Heavy Rain - Announcement trailer

Published 21 August, 2008 Duration 1:31

Sony's spooky new IP was officially unveiled during its conference in Leipzig last night, drawing appreciative coos from the audience. Quantic, the folks who did Fahrenheit, are behind the game, which purports to offer unprecedented narrative control and emotional involvement.

Comments (56) Latest comment 3 years ago

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  • Quint2020 #1 4 years ago

    Actual gameplay FOOTAGE!!!!11one

  • Tenaflyviper #2 4 years ago

    Yay! More quicktime events!

  • Dizzy #3 4 years ago

    I missed the "gameplay" part? WTF do you have to do? Just click buttons when they appear on screen?

  • curtlikesmeat #4 4 years ago

    Pretty meh. Shen Mue with better graphics much?
    Edited by curtlikesmeat at 21/08/08 @ 10:13

  • Widge #5 4 years ago

    Yeah because Shenmue is suddenly awful!

  • cyacomini #6 4 years ago

    joy - another 'interactive moovee'

  • Apostle #7 4 years ago

    "Pretty meh. Shen Mue with better graphic much? "

    Agree with Widge. Why is that a bad thing??

  • Widge #8 4 years ago

    I'm actually disappointed too. I mean its the same mistake as that Broken Sword series, all that walking about and just pressing a button. What a FAIL.

  • viper_h #9 4 years ago

    Looks like another flop.

  • Darkedge #10 4 years ago

    quite nice graphics but no way as stunning as the original test.
    Shame it might as well be Dragon's Lair gameplay with pre rendered prettyness.

  • Jocho #11 4 years ago

    Go read a preview of the game before you judge it. It seems to be more then just a series of quick-time events, although this movie does a poor job of showing it.

  • Beek4257 #12 4 years ago

    What this has to do with 360 is beyond me, but I like this take on QTE. I do hope it's not overused. Will put this on my wanted-list.

  • TheJuriel #13 4 years ago

    Well, there was nothing interesting in this one...

  • koji_m #14 4 years ago

    God, what is that thing?

    are we meant to actually "play" that or just go OOh and AAh at those winzor grafics...

  • T4RG4 #15 4 years ago

    Oh dear... very, very oh dear. QTE boredom.

    I didn't even think it looked very good (might just be compressed movie but nevertheless..)

  • JHuxley #16 4 years ago

    /agrees with Jocho

    At first I was as concerned as every other poster on here, but after reading 1up's preview it suddenly sounds a lot more interesting.

  • Les #17 4 years ago

    As it's probably an adventure as opposed to an action game, QTE for fighting isn't that bad IMO. But as I don't like the typical gameplay of adventure games either I think I won't bother.

  • penhalion #18 4 years ago

    Heavy rain is an adventure game and not an action game. Yes it has great graphics but, anyone expecting free control of the game is in for a major shock. Anyone who played quantics other adventure Fahrenheit will understand what I mean.

    Even Quantic themselves are trying to let people know that this game contains no run and gun action whatsoever! It's an adventure. A work of interactive fiction i.e. you get to watch it a lot and actually participate very little (bar QTEs and searching locations by the look of it). The story seems to unfold via the heroines dictaphone entries and flashbacks.

  • Widge #19 4 years ago

    where are the marines and sideboobs!?

  • Beek4257 #20 4 years ago

    I liked the idea of Fahrenheit, where the main interaction was influencing how the story played out, if to a limited degree.
    If they can expand on that idea, which according to the developers is one of their goals, I'm interested. It's a different kind of interaction and maybe less "direct" than shooting stuff or jumping on things, but you can do these things elsewhere.
    Edited by Beek4257 at 21/08/08 @ 11:26

  • HolyJebus #21 4 years ago

    My main problem with QTE is when you get one wrong that you have to replay the whole scene again and this can happen so often. If there was a way to continue the scene but punish you someway else for missing a button press i'd be all for that. That's not a judgment on this game as of course its too early, just QTEs in general.

  • JHuxley #22 4 years ago

    @HolyJebus

    Read the 1up preview. From what I understand, that's exactly what this game does. Just because you mess up and get caught, doesn't mean it is the end of the game. You just get a different outcome.

  • BadBoyBonner #23 4 years ago

    Looks nowhere near as impressive as the test. Lip-syncing and eye movement looks noticeably worse - which for me was the most impressive aspects in the first place.

  • miiiguel #24 4 years ago

    I like QTE's. This looks good.

    /wonders why blig dude have nightmares of electronic 360's/
    Edited by miiiguel at 21/08/08 @ 12:04

  • Widge #25 4 years ago

    The 1up link for the LAZY

    [link url=http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=3169463
    ]http://www.1up.com/do/previewPage?cId=31...[/link]

    and that sounds pretty good. Unique storytelling, unique controls... all sounds good!

  • curtlikesmeat #26 4 years ago

    Agreed the test was better, I haven't got anything against Shenmue but it's nearly 10 years old and I thought this game was going to push things forward. Maybe it's just a bad video, we'll see I guess!

  • Machetazo #27 4 years ago

    Anyone that can surmise a better way, to prompt on-the-spot reactions from players, to close-proximity events in quick succession, OTHER than QTE, please raise your hand.

    I'm as annoyed with QTEs where the action slows to a crawl, and you have unrealistic amount of time to react to enable the "good" outcome movie as anyone else; but that looks to be a world away from what's being shown here. It looks fast-paced and action packed, retaining the tension that the scene in the building conveys.
    Edited by Machetazo at 21/08/08 @ 12:36

  • coojam #28 4 years ago

    Shenmue was waaaaay ahead of it's time.

  • SpaceMidget75 Verified Senior Software Developer, Minerva Computer Services #29 4 years ago

    Not impressed with this trailer. Graphics look fine but no better than RE:5 for example. Other than that all this has shown is a QTE event. QTE's by design are supposed to look very filmic but they are the lowest form of gameplay. They're not impressing anyone with this footage.

    "Actual Gameplay" = A cut scene with some buttons to press!

    P.S. Shenmue is one of my favourite games ever and Farenheit was a very good effort but this game will have needed to progress far from that game in 2009 to be the AAA title everyone is hoping it will be.

  • illusiondance #30 4 years ago

    they might want to tone down the disclaimer font size, it looks like the title.

  • SpaceMidget75 Verified Senior Software Developer, Minerva Computer Services #31 4 years ago

    "It was a cut scene with some QTE. NOT actual proper gameplay footage. "

    I don't know if this was aimed at me, but I was well aware that it was a cut scene and QTE. Isn't that what I said above?

  • Canyarion #32 4 years ago

    I liked the first trailer better.

  • kangarootoo #33 4 years ago

    The main issue I have with this is that when I press a button in a game, I want to have at least SOME idea of what that button press is going to do.

    If someone tells me I can steer a story or course of events with my decisions, then surely actually MAKING decisions is an important part of that.

    From what I saw in the movie, there was plenty of button pressing going on, but no clue as to what each button press was going to result in.

    So where is the decision making in the sections of gameplay we have been shown? No doubt the actual dialogue sections of the adventure will be clearer, but that is really no different from Fahrenheit, i.e. section of interesting adventure progress (aside from when the plot went mental) spliced between amateurish action scenes over which I felt I had no proper control.

    I played all the way through Fahrenheit, and I enjoyed it, and I've been tempted to buy it again on XBLM. But nobody can tell me it was the second coming of story driven gaming it was hyped to be, and I suspect Heavy Rain is going to me much the same. Pretty, and fun, but nothing that resets the bar.


    So now I'm reading the preview link. "discussion of controls that feed the story" it says here. /raises eyebrow after previous comments about context-less controls.

    Ok, so the "review your thoughts at any time" stuff sounds cool. The driving yourself through the environment is an interesting angle to take, which is I guess just putting a posh graphical hat on the normal adventure format, so that is cool too.


    Judgement is reserved as always. Fahrenheit walked the line as far as I was concerned; sometimes very clever and sometimes childishly stupid. If Heavy Rain is better than Fahrenheit was, I shall be pleased and will no doubt play it and enjoy it.

    One final word to DC, shorten the quicktime sequences compared to those in Fahrenheit. Some of them were about 6 times too long, and were simply not fun.

  • kangarootoo #34 4 years ago

    "It was a cut scene with some QTE. NOT actual proper gameplay footage."

    What exactly is the difference? If a section of the game is interactive, in other words playable, it is gameplay. The clue is in the title you see.

  • SpaceMidget75 Verified Senior Software Developer, Minerva Computer Services #35 4 years ago

    I agree completely kangarootoo.

    As an aside, the other thing that was annoying with Fahrenheit's QTE's wasn't just the length, but the amount of button presses chained together in quick succession. I find it ironic that a gameplay element was designed to do some extravagant footage only to have the player not appreciate it because they're too busy focussing on the buttons appearing on screen! At least Shemnue's were spaced apart so you could enjoy the action.

  • kangarootoo #36 4 years ago

    Too right. I'm sure there was some pretty groovy stuff going on in the background at one point or anotyher, but I didn't get a chance to watch it because I was locked in an unblinking hell of concentration on the central four square inches of the screen.
    Edited by kangarootoo at 21/08/08 @ 15:12

  • kangarootoo #37 4 years ago

    Hey EG. Why don't your spoiler tags work in video comment threads? I had to edit my last post for fear of linching.

  • illusiondance #38 4 years ago

    cooo, she has a nice rosy glow for a virtual gal.

  • illusiondance #39 4 years ago

    precisely - the beauty of shenmue was that the idea of QTE made you sit up and concentrate on a cut-scene or story section.
    (kojima kind of tried it with his amusing but pointless camera and codec interaction, but was too in love with his story)
    To make it more liberal through-out gameplay may become a bit of a strain.
    Let them try it, at least SOMEONE is trying to write game stories for grown ups. is this ps3 exclusive?

  • patchbox360 #40 4 years ago

    people trying to stab you in a house haha - best game ever

  • ruckus #41 4 years ago

    "The main issue I have with this is that when I press a button in a game, I want to have at least SOME idea of what that button press is going to do.

    If someone tells me I can steer a story or course of events with my decisions, then surely actually MAKING decisions is an important part of that.

    From what I saw in the movie, there was plenty of button pressing going on, but no clue as to what each button press was going to result in. "

    QFT - So true and should be part of some 'Game Design Bible' or something. I hate QTE's so much now that I avoid anything I know has 'em. Soggy corn flakes etc. to whoever invented them.

  • JHuxley #42 4 years ago

    "The main issue I have with this is that when I press a button in a game, I want to have at least SOME idea of what that button press is going to do."

    If you watch carefully, the clue is in the positioning of the icons. Really not difficult to work out what each buttons press will do.

  • WrongShui #43 4 years ago

    This game will probably be interesting.

    Up untill it goes bat shit crazy and the personification of Tyranny pops up and fights Cable TV.

  • Kiigan #44 4 years ago

    I really fucking hated the QTE button mashing of Fahrenheit.

    Don't they have any other ideas? Don't they want to make something that actually plays well?

  • mukki #45 4 years ago

    looks great!

    but man not one of the those now press button x games... :/

  • Bennicus #46 4 years ago

    Ahh, so QTEs are the best way to establish "emotional involvement", looks like Quantic have cracked it!

  • Saii #47 4 years ago

    hmmm QTE rape scene?

  • hannibaldave #48 4 years ago

    Shenmue was ass

  • Bangaioh #49 4 years ago

    Shenmue was a friggin masterpiece and this doesn't seem anywhere near there...

  • ZuluHero #50 3 years ago

    "Shenmue was ass"

    You misspelled "ace" there.