Heavy Rain

By Oli Welsh Published 22 May, 2009

The weather forecast.

Normally, when presenting their games to the press, game developers try to explain them as fully and as best they can. They choose representative sections to demo and strive to get their vision for the whole project across in interviews. David Cage likes to do things differently.

The first time he showed Heavy Rain - the "Taxidermist" demo at last year's Leipzig Games Convention - he explained that what we were seeing wouldn't appear in the game itself. The second time journalists were summoned before the French writer-director and head of the Quantic Dream studio, he went one further: he didn't actually show anything at all.

This third time, he's got nowhere to hide, or so you'd think. Quantic has brought alpha code of a scene that will appear in the PS3 interactive drama, and we're even being allowed to play it ourselves - but Cage isn't done playing cat-and-mouse. It's the first of four scenes he's going to show over the next few months, he says, each one so different that it's going to make you doubt what Heavy Rain actually is. Beware of jumping to conclusions, he warns, because they'll be false. We're beginning to think that he's enjoying this.

"It's difficult to understand, don't worry, that's normal, but the more scenes we show, probably the more lost you'll be," Cage says in his light, unassuming tone. "We'll show you things that are really, really different from what you've just seen. And that's going to be a pleasure."

On that we have to agree. What we learn and experience of Heavy Rain at this preview - quite a lot, in fact, despite Cage's coyness - doesn't do anything to change the impression that it's the most interesting game of this year. We await a chance to see the next scene at E3 with as much excitement as anything else at the show.

'Heavy Rain' Screenshot hr1

The characters are realistic, but the backgrounds almost painterly.

The first thing we learn is that Heavy Rain will have four lead characters, and you'll play through their scenes in turn as you move chronologically through the events of four days. Each will have a different angle on the story, and we'll be introduced to them all in the coming previews. This time, we get to meet FBI profiler Norman Jayden.

Jayden is a young forensics and profiling expert working on the case of the Origami Killer, a serial killer responsible for a series of murders on the east coast of the US. The police have been working the case for months, but have no suspects. Jayden is professional, methodical, clever, obsessive... and a drug addict, slave to a pharmaceutical called Triptocaine. Players will need to manage his addiction, taking the drug to retain Jayden's self-control at key moments, but risking deeper addiction as they do so.

In the only hint of science-fiction we've seen in the game, Jayden uses a high-tech glove-and-glasses device called ARI - "Added Reality Interface", a Pentagon prototype - as an investigative tool to look for clues in his surroundings. It turns him into a one-man mobile CSI lab, detecting fingerprints, DNA and blood traces, and highlighting them in the environment, unlocking clues. It can also be used as a virtual reality interface, re-skinning his surroundings and providing Quantic with a visual tool for out-of-scene investigation and storytelling.

ARI is graphically exciting; hitting a button triggers a radar-like neon splash around Jayden that traces clouds of orchid pheromones in the air, blood trails and tyre-tracks on the floor, and collects luminescent fingerprints for later cross-referencing. However, it's a fairly self-conscious device for a game that roots itself so squarely in the real world. We ask Cage if we can expect Heavy Rain's other characters to have similar, or equivalent systems.

"No, not systems, but they have different personalities, different backgrounds, and they can do different things. They have access to different parts of the story also, and they can deal in different ways with different situations. Jayden is not a template. Each one is unique." Of these others, we only know their names: Ethan Mars, Scott Shelby, and Madison Paige, the young lady from the Taxidermist demo.

Jayden's scene, from somewhere in the middle of the game, sees him visiting the junkyard of a burly, threatening car scrap dealer called Mad Jack. A car used by the killer has been tracked here. It's a gloomy location under an atmospheric, glowering sky; it looks as if it's been shot in shallow focus through an ochre lens filter, very moody, very David Fincher. Although you can move Jayden's head around with the left stick - dictating where he looks and walks - and switch between tight and long tracking camera angles at will with L1, Heavy Rain still has a studied, cinematic look, carefully composed at all times.

There's been a major change to the interface for contextual actions since Leipzig. Clear white cues for stick movements and button presses are embedded in the scene in 3D; if the game wants you to open Jayden's car door with a flick of the stick to the right, the symbol will appear next to the door on the screen, no matter what the angle. In fights, the cue for dodging a punch will appear next to the aggressor's fist as it moves - for picking up and swinging a piece of piping, by the pipe on the floor. Sixaxis shake is used in appropriately desperate moments, but otherwise motion control seems to have been stripped back from the Taxidermist demo.

'Heavy Rain' Screenshot hr2

ARI in use; eat that, CSI. Exciting backlit test-tube montages are a thing of the past.

It's incredibly effective. Yes, Heavy Rain still offers entirely scripted, choreographed, simon-says action, but the presentation - from the in-scene cues to the fluid, fast and natural camera cuts - is in a new league, and the pacing is excellent. Quantic has coaxed quite a dramatic range from the pad, too, using shake, button hammering, and lots of flicks and quarter-circles on the stick to find an appropriate input for each action. There will be three difficulty levels, which will determine how precise your timing needs to be, and the variety of moves you'll need to pull off.

There are some more neat integrations of interface and display. Pressing L2 brings up Jayden's thoughts as words revolving around him - "cold", "withdrawal", "Shaun". Each is matched with a button that will trigger a voiceover, mixing emotional colour with plot hints. If the character is calm, they revolve slowly and are legible, but in stressful situations the words will move fast and letters will blur to emulate confusion and make it harder to "think".

The same system is used for conversational options. "If you are really calm, you'll be fully in control of what you want to say, whereas if you're really stressed and nervous, you will have less control over what you say," says Cage.

'Heavy Rain' Screenshot hr3

Do criminals really call themselves things like Mad Jack? Probably, sadly.

All of this, including ARI, features in the junkyard scene. After exchanging a few words with Jack, Jayden uses ARI to examine the workshop, where blood trails lead to a skull in an acid bath. Jack responds with a gun to the back of Jayden's head - if you don't find the body within a certain time period, the game will force this event. A scuffle ensues, and then a conversation where Jayden must threaten and cajole information out of Jack. He suffers drug withdrawal - you'll have to use the "impress" system here, holding down an awkward layout of buttons to emulate discomfort as Jayden rummages desperately through his pockets for the Triptocaine - and Jack regains the upper hand.

Jayden wakes up in a car headed for a grisly end in the compactor, where tense split-screen action ensues as you shake and jolt yourself free to the strangely sinister jangling of bluegrass on the radio. Finally, a climactic scrap with the huge Jack - Jayden always and convincingly at a physical disadvantage, which is rare in any kind of videogame combat - ends with the scrap dealer dying under the tracks of his own JCB. Or does it?

This is one way the scene could play out. At several points - here, in the car, during the fight in the workshop - it would be entirely possible for Jayden to die. If he does, that's it, his story ends and you won't go back and restart (well, you might get a couple more tries first). You'll miss his perspective on the story, you'll miss trails and leads, and the other threads will be affected.

This is a very brave decision by Quantic. At a stroke it eliminates the repetitive nature of cinematic "quick time event" games that breaks their narrative flow; normally you're left stuck in a loop until you've met the (often frustrating) conditions for success, but Heavy Rain just accepts that's what's happened, and moves on. But, we wonder, will gamers be able to overcome their endlessly conditioned instinct to try and try again, save every character and see it all? Won't that necessarily be the "best" story? Cage suggests not.

"We don't want to stop it, the goal is not to frustrate [the player]," he says. "But we want to convince him that it's in his benefit and his interest not to play the game that way. Maybe we'll fail, I don't know... But I think the best story is maybe not with all four characters alive."

At any rate, keeping them alive might not be a constantly pressing concern. Quantic has opened the bidding with a particularly action-packed scene, but points out that much of the game's eight to ten hours will consist of less dangerous exploration. And it's not necessarily a murder mystery.

'Heavy Rain' Screenshot hr4

At this point, you can persist, relent, hit him in the face or threaten to shoot an oil barrel. Guess what works.

"Yeah, there's references to American dark thrillers, Seven is one of them, Silence of the Lambs is another... But honestly, it's really not a game about a profiler from the FBI investigating a serial killer - that's a part of the story, but it's not the story," Cage says. "I think everything is in the tagline, 'How far are you prepared to go to save someone you love?' This is really what the game is about... The game is an emotional simulator. If it was happening to you, what answer would you give to this question?"

It clearly matters to Cage. "I think it's probably the first thing I write for a game that relates to my personal life, and I hope that people feel that. That there's someone trying to tell a real story that relates to him."

There's a focus on emotional, instinctive choice - rather than the didactic obsession of so many games with "moral" choice - in Heavy Rain that sets it apart. The unique narrative set-up, with four distinct and terrifyingly mortal lead characters, is also an exciting departure. In everything else, Quantic's conviction is as impressive as its skill (more so, in some areas), but it's hard to tell just how far Heavy Rain will go in breaking down those gaming paradigms Cage is so keen to leave behind.

'Heavy Rain' Screenshot hr5

Heavy Rain is very contemporary, but the split-screen adds a nice touch of the sixties.

Playing through the scene a couple of times, it was easy to deviate in small details (discovering fingerprints, the flow of a conversation) or very major ones (dying, or not) - but the course of events still felt fairly locked-in, the player's power to truly shape the narrative quite limited. The digital actors looked astonishing and behaved convincingly, if a little stagily - but despite the attentions of Hollywood script doctors, there were still some clunky lines.

It could be that Heavy Rain isn't much more than a remarkably beautiful and slick narrative adventure game for the next generation. It wouldn't be the worst thing in the world if that's what it did turn out to be - but we'd still bet against it. Because David Cage is making it, and he likes to do things differently.

Picture of Oli.

About Oli Welsh

Oli is Eurogamer's acting deputy editor and reviews editor and likes to take things one word at a time. He is among the best dressed people in South London.

Read more articles from Oli by visiting the Oli Welsh archive page.

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Comments (84) Latest comment 3 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Garulon #1 3 years ago

    Will there be thumbstick shagging like in Farenheight?

  • penhalion #2 3 years ago

    I'm still not even slightly convinced by this (saw it a few times now at GDC's and what have you). It's too much like a QTE heavy cutscene rathere than an actual game. It looks beautiful but, at the expense of any actual control over the scenes. I would have preferred something akin to an updated Broken Sword style of interaction, rather than a simple point and shoot style of interaction i.e. you point the character at something and let them go off and do it.

    Narrative wise it seems to be very movielike but, that hardly inspires any real interaction with it as a game.

  • IkariW #3 3 years ago

    A very good question Garulon....

    Ikari
    Edited by 1 at 22/05/09 @ 09:23

  • Goodfella #4 3 years ago

    I really like the look of it. Something different to the multitude of shooters and racers out there.

  • IkariW #5 3 years ago

    This games got whats commonly known as 'Dragons Lair syndrome' written all over it.......

    ;)

    Ikari

  • Domovoi #6 3 years ago

    Past experience and cynicism tells me that this'll be a fairly decent adventure game that limits the nonlinearity to choosing between three different endings and a couple of minor differences per scene that don't really matter to the story. How many times have we seen stuff like this hyped in exactly the way Cage is doing for Heavy Rain, for it to ultimately be something fun but 95% traditional and in no way groundbreaking?

  • Goodfella #7 3 years ago

    Jeez, people analyze games way too much these days.

  • guernican #8 3 years ago

    It's interesting how, in so many walks of life, it usually counts against you to describe things as groundbreaking, seminal, behaviour-changing, paradigm-breaking and so on. Because it makes you sound like a cunt, for a start.

    That doesn't seem to apply here, eh? Oh, wait. No, it does.

  • Domovoi #9 3 years ago

    Jeez, people analyze games way too much these days.

    People hype games way too much these days. If you're going to say your stuff is so special and groundbreaking, you're inviting analysis of what you're claiming. He could've also just shut up and delivered, rather than playing these "this is so special that you won't even see it" games.

  • rotmm #10 3 years ago

    @Domovoi,

    That's exactly how we should think of this game. I know the devs are trying to promote it as an interactive movie, but I much prefer to think of it as the modern equavilent of adventure titles such as Broken Sword and Grim Fandango. And if there's a genre that needs both an overhaul and a comeback, it's adventure games.

    Just a shame that this game isn't out for a long while yet.

  • Goodfella #11 3 years ago

    Yeah but do your analyzing when the game is finished and on shelves then perhaps?

  • Negotiator #12 3 years ago

    Not looking so good now.

  • ZuluHero #13 3 years ago

    I think it sounds great. Recently there have been a few good reasons to get a PS3. I might be taking the plunge sooner than i expected...

  • penhalion #14 3 years ago

    @rotmm

    The one thing that Broken Sword and Grim had in common is that you felt like you were in control of your character. Fromk everything I've seen and experienced of this game. The one thing you don't feel is in control. It really is like simply triggering cutscenes then watching the results. Think of it this way. It's like MGS4 with the minimal gameplay removed!

  • DavidBoring #15 3 years ago

    triptocaine....
    lol

  • Goodfella #16 3 years ago

    @ penhalion

    The problem being?

    If you don't like the idea don't buy into it.

  • rotmm #17 3 years ago

    @penhalion,

    I agree to a certain extent and I'm not saying the gameplay apes those titles, but rather that the game has more similarities with the adventure genre than any other.

    @ZuluHero,

    If this game is a defining title that will push you to purchase a PS3, you can still hold on as it won't be out until next year.

  • Domovoi #18 3 years ago

    Yeah but do your analyzing when the game is finished and on shelves then perhaps?

    Analyzing the game, sure. But since the pre-release hype is already out, we can freely analyze that, right?

  • ZuluHero #19 3 years ago

    @rotmm

    Well "Trico" would be the 'defining title', but games like this help :)

    Either way it seems i can hold off for a while longer, as you say :)

  • Negotiator #20 3 years ago

    Give me Alan Wake any day of the week.

  • curtlikesmeat #21 3 years ago

    This doesn't look too convincing so far, especially after the promising of The Casting video - fair play for trying to do something different though.

    Since they're doing another Nomad Soul game too I'd prefer they didn't focus on quicktime style events in that, I'd like it to be a more updated version of the original. Oh and more Bowie soundtrack please.
    Edited by 2 at 22/05/09 @ 09:53

  • ardamillo #22 3 years ago

    "holding down an awkward layout of buttons to emulate discomfort"

    Please no shoulder button mashing...

  • rotmm #23 3 years ago

    @ZuluHero,

    Well, "Trico" probably won't be out this year either :(

  • GreyBeard #24 3 years ago

    Since when is this a 2010 release?
    Its out late this year according to every source out there, why do you think they are starting to promote it now?

  • Petulant_Radish #25 3 years ago

    So is this going to be one whole ‘press X not to die’ fest? It just sounds a little pretentious, interesting yes, but still pretentious. But then I only like killing things, blowing shit up, and saving the world when I play computer games. Should I wish to absorb culture I would rather take in a play, or a medium a little more emotive.

  • peak_performance #26 3 years ago

    Comparing this to actual adventure games as Grim Fandango just doesn't seem right. Where does the thinking part come in when everything seems as straightforward as it gets with prompts and everything?

    If anything I'd compare it to the Clock Tower series, even though that isn't QTE.

    I still think Cage sounds like a cock, was mightily disappointed in Fahrenheit so I'm vary this time.

    Edit: Just saw some new gameplay from it, looked like this scene. Wow, it was pretty bad.
    Edited by 1 at 22/05/09 @ 10:16

  • rotmm #27 3 years ago

    @GreyBeard, "Since when is this a 2010 release?"

    Since the producer was interviewed at Gametrailers and stated that to be the case.

  • n3rdh8r #28 3 years ago

    I loveddd fahrenheit. From beginning to end.

    And this has a motion-capped Carice van Houten. Hmmmmmmm.

  • space_ace #29 3 years ago

    someone bring an umbrella

  • bluem4gic #30 3 years ago

    Heavy Rain = David Blaine

  • ZuluHero #31 3 years ago

    "So is this going to be one whole ‘press X not to die’ fest?"

    erm... isn't that all games?

  • LazyDan #32 3 years ago

    7/10 written all over it

  • LazyDan #33 3 years ago

    also including a 400 page thread of people sore that another highly anticipated title for their machine has again failed to validate their investment

    and then people laughing at those people

  • GreyBeard #34 3 years ago

    @rotmm

    Having just watched at 21 minutes of GTTV, its Geoff Keighley who says "next year", not the producer. Which is odd as everywhere else (including the epic multi-part thing at 1up) is still saying late 2009.

  • schachmatt #35 3 years ago

    "So is this going to be one whole ‘press X not to die’ fest?"

    "erm... isn't that all games?"

    That's like saying a multiple choice test is the same as writing an exam.

    Cage really should be head of OnLive.

  • TheComedian #36 3 years ago

    @ Goodfella

    People like you really piss me off. Why the hell would anyone be looking at a hands-on preview of a game, without the intent of prejudging it/getting to know more about it before retail? There would be virtually NO point to this kind of article if everyone just waited until 'the game is finished and on shelves' - this is to whip up excitment, encourage discussion and speculation, to 'analyse' what we know so far.

    Grow up.

    p.s. - this game makes me want to get a PS3 :( Although, people said the dialogue in Fahrenheit was amazing, and that was a stilted mess.

  • Goodfella #37 3 years ago

    Grow up?

    Hehe, well done on using probably the most overused and ridiculously unfounded internet comment.

  • MeBrains #38 3 years ago

    I was a bit sceptic about this. It does sound a lot better now. Not because this is a game I want to play, but because Mr. Cage and team seems to have some splendid ideas on how to visualize things. L2 for thoughts aye?

  • rotmm #39 3 years ago

    @GreyBeard,

    I don't recall any of the articles or interviews over at 1UP stating a 2009 release. If I could be bothered, I'd go check, but I'll just take your word on it instead ;)

  • Agent_Llama #40 3 years ago

    Fahrenheit had the potential to be amazing - but the insistence in using awful QTE's and the worst tacked-on stealth section in a game ever left a bitter taste behind.

  • ZuluHero #41 3 years ago

    @schachmatt

    In any game, if i don't press the right buttons at the right moment in time. I'm going to die... Fahrenheit wasn’t an insta-fail if you missed a QTE remember. You were allowed to make a few mistakes.

    From the video's ive seen HR looks no different.
    Edited by 2 at 22/05/09 @ 11:13

  • Gurgeh #42 3 years ago

    They're making a game based on Chubby Rain from Bowfinger?

  • GreyBeard #43 3 years ago

    @Petulant_Radish

    So trying to do anything more ambitious or different than the usual is "pretentious" is it?

    You make me a sad panda, you really do.

  • SpaceMidget75 Verified Senior Software Developer, Minerva Computer Services #44 3 years ago

    Well, I've been quietly intrigued about this. However after seeing the video over on Kotaku I have to say the graphics definitely look like they've been dropped down a notch. It was also pretty much entirely QTE, and irrespective of whether they have multiple outcomes to them, they are what they are and nothing revolutionary.

    Now I actually don't mind QTE stuff but they seem to have over hyped this. So far it appears to be nothing more than a next gen Fahrenheit.

    These sort of games will live and die by their story and puzzle elements. Unfortunately that seems to have taken a step backwards since the 'point & click' days and been replaced with fancy graphics, voice acting and QTEs.
    Edited by 1 at 22/05/09 @ 11:30

  • kangarootoo #45 3 years ago

    @Goodfella

    There is nothing whatsoever wrong with good 'ol fashioned speculation. Forming a final opinion without seeing the final product would be bonkers, but speculation isn't the same thing.

  • the_dudefather #46 3 years ago

    @Gurgeh

    If this game had 'GOTCHA SUCKA!' as a dialogue option it would be a day one purcahse for me

    I'm not sure about this, shares my current standing with Alan Wake as a 'looks interesting, but what is it exactly?' game

  • Rodchenko #47 3 years ago

    I am rather sceptical about this myself, but generally I am all for encouraging designers who try to explore alternative gameplay paths and new methods of interactivity. For the same reason I can't really understand all the negativity steered at this.

    Why, for example, is it labelled 'pretentious', when a game designer with enough money and liberty at his hand is trying to create something in tune with his personal vision, rather than producing yet another piece of software which strictly abides to the 10 commandments of a respective genre of which we already got numerous identy-kit versions out there? Sure, the whole thing might still fail (maybe because the vision sucked in the first place, or the gameplay doesn't deliver on the concept), but to dismiss it from the outset on grounds of 'pretentiousness' seems to me a bit -- well, pretentious.

  • Petulant_Radish #48 3 years ago

    I didn’t want to make anyone a sad panda, I am sorry. Perhaps I am mistaking pretentiousness for convolution mingled with a hint of minty passion, dusted with fairy flakes.

    And Zulu, yes effectively a lot of games can be bolied down to ‘press X not to die’ but generally you have a little more interaction around it than pressing one button, though not having played this I have yet to see if that is the case, but from what I have read so far it seems like one big QTE, which I am not a fan of.

    I would like to see my actions on a controller directly represented by a character on screen, seeing a cinematic after pressing a button is less desirable in my eyes.

  • IneptPercy #49 3 years ago

    I can see how this may not be everyone, but it is being added to my 'buy a PS3 play list' shame the list still doesn't justify the cost of the console in my opinion.

    Looking forward to the full reviews.

  • GreyBeard #50 3 years ago

    @Petulant_Radish

    All I mean is innovation and ambition should be welcomed, right?

    Its not like there aren't shedloads of sequels and rehashes to keep traditionalists happy also!


  • Chufty #51 3 years ago

    OMG something different. Run!

  • Petulant_Radish #52 3 years ago

    Well maybe I am just becoming too cynical, though quick time events are my least liked of all game play aspects, they tend to distract me from the game in hand, though this appears to be a more cinematic experience than your usual QTE fest, but I personally would rather go to the cinema for that, though I am not narrow-minded as to see that others may have differing opinions. Peace out.

  • Petulant_Radish #53 3 years ago

    Oh and yes, innovation and ambition should be welcomed, I am all for that, I shall wait until this is released to see whether those have been achieved, should it be so than I shall embrace it with open arms and take it home to meet my mother.

  • Petulant_Radish #54 3 years ago

    [link url=http://link.brightcove.com/services /player/bcpid22881388001?bctid=23996397001
    ]http://li nk.brightcove.com/services/play...[/link]

    Looks quite nice in this video, but QTE-tastic

  • Ergates_Antius #55 3 years ago

    Yeah but do your analyzing when the game is finished and on shelves then perhaps?

    When a developer deliberately draws attention to themselves and their game by calling a press conference they become fair game for any and all speculation anyone wants to throw at them.

    At least they actually had something to show this time - a definate step in the right direction.

  • Domovoi #56 3 years ago

    I am rather sceptical about this myself, but generally I am all for encouraging designers who try to explore alternative gameplay paths and new methods of interactivity. For the same reason I can't really understand all the negativity steered at this.

    Because, quite frankly, we've seen this dozens of times before, and every time those alternatives and new methods are exactly the same as other games, only with "You can play as a female character too!" or "There's five endings!" tacked on. I think when you've been duped by pre-hype that often, it's healthy to take a more cynical look at further claims of wonder.

  • M_of_the_sys #57 3 years ago

    ""holding down an awkward layout of buttons to emulate discomfort"

    Why not just throw in a 360 controller?

  • dominalien #58 3 years ago

    I wish I could press X not to die in real life when falling off the roof of a high building.

  • kangarootoo #59 3 years ago

    @Rodchenko

    The word pretentious come from "having pretensions". One definition of that is "making an exaggerated outward show; ostentatious".

    I guess the critism is often levelled at a work that believes itself to be something that observers believe it is not. I think the suggestion is that Heavy Rain thinks (or DG thinks, at any rate) that it is more complex or evolutionary than observers believe it to be. Hence the suggestion it is an exagerated or ostentatious display.


    As we aren't looking at a finished product, it might well be a little early for any of us to call it pretentious. To some degree it is a result of the talk coming from Quantic Dreams, but I suspect it is also a result of the default setting of "deep cynisism" most of us have (and I myself am tryingt o be objective here, because Fahrenheir and DG rubbed me up all sorts of the wrong way... and I did consider Fahrenheit to be highly pretentious).

  • glaeken #60 3 years ago

    ""holding down an awkward layout of buttons to emulate discomfort"

    This comment is all sorts of wrong. Deliberately making a bad control scheme to emulate doing something difficult is plain stupid and it a worrying insight into how the developer is thinking.

  • Garulon #61 3 years ago

    "All I mean is innovation and ambition should be welcomed, right? "

    Sure, but there's a difference between a searing singular vision of how a game should be and some frustrated would-be-movie director shitting out a barely interactive Parrapa the Rappa clone. And the "controls should be uncomfortable" should scare the crap out of anyone who's played Lair, another "innovative ambitious" title.

  • chubster2010 #62 3 years ago

    I think Heavy Rain is looking really interesting.

    I can understand the concern that it will be little more than a fancy interactive movie with an over reliance on QTE, but Quantic Dream's seem to be confident that it its much more than that. And until I've actually played it myself, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt.

    If it does turn out just to be an interactive, multipathed move, there's still potential for it to be an interesting and engaging experience. I spent a lot of time playing Linger in Shadows, and the degree of interaction in that was minimal (to say the least).

    @ Penhalion
    'Fromk everything I've seen and experienced of this game. The one thing you don't feel is in control.'

    Out of interest - have you played it?

  • Stoatboy #63 3 years ago

    @Zuluhero re: "In any game, if i don't press the right buttons at the right moment in time. I'm going to die..."

    Even in Space Invaders the player has a choice of 3 buttons to press any time they please. Even in this, one of the most basic video game ever, it's the player, not the game, that chooses what the right button is and what the right time is. Player volition ftw.

  • kangarootoo #64 3 years ago

    "I can understand the concern that it will be little more than a fancy interactive movie with an over reliance on QTE, but Quantic Dream's seem to be confident that it its much more than that. And until I've actually played it myself, I'm willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. "

    That seems a fair approach. Personally I am less willing, only because I've played Fahrenheit and witnessed their confidence over that.

    Fahrenheit was entertaining, and I did complete it, but it was a one of those titles that interests and frustrates you in equal measure (for me, anyway).

    Other such titles might be Asassin's Creed and GTA:SA, execpt the highs of Fahrenheit were simply not as high as those of the other two examples. At no point did FH amaze me, it either entertained "enough", or drove me nuts (or made me raise an eyebrow, and view it with derision).

    That said, the DG interview seems to suggest lessons have been learned from FH, so I am still very much interested in this. I like story driven adventures, so if the QTE sections don't piss me off too much I shall probably enjoy playing HR.

  • skoypidia #65 3 years ago

    Boyz I played Farenheight and it was one of the greatest games I ever played.

    Now, in gaming sites, sometimes you tell people a game will be "ground braking" and they whine because it isn't the second coming. Well wake up fellas. The second coming won't be a game.

    But Farenheight made me feel closer to a genuine adventure experience than any game ever before (I played it in one go, no loading over and over except in some particularly hard scenes). The whole game play mechanics were spot on. Acting, scenario and MUSIC all enhanced the experience. I just hope the effect will be the same with this one.

  • CHAZBIGPOTATO #66 3 years ago

    360 owner in peace here PS3 fans (!)

    This looks great, wish it was coming out on Xbox.

  • Christian_Otte #67 3 years ago

    I have no idea how this will turn out but I applaud the people making it who are willing to take chances. It might turn out crappy, but at least they did something differently and will learn from it, and for that I'm grateful. This is exactly what the gaming biz needs right now.

  • Negotiator #68 3 years ago

    Just saw the new gameplay, what has happened, graphics have taken a tumble, big time. No way the demo from last year was running on a PS3, because it now looks about half as good, also the acting is borderline rubbish and the gameplay even worse. Last year this game tempted me to get a PS3, but this year its clear to me that Sony once again have tried to pull the wool over everyones eyes, by showing something last year that is beyond the PS3's power. E3 is coming and we can all trust MSoft to tell the truth when it comes to its games, because Sony are the biggest bullshitters of all time.

  • Harmonica #69 3 years ago

    This game will clearly live or die on the depth of the interactions, how meaningful they are, how interesting the story is, and whether the player can really make a difference to how it plays out. Clearly if it's just a serious of messy QTEs, and a pointless, dirivative murder investigation then nobody will give a damn and it will get laughed at a lot. A bad game is forgiveable, an over-hyped bad game with pretensions less so.

    I don't think people are wrong to point out the so-called pretentions when its release is being so elaborately (and rather obnoxiously) stage-managed. It's almost as if there's only one way this can go, because brilliant games are rare, and it would take a brilliant storytelling exercise to justify the way this whole game is being designed and marketed.

    If they'd just shut up and release the game and let us judge it for ourselves it would without doubt receive a better critical reception.

  • VandelayIndustries #70 3 years ago

    @ Negotiator

    C'mon get a grip man! The game is around half a year from release, and as such is a work in progress.

    As for the gameplay being changed? It looks the same as the 'Taxidermist' demo except for the prompts being placed within the scene rather than in front.

    "E3 is coming and we can all trust MSoft to tell the truth when it comes to its games, because Sony are the biggest bullshitters of all time."

    A touch melodramatic. We can trust that Microsoft will no doubt money hat some third party title or DLC as a timed exclusive, A shame as I'd rather see them using that money to commission something new and interesting or potentially groundbreaking.

  • man.the.king #71 3 years ago

    @Negotiator

    "E3 is coming and we can all trust MSoft to tell the truth"

    Tell me something Negotiator, how do you breathe with your face so far up MSoft's ass?
    Edited by 1 at 23/05/09 @ 04:55

  • Chupakun #72 3 years ago

    I think I'll have to accept Heavy Rain for what it's probably going to be: an interactive film. Then again, that's probably what I was expecting after playing Fahrenheit.

  • Ryze #73 3 years ago

    kangarootoo +1

  • Harmonica #74 3 years ago

    It's not that I'm completely utterly turned off by an interactive kind of narrative experience like this (games working in other mediums have been sucessful using such a technique, ie Interactive Fiction), but that taking away control from the player to such a degree behooves them to make a really spellbinding game that justifies an essentially auteurist approach.

    I do have a problem with games slipping into the territory occupied by films, because I don't think that does us any favours - and because films have been there done that and probably delivered a much better end product on the same themes.

    A lot of Heavy Rain reminds me of Max Payne (I can't get away from thinking the title is a deliberate poetic echo) in a sense of it being incredibly authorly, an overt storytelling experience. Remedy came up with the goods, and although they were at risk of being dirivative there, they managed to tread a fine line between homage and parody which made Max Payne an original work in its own right. Is Heavy Rain a retreading of ground covered by Max Payne?

    It's interesting alright.

  • slivir #75 3 years ago

    I'm not going to touch this with a 10 foot pole. Not after Fahrenheit. No way.

  • Slipstream #76 3 years ago

    I follow this games progression with a Keen eye. Roll on E3.

  • Reihn #77 3 years ago

    ""holding down an awkward layout of buttons to emulate discomfort"

    "This comment is all sorts of wrong. Deliberately making a bad control scheme to emulate doing something difficult is plain stupid and it a worrying insight into how the developer is thinking."

    I respectfully disagree - I think that sounds great. Good, 'thinking outside the box' way to make things immersive. But then, I love this sort of thing.. When released, Heavy Rain and Trico are gonna put a PS3 shaped dint in my wallet. : ) (Definitely Trico - I'll be waiting for a HR review before buying a new system).

  • captain-future #78 3 years ago

    So it will just be QTE slam fest just like Fahrenheit / Inidigo Prophecy with a halfway decent / interesting story...

    ...I'm interested but far from convinced.

  • Royal Fool #79 3 years ago

    This looks just like Fahrenheit. That game already did a lot of what Cage is hyping up here, the major difference being that characters can permanently die while the story continues.

    The preview is very positive, actually perhaps a bit too much. But it does the job well: creating interest in a game. However, I don't think the review will be nearly as kind.

  • jambo74 #80 3 years ago

    X
    O
    X
    ->
    ->

  • VMerken #81 3 years ago

    After dual-Simon-Says-ing myself through an entire apartment inventory and witnessing how "Fahrenheit" - a game which took a really, really great start - quickly spiraled down into a ludicrous "The Matrix" and "Little Rascals" worshipping pastiche, please forgive me if I remain exceedingly sceptical about the possible "gaming fun" this new title, "Heavy Rain", may offer. As far as "purchasing" is concerned, this may occur after the point where I've read at least a hundred in-depth reviews about "Heavy Rain"'s a-ok control system and extensively played (a) possible demo(s) assuring me of said a-ok-ness of said control system.
    Edited by 2 at 27/05/09 @ 19:01

  • jjolley #82 3 years ago

    It's interesting that a poster brought up interactive fiction. As someone who has a real interest in interactive story-telling, Heavy Rain does seem to hit the spot. I'm especially interested in how conversation is structured. Conversation in IF is an especially interesting topic for me. Even if it's a glorified movie with QTEs, it's a worthy attempt at something different.

  • coolbritannia #83 3 years ago

    Goodfella, you never change mate. Still on the defensive after all these years...

  • Lamont #84 3 years ago

    The voice-over in this sounds like a localized version. The writing sounds like it was translated from Ukranian. They should have just made it take place in France instead of getting a bunch of expatriates and Englishmen putting on bad American accents.