect. Similar in the same way Valkyria Chronicles has a unique artistic style with its' canvas engine (that uses a painterly effect for brush strokes using a particle placement system).

Personally, the artistic charm of the rendering brought the game to life for me, ocarina was great, but like twilight princess, a little bit too many puzzles for puzzles sake, and sterile at times; I felt the story telling was much improved in Windwaker and evocative.

I particularly loved being at sea with my talking boat, especially in the daytime when the accompanying music (through my AV receiver) was very uplifting, and the blue crayon with white top swirl waves passed by my boat, giving me time to marvel at the physics simulation of the boat's transparent cloth sail; happy days.


Back on topic.
Over the years I've spent money on many other games that claimed to be the next big experience; some have succeeded and the majority have failed. So I may as well add Heavy Rain to list in the next month or two, it will probably be worth it, just to find out for myself; buying overrated games is probably a lesser crime, than missing out on great games. Getting my first version of Virtua Fighter (VF5) so late seemed like a crime.

 

Lost O was good? You cange the camera angles.

Heavy Rain was awesome looking fotward to my second play thru.

 

I feel the need to respond to a couple of your points.

There are 2 points to be made about this. First, the camera angles are purposeful in that this game plays more like a movie. The angles are designed for maximum impact on the scene. Second, pressing L1 will switch to another camera angle in case you're having difficulty locating certain things within the scene. Almost always this second camera angle is not fixed, floating behind the caracter. Only one time in the entire game did I find the camera angle difficult, but you were supposed to be "lost" during that scene.

The reason for a lot of "mundane" actions requiring button presses is because there are dozens (if not hundreds) of actions that you can fail at during the game which will effect the outcome of the scene or the ending of the game. If only the important actions appeared, you would lose a lot of the surprise of the game.

This is one of the best features of the game, imo. There are times in the full game when you must say something in the heat of the moment, or your thoughts are "blurry" so not being able to clearly identify all the dialogue choices adds to the intensity or immersion of the scene. Also, the choices will only stay on screen for so long before they go away and your character says nothing (which also changes the game). Its clear to me that the designers of the game wanted moments where you had to say the first thing on your mind, probably a response you were already thinking about, so its the first response your eyes are drawn to on screen.

I can understand this argument, but Heavy Rain is not a game which you are meant to beat as fast as possible. Plus, if your character is running everywhere (such as from your desk to the coffee machine) it would just look stupid. How many times a day do you actually run from one place to another?

Again, this is NOT an RPG. Its actually classified as "interactive drama". There are no stats, no (typical) progression, no health bars, ect. There IS character progression, but its akin to the arc of a book or a movie. If you went into this game expecting an RPG, I can see how you would be disappointed.

I have to say, at 12 hours, this game is much longer than I expected. But I (like Jeneric) don't put the value of a game as number of hours played. I'd rather play a great 8 hour game than a shitty 100 hour one. And I will play though the game again (and I'll certainly play the DLC episodes), but it won't be for a while. The most interesting thing I've found about this game is talking to other people who have played it (or watching other people) to see how their experiences have differed from mine. Its almost like a multiplayer game in a strange way, but the overall experience is yours alone.

I'd like to say in closing that if you don't like this kind of game, thats fine. There are going to be a lot of gamers out there who simply don't like it. Every game is that way. I just wanted to address some of the misconceptions of the game that you brought up in your post, to educate other people who might have questions about Heavy Rain.

 

Heavy Rain is an RPG for the purpose that you are playing the "role" of each of the characters.

Increasing stats and 'developing character' is just what modern day game designers do, they try to categorize everything. And then clone it, over and over and over again.

However, Heavy Rain is very interesting game. I didn't think it was good at first, because the start was very slow and linear and didn't feel like a game. Now my opinion has changed. Im also taking my time with HR, Im in no rush. I like things that are different and original. Being film noir instead of Japanese crayon-fantasies feels refreshing too.

 

I agree with White_worm's analysis of why the game's mechanics are the way they are; even from only playing and watching the demo, I can see many of those comments are completely true.

That is a very good line for reviewing a game that might not land straight away, by being mindful of your own initial disappointment and commenting on it, helps remove some of that obstacle for others.

I'm happy to perceiver with any game provided the reward and justification of playing eventually arrives.

How many hours play time I get is an irrelevance, provided the lasting impression is a positive one; and even more so if the game develops a new gaming genre or breaks new technical or artistic ground.

 

I was going to post saying that this game IS an RPG but Manji already pointed out why.

I was discussing with my friend why Heavy Rain even exists as a game. They call it a sort of "interactive movie" so my question is this: why is it NOT an interactive movie?

For a game of this type one of the selling points for some is that it has multiple endings.

I don't know of many people who would play a game over and over to see the different endings that would just become tiresome and chore-like.

It should instead have just been released as an interactive movie. I would happily watch a 1-2hour long film over and over to see the possible different endings and twists of the story but I would most certainly not spend 10hours going through a game multiple times.

I think the reason why this game grinds my gears is that everyone is hyping this game to a stupid level. How can a game of this sort possibly be hyped? Heavy Rain appeals to a pretty niche audience. If VF5R/VF5:FS were to be released I would never expect Sega to be hyping the game, this is because we on VFDC are a niche audience of gamers (or atleast the ones among us who spend the time reading up on our characters strategies/frame data, similar to how a poker player would read odds/poker books, and how a chess player would study round openings and different situations)

Oh well, Heavy Rain is just yet another PS3 exclusive which doesn't do it for me.

PS3 exclusives are really lacking for me the only ones I have enjoyed so far are:

Uncharted (not bought U2 yet!)
MGS4
SARPBC

I would put MAG in that list but I was discussing with my friend earlier how pointless MAG actually is as a game. For those of you that do not know MAG is completely based around teamwork and communication. In the 128v128 player mode (called domination) the 2 sides are compromised of 16 8-player squads and in each squad 1 of the players is assigned to squad leader. In every 4 squads (or 32 players, also known as a platoon) there is 1 platoon leader and out of the entire 128 players 1 is assigned to OIC (Officer in Command). Now that sounds all well and good doesn't it? But you see it's not. The game features clans but there is no possibility at this point in the game for clan matches as you can only enter games with an 8 player squad (you and 7 friends/clan members) and you cannot set up private matches to organise your own clan matches. Your 8 player squad may play out of your skin but the simple fact is that if the other 120 players don't pull their weight your efforts are in vain.

TL;DR: MAG is a quality game with very good networking (dedicated servers) but lack of ability for clan matches in a team based game is stupendous. Also when playing it's as if you're only playing with your own 8 player squad as there is seldom any sort of communication from other team mates. I blame this on the fact that the PS3 does not come with a mic and neither does the game.

I completely went off-topic with MAG right there but I feel as though I must vent my frustration on PS3 games that don't live up to their potential.

 

You assume the role of a character or multiple characters in most games and i'm pretty sure that 98% of the games out there are not RPG's, Heavy Rain has elements that are common to all videogames but I can't see any that are specific to the RPG genre. If you can, then name them pleasey.

"Sort of" as in no one said that at all but i'm going to read it like that for arguments sake?

I like how you mention a game that has less then two hours of gameplay in a thread where all you've done is moan about the length of a 8 - 12 hour videogame.

 

Less than 2 hours of gameplay in MGS4? You're crazy there's more than 2 hours of gameplay in MGS4.

Besides I also played MGS4 ONLINE aka MGO.

I got a good 100+ hours out of MGO before they came out with a patch that made Narc Lvl 3 take up 3 skill spots.

So yes, for me MGS4 certainly gave me good value for money and when my friend gives me my copy back I'll happily play through it again.

Give me a ring when Heavy Rain gets online capabilities so that the game actually has replay value bro!

 

I presumed you was talking about MGS4 single player, didn't think you was deluded enough to compare MGO to Heavy Rain but seeing as you compared Lost Odyssey to Heavy Rain earlier I should have known.

 

What would you use online for?

 

I never even compared MGS to Heavy Rain in the first place that was all you.

And yes, thinking about it, you're right Lost Odyssey is not comparable to Heavy Rain because it's out of its league!

 

In this day and age there's no reason for games not to have multiplayer. Even RE5 had multiplayer which was a first for that series, I never would have expected an RE game to be playable online.

Even Demon Souls is playable online, which, correct me if I'm wrong is a first for a hack and slash style game (such as DMC and Ninja Gaiden).

Thinking about it Heavy Rain should not even be the price of a full retail game when it only has 8-12hours of gameplay and no multiplayer capability.

Full retail price is excusable on single player only games when they have as much gameplay in them as RPG's do.

If Heavy Rain is less about playing the game than watching how the game develops maybe I should just watch a youtube playthrough of the game.

 

Its exactly this type of thinking that is destroying the diversity of the gaming industry. If you prefer multiplayer games thats fine, but why would you suggest that single-player games should never be made again, simply because we have the internet now? Personally I like single-player campaigns and co-op games, I'm not a big fan of cookie-cutter FPS online deathmatch games, but my girlfriend is. I understand why she plays games like that and I don't have a problem with it.

What I have a problem with is when developers feel the need to shoehorn a multiplayer component into every game now. Take Bioshock 2 for example. When I finished the first one, I didn't say to myself "this game is garbage because it doesn't have online". The game was a great narrative with a lot of intellectual properties. Bioshock 2 DOES have deathmatch and the consensus is that it sucks. So instead of being a step above the first game, BS2 is not quite as good as the first one and has a crappy multiplayer tacked-on. How the hell is that a better value than a GOTY winner?

I do have to correct you. Demon's Souls is an RPG. And by that I don't mean you "play" the "role" of a character. I mean you have stats, equipment, character progression, experience points, ect. Its actually listed as an "action-RPG" but that would be arguing semantics.

Feck is right about his point of RPGs. In Gears of War you "play" the "role" of Marcus Fenix. In God of War you "play" the "role" of Kratos. In Super Mario Bros you "play" the "role" of Mario (or Luigi). And in Gran Turismo you "play" the "role" of a race car driver. Which of these games would you classify as being RPGs and which have RPG elements?

My point is it sounds to me like you don't want to pay for a game that won't last more than 40 hours. I can understand that. Heavy Rain isn't for you, but I love it.

 

I feel the same about Bioshock, the original was perfect even if it was only 10 hours long. Adding a shallow multiplayer experience has done nothing for the game, Dead Space 2 (sequel to another 10 hour game lol) seems like it's going to do the same thing

RE5 was an exception though, personally I didn't enjoy the game as much as RE4 but the multiplayer in 5 did at least add some fun.

Anyway, I feel that I got my value with Heavy Rain even if I have only played it once. First playthrough was about 11 hours for me which is average for a videogame, i'm pretty sure that it's not possible to complete in 30 minutes/1 hour like a lot of action games.

 

http://www.audionetwork.com/ <- Heavy Rain music not found on the OST was licensed from here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIfBAeeIcds&#t=9m06s <- just pause the video and read the credits to see the list of music taken from AN.com