Heavy Rain

By Tom Bramwell Published 14 December, 2009

Pored over.

How far would I go to save someone I loved? Apparently, I'd start by letting them win. The first thing that happens in Heavy Rain is that you take control of architect Ethan Mars as he wakes up on a beautiful Saturday morning in his lovely modern family home, gets dressed and goes downstairs to wait for his wife and children to come back from the shops. When they do, he helps get stuff ready for lunch and then has a bit of time to kill, so he goes and plays in the garden with sons Shaun and Jason.

Heavy Rain is easy to pick up and play, but at this stage you are still effectively in one of those playable tutorials, doing things like depressing triggers at varying speed to see how much you can influence the speed of animation (a lot). At this stage in any game the goal is to do what you're told while events warm themselves up in step.

What sets Heavy Rain apart, however, is that while I'm having a mock lightsaber fight with my kids in the garden, I remember it's better to let kids win. So I deliberately fudge some button prompts, "failing" by any traditional gaming yardstick, take a few mock blows and tumble dramatically to the floor to Shaun and Jason's great delight. To my great delight as well - Heavy Rain isn't a mature game because it has unhappy families and moody lighting, it's a mature game because it anticipates an adult response from the player and is prepared to receive it.

Unlike past previews, for the first time we are getting to play through an extended section of Heavy Rain. Other publishers are very protective of their blockbuster games, revealing them in dribs and drabs - the apex of which remains Activision's decision to show journalists a mere two minutes of Modern Warfare 2 at gamescom in Cologne two months prior to its release - so today suggests Sony is rather proud of Heavy Rain, because this preview build is over two hours of continuous play.

'Heavy Rain' Screenshot 1

Like Quantic Dream's previous games, individual scenes can play out in a variety of ways determined by your actions.

It allows us to observe how the game introduces its four playable characters and the concept of the Origami Killer, and how it reconciles the seemingly mundane - like taking your kid to the park - with events far more out of the ordinary. Following the prologue, the game sticks with Ethan Mars as we experience the pivotal event in his life: the death of his son Jason. It's a shattering blow, as it must be, and it forces Mars and his wife Grace to separate. We meet him again as he struggles to reconnect to his distant, remaining son amidst the fog of depression.

As Infinity Ward demonstrated recently with its "No Russian" level in Modern Warfare 2, it's very difficult to introduce powerful, emotional themes and social commentary into a videogame, even when you're one of the world's foremost game developers with two of the biggest-selling releases of all time on your CV. So it's important to bear in mind the scale of Quantic Dream's ambition: Heavy Rain's initial theme of coming to terms with personal tragedy isn't just a convenient sob story backdrop to a game of combining items and solving puzzles; this, it seems, is the game.

And to this end the developer is simultaneously bold and delicate, perhaps best illustrated by the gentleness of the other three playable characters' introductions. You adapt to private detective Scott Shelby's calm, polite investigative style as comfortably as you put on your favourite jacket. When his first interviewee gets into trouble and he is forced to defend her from an attacker, he never slips out of the character you've just seen defined. His physical appearance and manners bespeak quiet courage and personal responsibility, and his actions do little to disturb the measured start of the game, even though they are its first acts of violence.

'Heavy Rain' Screenshot 2

Quantic Dream controls the lighting very effectively, and individual locations already live up to early promises.

FBI profiler Norman Jayden, meanwhile, arrives in a car at a crime scene, calmly presents his credentials and then attempts to investigate without treading on the toes of cops who plainly consider him to be an unwelcome burden, summoned by forces beyond their control. He also appears to be masking withdrawal symptoms - but of course this is less of a problem in the pouring rain and dismal light beneath a highway overpass, so the game can save his flaws for later. We see the least of Madison Paige, the last playable character to be introduced - her "Sleepless Night" scene is the final one in our preview build - but her initial performance frames her restlessness and hints at creeping fear and isolation.

Quantic Dream has spoken repeatedly of its desire to provoke an emotional response within the player, and there are a number of occasions within the opening few hours that worked on me. I've written before about the unhappy memories Ethan Mars' descent into depression raked over; the house he moves into after Jason's death is furnished with the same disinterest I remember from my dad's first place after my parents separated. It wasn't until later that the green shoots of pride began to emerge in redecoration and the resumption of hobbies, but Ethan's still buying microwave dinners for his son; the prologue suggested he was the breadwinner and thoughtful father, but evidently he wasn't the cook.

But it's not just the bleak aftermath of tragedy and divorce that resonates. Anyone who has ever given up smoking would recognise Norman Jayden's frustration as his body insists it must have something he knows in his heart he must deny it, even if smoking's a slightly less extreme example. And surely everyone has cursed him or herself for getting out of bed to investigate a noise elsewhere in the house, as Madison Paige does, and then thought about what the event implies.

Away from these occasional sharp reactions, there's the ongoing theme of having to ask difficult questions of people in the throes of grief, and it's practically impossible not to identify and emphathise with Scott Shelby as he attempts to push, but not too hard. Within the first few hours, Shelby comes across as the most idealised character, within a broad spectrum of otherwise-dysfunctional or down-on-their-luck individuals, all of whom are, however, portrayed very realistically.

The key to this, of course, is the game's exceptional character detail. The load screens are extreme close-ups of the next playable character's face, as if to encourage you to seek out blemishes through a magnifying glass. From the bags under Shelby's eyes to the fine stubble on Ethan's chin and the cut on Jayden's cheek, you can't. There is also sufficient stylisation in the way each character is defined to evade the infamous Uncanny Valley, and the artists' subtle and astute observation - which owes a lot to the game's extensive performance capture - also pervades the animation. Watching Ethan Mars put on a shirt is like watching a bloke put on a shirt. We're there.

It only ever looks wrong if you perform an unnatural act. That may sound as though the game's controls and movements are restrictive, but in actual fact the bond between player and character is seldom forced, with the interface versatile and intuitive. It's impossible to dismiss Heavy Rain as a sequence of "quick-time events" once you begin to play it; the extraordinary visuals, intriguing activities and mature way the game interprets and anticipates your actions transcend the traditional relationship between, say, Lara Croft and the pendulum blade the X button is designed to propel her away from during the heat of an in-engine cut-scene.

Heavy Rain's novelties extend into its fiction too. We've been promised no yellow internet monsters this time, Fahrenheit fans, but writer David Cage is evidently still fascinated by the psychological impact of physical and emotional trauma, evinced by a trip to the doctors with Ethan Mars, who is experiencing potentially dangerous blackouts. Cage trusts and teases the player a little too - at one stage Shelby straightens up as though he's about to go into a similar catatonic state, but it quickly becomes apparent he's actually having a mild asthma attack.

'Heavy Rain' Screenshot 3

There are three difficulty levels - for non-gamers, casual gamers and gamers - which vary the volume and timing of actions.

With the majority of the sequences I've played set in late 2011, there are a few futuristic touches too. Norman Jayden is equipped with a pair of computer-augmented spectacles called ARI, which along with a special glove attachment allow him to record what he sees, store audio notes, access information relevant to his surroundings via an overlay within his field of view, and manipulate virtual objects.

In one rather cute moment, he kills time at the police station by bouncing a virtual ball against a virtual wall. At a crime scene, he traces scents, footprints and DNA samples with ARI. When he is dumped in a dusty, barren old office, he ignores the pinboard, sweeps the phone and files off the desk and uses ARI to create a virtual office on top of a mountain or at the bottom of the sea. He then flicks through virtual files, drags and drops the locations that bodies were dumped onto a pull-down map, and considers his case notes as he tries to draw up a profile of the Origami Killer.

Elsewhere, there are more traditional and restrained methods of storytelling, including good use of static camera angles (of which a couple can usually be cycled), and the way key concepts and details are often introduced at the periphery. Nobody ever stands in front of you and spells out what is going on, and they needn't, either.

'Heavy Rain' Screenshot 4

One of the options when you go outside into Ethan's beautiful garden during the prologue is simply to lie on the grass. Lovely.

Throughout, Quantic Dream's composition is as accomplished as almost anything I've played. Uncharted 2 arguably bests Heavy Rain for convincing interplay between characters, but Heavy Rain hits back by keeping you in control, despite comparable visual fidelity. The only technical question mark remains over sections of the dialogue and voice acting, which sometimes comes across as a little unnatural - perhaps as an otherwise-imperious Cage struggles to disguise the fact he's writing in his second language. But it's a minor blemish, only discernible in the context of the superlative construction evident elsewhere.

With that said though, story isn't just a vital component of Heavy Rain, it is the absolute core, which makes it difficult to draw any serious conclusions even after playing a continuous portion of the game. Strands and themes are starting to coalesce over the horizon, and mysteries have dawned or shone through the ever-present clouds that descend beyond the shattering prologue. But the way everything works together across the course of the game will probably be what determines its quality.

At the moment, it's fascinating and compelling, despite the heavy, sometimes-cloying atmosphere and sense of sadness, despair and alienation. Heavy Rain is racing through virgin territory before you have even finished learning how to steer it, and whether or not it proves to be a great success, it already stands apart.

Heavy Rain is due out exclusively for PlayStation 3 in early 2010.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (123) Latest comment 2 years ago

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

  • BM #1 2 years ago

    I look forward to hearing/seeing more of this game. If you're drawing favourable comparison against Uncharted 2, it looks like being the real deal

  • President_Weasel #2 2 years ago

    And you get -2 for complaining about it. Stop whining.

    This game was barely on my radar until now; now I am intrigued. Not buy-a-PS3 intrigued, but starting to consider it.

  • mcbi4kh2 #3 2 years ago

    Am I right in thinking this game is entirely QTEs?
    If you had read any articles on Heavy Rain at all (including this one), you would know it is not entirely QTE's.

    That may sound as though the game's controls and movements are restrictive, but in actual fact the bond between player and character is seldom forced, with the interface versatile and intuitive. It's impossible to dismiss Heavy Rain as a sequence of "quick-time events" once you begin to play it; the extraordinary visuals,

    Hence the negative marks on your comments.

  • Lionheart #4 2 years ago

    Something new with a bit of substance and drama to it. This is what we all need. Looking forward to this a lot.

  • JahB #5 2 years ago

    How many hands-on articles can one game have?

  • Red-Moose #6 2 years ago

    Looking forward to this, something with a plot that isn't a shooter or a Japan RPG.

    :)

  • Ged42 #7 2 years ago

    Watching this at the Expo was really impressive, especially when watching two players playing the same scene, but with completely different events taking place.

  • SpaceDan #8 2 years ago

    I really hope this turns out to be worthwhile. Fahrenheit started out well, but quickly turned in to a load of lazy exploitative bobbins. Hopefully Cage has grown up a bit since then.

  • cianchristopher #9 2 years ago

    Actually, I'm warming to this game...

    Kinda reminds me of Blade Runner (1997) on the PC! That was a classic!

    This looks different to the average game, that's something to applaud! Here's hoping they pull it off!

  • madjim #10 2 years ago

    Day 1 purchase baby!

  • el_pollo_diablo #11 2 years ago

    I can see this is going to end up as one of those games in which half the reviewing world love it and the other half don't. Some 9/10s and some 3/10s. And being cynical about it, a metacritic average of 60 rarely does anyone any favours. Maybe it'll be a flawed masterpiece. And if it does turn out to be a brave failure, should we buy it anyway to support the notion of developers attempting something different? That's what we all say we want, right?

    That said it could be awesome, obviously.

  • phAge #12 2 years ago

    As much as I dislike Sony, I have to admit that Heavy Rain is looking a bit spesh already.

  • RandomTerrain #13 2 years ago

    I hope this is as good as it sounds. It would be nice to play something so fresh and different.
    I can't say I'm keen on QTEs, but perhaps these guys can make it work. I have to say their bravery is comendable, and I hope they are rewarded for it.

    I'll keep my eye on this one. Unfortunately I think it will require quite a high score to convince most, but as long as it's pretty good, I'm very keen to give it a go.

  • Gibroon #14 2 years ago

    I skipped through the article so I didn't read too many spoilers but from the bits I read, it looks like this game is shaping up nicely.
    Enjoyed Fahrenheit although the plot went a bit crazy so looking forward to this.

  • Neverness #15 2 years ago

    Sounds intriguing, whether it keeps the standard and interest up remains to be seen, but here is hoping.

  • superdelphinus #16 2 years ago

    is this by the same people as Fahrenheit? sounds ace either way

  • Eighthours #17 2 years ago

    The only technical question mark remains over sections of the dialogue and voice acting...

    And with this one line, my optimism about the rest of the preview takes a bit of a nose dive. With this game above all others, the story, dialogue and voice acting are very important. Mediocre story execution could literally (no pun intended) ruin Heavy Rain, or at least make it not the game it could have been.

    Still, even at this stage it's clear it's a compelling experience.
    Edited by 1 at 14/12/09 @ 17:50

  • Widge #18 2 years ago

    Yeah, might be time for media blackout on this one.

  • kendoji #19 2 years ago

    I only read the last paragraph cause I don't want any plot spoilers. :) Very much looking forward to this one - in fact, it was one of the reasons I recently got a PS3.

  • Mercatoria #20 2 years ago

    Early 2010!! I want an exact date. Love their other work and still looking forward to this.... And the batman sequel.

  • freakzilla #21 2 years ago

    Oh shit. Hype meter blow-out.

  • myiagros #22 2 years ago

    GOTY 2010!!

  • makeamazing #23 2 years ago

    Kinda reminds me of Blade Runner (1997) on the PC! That was a classic!

    Now that was a gaming moment to remember :)

    I am really looking forward to this game, because its different, very much like the Blade Runner game. this is what I like about Sony, is that they try such varying game genres... it may not be everyones cup of tea, and it may not sell that many copies, but you have to give credit for them trying something different. Hopefully they will at least make their money back on it :)

  • freakzilla #24 2 years ago

    I think "President Weasel" sums up Sony's situation, Heavy rain looks like something genuinely new but not enough.

    Another person - "hmmm UC2 looks intriguing but not enough to buy a PS3"
    Another perosn - "KZ2 looks like fun, but PS3 costs so much"
    Yet another person - "LBP looks great but but PS3's got no other games"

    Only a small fraction of these people pick one up and buy the game, just because its not a mega hyped sequel that everyone is talking about in the playground. Same will happen to Heavy Rain.
    Edited by 1 at 14/12/09 @ 18:17

  • Luckyjim #25 2 years ago

    It was the game that impressed me the most at the Eurogamer Expo.

  • Linkified #26 2 years ago

    So David Cage wants to make or rather try to get this notion of games as more than art when they are just packaged goods. Sory but a pompous game about real emotion is as appealing to playing wii music which is like sticking needles in my eyes. God I hope this bombs big time.

  • NotSoSlim #27 2 years ago

    Game looks awesome!! Kudos to Sony for taking risks...bored of shooter after shooter

  • Ergates_Antius #28 2 years ago

    @Linkified "God I hope this bombs big time."
    So, you're not interested in it yourself so you want it to fail? That's nice. I'm not really sure I understand that mindset - if you're not interested in a game you can just not buy it - why would you want it to bomb? Do you percieve it as a threat to your way of life or something?

  • Linkified #29 2 years ago

    @Ergates_Antius
    'So, you're not interested in it yourself so you want it to fail? That's nice. I'm not really sure I understand that mindset - if you're not interested in a game you can just not buy it - why would you want it to bomb? Do you percieve it as a threat to your way of life or something?'

    The reason why I want the game to bomb is to send David Cage and others a clear messgae one of that games are not art and never will be message.

  • Ergates_Antius #30 2 years ago

    You don't want games to ever be art?

  • Linkified #31 2 years ago

    @Ergates_Antius Correct they will never be art. As games are produced purely for profit. Same like any entertainment medium pretending to have artisitic merit like music i.e. rap music is not art hell it ain't even music its just people shouting obsenities at one another. Film is not artisitc and never will be as they want as many people to go see a film, therefore not artistic in any regards.

    The only true art is that of public art.
    Edited by 1 at 14/12/09 @ 18:43

  • GoldLightan #32 2 years ago

    Reminds me of Dreamfall for some reason.

  • Ergates_Antius #33 2 years ago

    Not all games are produced for profit. There are thousands of games on the internet produced for free.

    Also, this would mean that most music, films, books, paintings etc were also not art either as they are produced for profit too.

    I'm pretty sure that Michelangelo got paid to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel too

  • Linkified #34 2 years ago

    @Ergates_Antius:' I'm pretty sure that Michelangelo got paid to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel too.'

    Yes but when the ceiling was finished the church didn't pay people to go and view it originally ala public art. And games that are produced on the internet for free are looking for site views to get advertisers to pony up cash etc.

  • feistycheese #35 2 years ago

    This looks very interesting, and as someone said above, its about time there was something else to play rather than another hollywood FPS, generic sports game or jump around action/adventure. I applaud any development company trying something different, if every genre was cloned to death gaming would NEVER evolve.

    I for one will be trying this out, it doesn't matter if it turns out shit, at least it would be something different. Variety is the spice of life and all that . . . .

  • Tallon4 #36 2 years ago

    I've played it @Cologne and I was very intrigued.
    It has a very gritty dark and mature setting.

  • Ergates_Antius #37 2 years ago

    Thats a pretty cynical view of free internet games. Are you completely convinced that no-one has ever made a game (and subsequently given it away for free) for the sheer fun/joy of it? The fact that some of the sites that supply/host the game have adverts don't necessarily change the reason the game was created in the first place.

    Also, if that criteria would exclude pretty much any and every form of art. People have to eat, why does getting paid for something prevent it from being art?

  • feistycheese #38 2 years ago

    'despite the heavy, sometimes-cloying atmosphere and sense of sadness, despair and alienation'

    ------------------------------------------------------------ -------------------------------------

    WARNING - THIS GAME IS NOT SUITABLE FOR MANIC-DEPRESSIVE'S OR THOSE WITH SUICIDAL TENDENCY'S!

  • Dizzy #39 2 years ago

    How long does it last?

  • ronuds #40 2 years ago

    I'm prepared for the negatives here, but I have to say - this preview put me to sleep. Maybe the game is boring or maybe the person who wrote the preview? Something smells of boredom, though. :p

    And, yes, I enjoy more than just shooters.

  • Linkified #41 2 years ago

    @Ergates_Antius: ' Also, if that criteria would exclude pretty much any and every form of art. People have to eat, why does getting paid for something prevent it from being art?'

    Art is about expressing yourself without external causes being a factor on your expression. If say for this example you hated Gordon Brown but you were a painter and painted Gordon Brown as a god even though you hate him but you need money to survive. That is not art. Art where the artist has made without commission or public art where the public need not pay to view it is the only concete I will give to being art.

    So get over yourself games will never be art so go online shoot a few in MW2, beat people up in SF4, hell even go around open worlds being a dick. Repeat until you hear and understand games will never be art same with movies aren't art, books arn't art and music is not art.

  • Mercatoria #42 2 years ago

    @Linkified - I get your point

  • Verminox #43 2 years ago

    Approximately 20 endings...sweeeetttt. Can't wait for this game.

  • Hendo #44 2 years ago

    @Linkified
    You are the kind of person I cross the street to avoid. No offence, but remove your head from your arse.
    Edited by 1 at 14/12/09 @ 19:40

  • Linkified #45 2 years ago

    @Hendo: Eh take my head out of my arse. Am I to assume you are one of the mass public who are still gullible over what is art?
    Edited by 1 at 14/12/09 @ 19:49

  • Widge #46 2 years ago

    Christ, do you hate Secret Of Monkey Island and stuff like that because you can't pelt around shooting someone in the face?

  • IronGiant #47 2 years ago

    Definite purchase for me, love my murder mysteries and being able to play one is great :) Oh and i'll get Blue Toad for some comic relief ;)

  • Linkified #48 2 years ago

    @Widge: No I don't hate it. Do I like point and click games, yes. Do I think its art nope. Its the easiest thing to say but how is in hell can it be art?

  • StooMonster #49 2 years ago

    Linkified, are your posts therefore art?

  • mkreku #50 2 years ago

    This sounds amazing to me. I remember having a study group in my apartment once and I turned on Fahrenheit on my PS2, just to see everyone's reaction. We ended up sitting together playing through most of the game instead of studying. After a few "study groups" we actually finished the game together! And this sounds even better!

  • Bobrek #51 2 years ago

    @ Linkifield

    Art: Noun - The application of skill to the production of the beautiful by imitation or design, or an occupation in which skill is so employed, as in painting and sculpture; one of the fine arts; as, he prefers art to literature.

    The application of skill to produce something of beauty or desire: something you want to enjoy and immerse yourself in could therefore count as art; regardless of profit.

    How many works of arts in the whole world didn't make SOME kind of profit, or were never intended to. It is obscenely blinkered to assume that many people would go to effort without wanting recognition, both monetary and socially. It's obvious Cage loves his work and pours his heart into it, in an artistic way.
    Edited by 1 at 14/12/09 @ 20:08

  • micky1984 #52 2 years ago

    Linkified you sound like an ignorant degenerate

  • Camorrista #53 2 years ago

    What's with the idiotic fixation on positive/negative votes?!

    I find green and red equally nice, to be honest.

  • linea #54 2 years ago

    Linkified.... seriously, if you're going to make pompous pronouncements about the nature of art I'd try perhaps learning a little about the history of art and culture first.

    If you dismiss all human cultural production which wasn't either produced for money or bankrolled by the rich and powerful as an expression of wealth or power (which is hardly a purer motive is it) as not art you're not left with much.

    Artists are and always have been involved in the sale of their work in one way or another. Deal with it.

  • Felwyn #55 2 years ago

    camorrista...credi di essere divertente? vergognati

  • Evolution #56 2 years ago

    @Camorrista

    Haha, I send you back to simple grey!

  • penhalion #57 2 years ago

    Looking through the forum posts it appears there are a group of people simply going through each forum and minusing people for a laugh. I hope EG are going to sort this stuff out as it's getting silly.

  • jefranklin18 #58 2 years ago

    @Linkified: think you find lots of people have attempted to define and your definition does not necessarily hold up. If you look at the OED's definition, it includes:
    1. the expression of creative skill through a visual medium such as painting or sculpture
    (Src: [link url=ht tp://www.askoxford.com/concise_oed/art_1?view=uk)
    ]http://ww w.askoxford.com/concise_oed/art...[/link]

    Are you saying that there has been no creative process in the 2,500 pages of dialogue written, the character and scene modeling undertaken or whatever background music is in the background? I would rather a Heavy Rain on the shelves, even if as a "niche" game, it will have a lower distribution than the wank that Activision will churn out. Just like I would not expect an art house flick to have higher box office takings than a Michal Bay monstrosity.

    Regarding the game itself, this will be probably the first game that I preorder. I don't tend to do it, because I am not that bothered about day one purchases, but if my preorder helps convey the message to the games industry that there is more to gaming the shoot, shooot, reload, etc. than I happy to do my bit.

  • mcmothercruncher #59 2 years ago

    The gaming equivalent of a wet weekend in Margate?

  • Linkified #60 2 years ago

    @linea but this goes to everyone do you nimrods actually believe games are artisitc, if we go by the definition provided by Bobrek. Then you lot should be calling Fifa and Madden as 'art'. So for all you people who are rying to derive something more out of games like there some higher medium then, sorry but they're not. Anything mass produced where more than one copy exits in the world i.e. game, book, film, music. Incidentently all those so called art mediums are all packaged goods.

    Theres only two forms of pure art and thats paintings and sculpture, we can subdivide these into public and private and public art is therefore the only true art form.

  • sarcasmoidosis #61 2 years ago

    The PS3 has had its share of interesting exclusives until now, the games are starting to look better and run smoother than before, but this one is the title that might actually make me buy the console. My workplace luckily lets me borrow consoles for 2 weeks, so I may just buy the game. But it looks and sounds interesting.

  • man.the.king #62 2 years ago

    @Dizzy

    "How long does it last? "

    Maybe play the game if you have a PS3 (or read any review, maybe EG's) when it comes out and see?
    Edited by 4 at 14/12/09 @ 21:12

  • cristoflanga #63 2 years ago

    Mr. Linkified:

    I appreciate your point of view, but you're being extremely cynical in many regards. Taking in to account that some of the best art pieces of our history were made with restraints imposed by the time and setting (for example, all of Bach music, he had to avoid some tonalities like the augmented fourth because it was considered devilish, and all of Renaissance paintings), this does not deprive them from being artistic. This restraint might as well be a need for making profit, as we've seen in most of the recent artwork (as you well note). Actually artistry can come from the very restraint itself, being able to achieve art considering all your limitations and those of society can be no easy task. As for your example of painting someone you hate like god on your obligation, there can be a lot of art in what you say. For example, imagine that you exaggerate the godliness of the painting so that it looks like sarcasm to everyone else except the person painted, who is blinded by it's ego... Or imagine that you put in his smile something unsettling, but difficult to notice, so that you're actually making a critic that is not apparent immediately. Artistry can be composed of subtlety and details, and not necessarily of pure freedom of mind. Actually, true art and creativity often come with a method to achieve the expression you look for. Finally, bear in mind that if society does not limit you explicitly in your artwork it does in your subconsciousness, as we all bear some of our society's limitations in ourselves, and that doesn't negates our product from being art.

    And remember that the idea of public art has produced and enormous pile of junk, that now we must live with every day of our lives because it's commonly painted on the street (I'm not saying that there isn't good pubic art, though).

    I'm aware of my mistakes, I'm chilean and I try to learn English as well as I can.

  • TheApologist #64 2 years ago

    Have been waiting for this for ages now. Loved Farenheit, despite the last sections of the game. Cage is one of the few developers to openly acknowledge mistakes in his games, so I can't wait to see what he does here :)

  • electrolite #65 2 years ago

    "Theres only two forms of pure art and thats paintings and sculpture"

    You sound like an A Level Art student. Grow up.

  • byakuya83 #66 2 years ago

    "Art is about expressing yourself without external causes being a factor on your expression."

    It cannot be possible to express yourself without external causes being a factor on your expression. External factors determine who you are and how you live your life. The environment that moulds you is an unavoidable, external factor that affects expression.

    This game sounds great to me, a modern take on the point/click games like Broken Sword and Blade Runner. Footage I've seen has far more to it than just QTEs and reminds me a lot of the detective game on DS about the hotel. Really looking forward to playing this.

  • mukki #67 2 years ago

    interested...
    still not a big fan of QTEs but having said I did play their previous game all way to its somewhat lame end...

  • Linkified #68 2 years ago

    @byakuya83 Of course it is easy to seperate yourself from your environment, however to seperate you from the corruption of money is impossible. Ask any politician they can determine the best policies that affect there environment or affect society for the better or worse, introduce money and they corruption occurs.

    @electrolite: Actually never studied art once. I've got BSc in Computer Science though and currently doing an MEng in Computer Science. And abit of graphics programming here and there.

  • GreyBeard #69 2 years ago

    @Linkified

    I believe you are confusing Art and Charity.

    Getting paid to make something, or being paid after the fact for it is immaterial, its all about approach and intention.

    Within the media (movies, music, popular fiction, games, etc) that tends to boil down to the seriousness with which the creator is setting their work out as a commercial entity; Is it constructed deliberately to contain "exploitable" elements, like sex, swearing, and violence that can be use to add marquee value to the piece. "High" art and "Low" exploitation being the extremes at either end of the sale.

    The problem with this is of course that any "genre" (i.e. defined by its themes and content) piece tends to get automatically relegated to the populist/exploitation ghetto. Its just intellectual snobbery of course, but its the way it works.

    Given the extremely formulaic nature of most games its pretty easy to understand why many people refuse to consider them as a viable artistic medium, but what happens when people (like Cage) throw the formula in the bin and try to use the medium in a different way?

    That's Art.

    Not neccessarily good art, and monumentally unlikely to be great art, *but*, the intention is there. And even if Cage fails, someone , somewhere, will be able to improve on it down the line.

    This is how artforms evolve and improve. Look at the evolution of cinema from Melies, to Griffith, to Eisenstein and Welles to what we know today.



  • Atropos #70 2 years ago

    I've played this same preview, and Heavy Rain is now at the top of my "must-have" list for 2010. It might ultimately fail (though I've not seen any evidence to support this), but if so it will be the best kind of failure. Trust me, this is pretty special.

  • Linkified #71 2 years ago

    @GreyBeard: Nope, I belive your confusing art and culture, sure books, movies, music and to a much lesser extent games reproduce society or change society in some meaningful way. Art however is outside of culture and piece of art will always be art and be good, unlike culture.

    I find it funny as to how many people on this site seem to think Games are anything more than random dribble to entertain the mass consumer of the industry, of a particular genre etc. Like was GTA4 art?Nope. Was DMC4 art?Nope. Was LBP art? Nope. See the pattern right. But this is funny actually the people who likes pretty graphics tend to and are right that games aren't art, but those who say its all about the gameplay are banging on that these games are art.

  • Linkified #72 2 years ago

    @GreyBeard: Wait just saw your last point you are comparing a better understanding in science to a better understanding in art?
    Its easy to understand our knowledge of science, and is easily applied in simulation models to games ala better particle systems, better modeling of friction.

    Emotion shouldn't be in games just have any part of human interaction I use this method to laugh, cry and being angry with friends and family. to express my emotions and don't any game trying to do that.

  • Zaiz #73 2 years ago

    Umm. Never played any of these games by Cage, but here's the idea these hands on have given me.

    QTEs. Lots.
    DARK, DEPRESSING STORY, HOMG GRITTY REALISM
    FOUR CONTROLLABLE CHARACTERS! 20 ENDINGS!

    So, Final Fantasy with God of War. Okay, I'm kidding there, but seriously. Dark, gritty realism always makes me leery because almost a hundred percent of the time it's done poorly, with the gritty realism being so heavily layered on you lose your suspension of disbelief. The amount of characters, interesting. The amount of QTE...not so interesting. Certainly, you tell me that it isn't all QTE, but every review has mentioned the tons and tons of QTE. It gives me the sense that there are so many QTEs in this game that the journalistic media has developed stockholm syndrome.

    Or are QTEs becoming a good thing? I mean, yes, they allow the developer to give the player a chance to control a cut scene and do something absurd. But seriously, ugh, I dislike being given a reflex test that lasts 6-10 hours.

  • EvilBob_leeds #74 2 years ago

    I really hope Quantic can pull it off. This truly sounds like it has the makings of something special.

    Ooooh I'm going to spend a lot of next year broke with a pile of half finished games to get through.

    Linkified - what exactly it is that constitues art is something that philosophers have argued over for years. I appreciate the point your making, but it is just your opinion not some higher truth based on empirical evidence, so lines like "one of the mass public who are still gullible over what is art?" are frankly a bit arrogant and uncalled for. It's not like there's a right answer to "what is art".

    Congratulations on making the arguing on this thread a bit more highbrow though ;-)
    Edited by 2 at 14/12/09 @ 23:41

  • linea #75 2 years ago

    @Linkified So Shakespeare wasn't a true artist? James Joyce? Man Ray? What about Andy Warhol's paintings? What about painters like Munch who produced multiple copies of their paintings? What about people like Marcel Duchamp who incorporated manufactured objects into their sculpture? Where does someone like Jeff Koons fit into your theory? What about mixed-media artists? Are they only artists when they're painting, but not when they're making a video installation?

    It's not easy to define what art is and is not, but it certainly is not defined by medium or by whether it can be mass-produced. A painting is not art by virtue of being a daub of paint on canvas (many shop signs are that), it is art (in my book) by virtue of its beauty and ability to speak to the human condition. And I don't see why games as a medium should be fundamentally incapable of doing that.

  • Aname #76 2 years ago

    Well said linea. Completely agree.

  • StooMonster #77 2 years ago

    Theres only two forms of pure art and thats paintings and sculpture, we can subdivide these into public and private and public art is therefore the only true art form.
    What about dance?

    Anything mass produced where more than one copy exits in the world
    What about Andy Warhol?

    Linkified, your "arguments" are so full of holes it's laughable; art is whatever people want it to be, not something defined by some anonymous poster on a website dedicated to video and computer games. Nice bit of trolling though, got plenty of people engaged in your posts rather than the topic.

  • Linkified #78 2 years ago

    @linea: 'virtue of its beauty and ability to speak to the human condition.' The human condition I assume you mean a bunch of chemicals when the eye get a certain hue or saturation of light, the right chemical compound in the mouth or smell in the nose.

    But why is this game supposedly art yet gears of war, fifa,etc aren't art.

    'What about dance?'
    Edited by 1 at 15/12/09 @ 00:45

  • kaya08 #79 2 years ago

    Art is like good and bad, they're purely subjective terms. Trying to get one definition of what is and isn't art is an exercise in futility. I think this cigarette I'm smoking is art and theres really no objective argument you can make which will prove me wrong.

    Then theres quality ...

  • cristoflanga #80 2 years ago

    Silence concedes?

  • neems #81 2 years ago

    Try not to confuse opinion with fact.

  • Xinch #82 2 years ago

    This rating readers comments on Eurogamer is pure wank.

    -8, my comment justified.
    Edited by 1 at 17/12/09 @ 23:45

  • man.the.king #83 2 years ago

    @Linkified

    "Like was GTA4 art?Nope. Was DMC4 art?Nope. Was LBP art? Nope. See the pattern right."

    No, they weren't art. That doesn't mean that the potential is not there in the medium itself. To imply that games "will never be art" is, in my opinion, a bit premature.

    For that matter, I don't agree with your argument that there should be no relation between art and commerce, but I see that a lot of other people in this thread have voiced what I think in a much better manner than I could ever hope to do.
    Edited by 1 at 15/12/09 @ 05:22

  • UncleLou #84 2 years ago

    The number of negative comments this game generates every time it is mentioned means Cage is doing something right. It never was going to be a game for everyone.
    Edited by 1 at 15/12/09 @ 06:43

  • Ozal #85 2 years ago

    Nice going with the spoilers Tom.

  • Mooglepies #86 2 years ago

    For me, a thing becomes art when it is created with the intent to provoke a specific emotion and succeeds. Thus, whether something is art or not is, to a certain extent, down to the person viewing it as well as it's creator.

    As a crude example, a sunset is not art, but provokes an emotiotional response. If a painter captures it on canvas in such a way as to provoke similar feelings, that painting becomes art and the painter an artist.

    But perhaps I'm mad. On topic, played Heavy Rain at the expo and was impressed, but I'd need more playtime over an extended period to make a proper judgement on whether I think it's art or not (and, crucially, if it's actually good).

  • Antaios #87 2 years ago

    To butt in on the are-games-art-discussion: if art is indeed the product of human creativity, then games are or can be art, just like music, films, paintings, poetry and so on. Unless you someone like Linkified who seems to only want to look at art from a personal perspective. "I do not like this as an form of art, and therefore it is not," and so on.

    And on another note: Jebus, Tom, spoilers! :(

    I'm looking forward to this game but I really don't want to know anything more about the story from now on. Just a nice "this is ace/crap, longevity is this many hours" and a so-much-out-of-ten-grade at the end would suffice for me, thank you very much. ;)
    Edited by 2 at 15/12/09 @ 11:02

  • justsomeone #88 2 years ago

    from reading this, and the moderate hints therein, i'm starting to worry that they've fallen into the old cliche of making one of the main characters - surprise-surprise - the killer. either that or it's kevin spacey again.

  • justsomeone #89 2 years ago

    also, can we please have a filter in EG to remove the "games as art" troll comments, and all those that insist on feeding them too? ty.

  • linea #90 2 years ago

    @justsomeone there's an 'ignore poster' button under each post's user name. or you could ignore comments below a certain neg kudos threshold

  • guernican #91 2 years ago

    @Linkified

    "Like was GTA4 art?Nope. Was DMC4 art?Nope. Was LBP art? Nope. See the pattern right."

    I think I do see the pattern, yes. Sadly, the argument-clinching point you think you're making says plenty about you, and piss-all about the issue under discussion.

  • Antaios #92 2 years ago

    @ justsomeone: That would actually be great! Kevin Spacey as the killer, completely out of the blue. :D

  • kendoji #93 2 years ago

    Linkified fail lolz

    /brings the tone of discussion back to acceptable internet levels

  • Negotiator #94 2 years ago

    I am looking forward to this, and have been for some time, but I can't shake the feeling that this game will turn out a little average. I hope not, nevermind I can always go with Alan Wake instead.

  • kangarootoo #95 2 years ago

    @Linkified

    You are being too hard and fast about the definition of art. The definition is subjective and can never be declared in absolute terms. Speaking your own subjective definition loudly does not make it fact just because you state it loudly.

    You can go around saying "this is art" and "this is not art" if you wish, but it carries with it an implied prefix of "imo", and there is nothing any of us can do to change that.


    "Actually never studied art once"

    It shows. You seem to have invented your own definition of what art is in such a way that almost everything commonly accepted as art is excluded. Art is a human invention, and with all subjective definitions, if any firm definition is to be accepted, the most commonly held one is as good as it gets. On that basis, your must accept that your own definition of art is either subjective, or wrong. You can't have it any other way I'm afraid.
    Edited by 1 at 15/12/09 @ 10:41

  • davisorle #96 2 years ago

    The closest to this game is Fahrenheit I suppose which I loved it. The thing is that a game of the kind is based OFC on the script, story/plot , voice acting and length. According to the article voice acting falls short often. Why on earth would they do that... I dont get it which I also didnt expect to hear. A game that all you have to do is live it through that and buttonpressing when needed has to be great to that part. The fact that the developers said that there isnt actual replayability for the game and that they didnt make it so we would play more than once is also worrying. I mean... How big is the game then? :S

    I dont own a PS3 but im planning on getting one so I have an extra reason to want it to be good cause so far on my list when I get a PS3 i have 3 exclusives and one collection. I know ill be getting this too but I hope they make it more than worth it and not dissapoint me. I was hoping higher for this game before this article.. And I love "different" games so I expect too much from this one.

  • Cryguy #97 2 years ago

    @Messiah999 Bit judgemental about the whole thing aren't we? I'm guessing you probably haven't had the full hands-on experience and therefore aren't in quite as strong a position as some of the Games Press to make such comments. You're entitled to your opinion, sure, but let's just give it a chance, yeah? Big up to Sony in my books for commissioning something a little different in these barren system-exclusive-titles times.
    Edited by 2 at 15/12/09 @ 10:49

  • andywilkie35 #98 2 years ago

    Looks and sounds fucking excellent. I loved Fahrenheit so this has been high on my radar for a long long time.

  • cnlfailure #99 2 years ago

    @Linkified

    While I've got a BA in creative art I'm not going to shoot down your narrow interpretation of what art is except to say that it is an individual's opinion as to what is and is not of artistic merit. If you need to ensure that the artist does not charge for their artistic work in order for it to qualify so be it, but for most people the litmus test would be whether it ticks the box labelled "art" in their mind; a box which is a slightly different shape for everyone.

    An entity becomes art through the perception of the reader, not because of any criteria except that imposed by the reader.

    Back on topic, is Heavy Rain art? I'd have to play it first, but I'm hedging towards a yes vote.

  • M_of_the_sys #100 2 years ago

    Some of the screen shots are simply jaw dropping. Some might even call them works of art...

  • Widge #101 2 years ago

    You can't make a game like this with the storytelling structure of Uncharted, Halflife or Bioshock. You just can't.

  • laudy #102 2 years ago

    Haven't read all the comments, but is that what the storytelling in Heavy Rain is being compared to?

  • Ergates_Antius #103 2 years ago

    @Linkified
    I don't think anyone [here] is arguing that Fifa456 or MW2 or GTA4 are art. I'm not even particularly bothered if games are (or are considered to be) art.
    However, "Some games are not art" is not the same as "All games are not art".
    More to the point, "All [existing] games are not art" is not the same as "games can never be art".

    If you apply such a narrow definition as "Theres only two forms of pure art and thats paintings and sculpture" then clearly, by definition, games cannot be art as they are neither painting nor sculpture.

    However, your statement begs 2 fairly fundamental questions:
    1) Says who?
    2) By what authority?
    Edited by 1 at 15/12/09 @ 13:29

  • kangarootoo #104 2 years ago

    @Ergates_Antius

    Well put.

    And of course, there IS no authority, which is exactly ther reason the "is it art" debate will rage for all time (regardless of the heavy handed attempts of some to bring us some final and unequivocal wisdom).

  • Mooglepies #105 2 years ago

    Anyone that says they've taken away interactivity in this game, or that it's one long QTE clearly hasn't actually played it yet. While QTEs do form a large part of what you end up doing, there are walking controls, there is a UI, and there are things to do outside of "Press X to not get shot/not get run over/pile ham and cheddar on your sandwich".

  • poopmonster #106 2 years ago

    I'm seriously looking forward to this.

    After Uncharted 2's fantastic cut-scenes and scripting, I'm quite ready for sitting back for some minimal interaction storytelling.

    The industry has been claiming for years to be on the brink of interactive movies, and only now are we seeing this become a real possibility. QTE loving or no, if it's entertainment then it can't be bad.

  • madjim #107 2 years ago

    I'd like to add a couple of things to the art/no art conversation that currently runs. For a start I must say that what I do in my life has to do with something that is considered as art from the majority of the world. Many say that what I do is considered top in my country. I won't go into more details, and surely I can't expect you to believe the above, but I definitely was trying to say, that I like art, I am interested in every form of it.

    So, saying that video games can't be considered art, it's a thing for conversation. Some people disagree what is and what is not art, even if there are forms of art that are definitely accepted as such. Some say that Umberto Eco's works are not art, because the author asks for money to get his books published. Francis Ford Copolla's "The Godfather" can't be praised as art, cos it won many Oscars and until today it sells well in DVDs and BDs. Maybe they should give it away for free. There are many warez sites that give those movies "in artistic editions". The examples are infinite, in music, film making, literature. I can't keep on defending the above because I find it really schizophrenic to try to prove that this ball in the sky is the sun.

    But video games... A different story... Or maybe not? If you carefully look into the creation of a game, it still has the same qualities of cinema. It borrows elements from other arts like literature, music and photography in order to present you another form of expression. So, let's take an example like the game "Mafia" which had many such elements. It had a great story, that was written in the way film scripts are written, it had excellent graphics and direction and that means that graphic artists put their art into the game. It means there were a director's vision (everyone that played Mafia knows what I mean), it had excellent music. There was character development, much like a Scorcese movie. There were all those elements that make a movie considered as art, but yet, games are just games even if you actually interact with the story than actually watch it go through your eyes. And that is because some people refuse to see that games are not Pacman anymore.

    Please, give me a break...
    Edited by 2 at 15/12/09 @ 14:01

  • davisorle #108 2 years ago

    @madjim
    Thumbs up. One for your comment and one specific for the Mafia mention. Was the only reason that i enjoyed finishing that game when Im against the genre. Ty

  • des #109 2 years ago

    Game will be bundled with this controller.

  • davisorle #110 2 years ago

    @des
    roflmao... Couldnt believe it when i saw it.

  • MORZTAN #111 2 years ago

    "...nevermind I can always go with Alan Wake instead. "

    Negotiator :)

    How much do they pay you? You do a great job, and I wish I had a job like that :D

  • Widge #112 2 years ago

    If you're going to be minused, you may as well do it in style.

  • Linkified #113 2 years ago

    @poopmonster: If games ever manage to tell a decent story without having to go 'supernateral beasts' see Uncharted 1. Then they should make a cgi film. Seriously I want a game not a 12 hour game which is extended with stupid dialogue: 'Metal Gear?, Metal Gear?! Metal Gear!!' Bullshit ever in my games. I remember the good times when you had a good game and story and it never had it take itself as it was an interactive movie to get the story across.

  • cristoflanga #114 2 years ago

    @MESSIAH999

    I deeply disagree, because all those games you have mentioned have a less interactive story than HR. I mean, it doesn't matter how you play Bioshock or Uncharted, the story will unfold as the same. What Quantic Dream is trying to do here is give you control. This means that the interactivity is in the story itself, in what you do as the characters, and not only in how each pre-constructed battle scenario plays out. This is exactly what makes the game exciting, I mean, you can screw up and kill a character and the game carries on, the story can unfold in so many different ways it's mind numbing! As for the gameplay, I hope it manages to vary enough to not get too repetitive, but doesn't get too convoluted, which might detract you from what you're actually trying to achieve story-wise. Really excited here.
    Edited by 1 at 15/12/09 @ 16:42

  • ObiChrisKenobi #115 2 years ago

    Be one of the rare games I actually buy on the PS3 (and that's not just because its a PS3 exclusive). Loved Shenmue, so if this can expand on that premise, I'm sure we're in for a great game.

  • Lionheart #116 2 years ago

    LOL @ the first poster -176 and counting

  • Grayvern #117 2 years ago

    If this is any good first 3rd to half of 2010 im gonna be poor.

  • o_ci2007 #118 2 years ago

    @lionheart -176 still falls short of the record of -227.

  • Ornithophobe #119 2 years ago

    -176 still falls short of the record of -227.

    That sounds like a challenge !


  • Badassbab #120 2 years ago

    Looking forward to this game just hope it's not too reliant on QTE's.

  • Picnic #121 2 years ago

    If the Dreamcast hadn't been discontinued relatively quickly, maybe we might have seen games like this on the Dreamcast or Dreamcast 2 (it's a great name for a console so I'd have stuck with it)? Sega were innovating with games like Seaman and Jet Set Radio and with Shenmue (which I haven't actually played) it seems that they explored having a game based on interaction and some everyday scenarios rather than relatively constant action.

    There have been some 'different' games on the PS2 too of course but the PS3 seems to have less such games.

    Alan Wake may be the closest equivalent for Xbox360 players.
    Edited by 3 at 20/12/09 @ 22:33

  • Syrette #122 2 years ago

    lol at the people comparing this to Shenmue on the basis of them both having QTEs.

    Shenmue wasn't built around them, that's what I don't like about Heavy Rain and based on what I've seen of it, I don't think it's worth all the hype...

    ... if you view it from a gamer's perspective. From the perspective of someone wanting an 'interactive' movie this sounds spot on.

  • kenji_asai #123 2 years ago

    Wow! This for sure IS a mature game. For me it'll be something more like "Fahrenheit" (what a pity that this game was so "unseen":()
    Can't wait to play it!