Rent-A-Hero Review

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Rent-A-Hero

Review by Jen

Rent-A-Hero was a pig in a poke—I had ordered it from England without knowing anything about it other than that it was an adventure game. The cover art was pretty garish, so I was kind of reluctant to play it, but I figured what the hell and tried it anyway. Boy, was I in for a treat. Rent-A-Hero is an example of adventure game as art.

The plot is yet another hackneyed retelling of the ultimate battle between good and evil. You, as Rodrigo, rent out your services to rescue princesses. Unfortunately, there’s not much money in it, and the other rental heroes get much better jobs than you.  Fortunately for you, a dwarf needs someone to find his wife, and all of the other heroes are completely booked up, so you get the job by default. Well, finding the dwarf’s wife is just the beginning of your quest to defeat the ultimate evil mentioned above and save the world. While the plot is tried and true, it is rendered in a refreshing manner.

The graphics in Rent-A-Hero are, simply put, stunning.  In fact, I wanted to use all of my multitudes of screenshots because I had such a hard time choosing a few. The cutscenes are breathtaking, and the care that was taken in drawing the backgrounds was very evident. It consists of 3D characters on 2D backgrounds, in what the developers call 2.5D. Not since The Neverhood have I seen a game that was as pleasurable just to watch, and the backgrounds were at least as good as those in the Broken Sword games.  The characters were drawn in such a way that they had, well, character, and even the ugly ones were extremely appealing. I could gush for another couple of paragraphs about the beauty of this game, but then I’d have to get out my thesaurus to find new words for fantastic, and it’s not worth the effort, so just take a look at the screenshots above to get a taste for yourself.

Gameplay is pretty straightforward. You click on stuff to interact with it in whatever way, be it speaking or using or picking up, and you usually have a small inventory, although this is not what I would call an inventory-oriented game. There is also a fair bit of conversation, but mostly there is figuring stuff out. All of the puzzles are integrated into the plot to the extent that you don’t really realize you are even doing puzzles. The game is pretty easy for the seasoned adventurer, which is a big minus for me because I really didn’t want it to end quite so soon. The only walkthrough I could find on the Internet is in German, which I don’t speak, so I had to actually muddle through the whole game myself without any hints, in what must be a first for me. I was kind of proud of myself, but in reality, if you get stuck, you can just go look at everything and click on everything again and something’s bound to change. One other noteworthy feature: the game didn’t crash once, even with all of my TSRs running in the background, and you can even Alt-Tab to another program. Bug-free!  What a novel concept!

The music is fantastic. It was recorded by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, and each piece exactly suits its scene. There is enough variety and the pieces are long enough that the music never gets old, and I lingered in a couple of spots just to listen a bit longer.

Rent-A-Hero was originally produced in German and later translated to English, and the voice acting was, surprisingly enough, perfect, even down to the lip-synching being, well, in sync. Rodrigo, the hero, was a nice-guy, well-meaning-but-nevertheless-bumbling, mild-mannered Milquetoast sort of character, bringing to mind the English actor Hugh Grant. Usually, in even the finest of adventure games (as well as Disney animated features), there is always at least one character that is totally over the top—not so in Rent-A-Hero (a welcome relief to your easily annoyed reviewer).

Sound effects were also perfect—but hard to describe in this or any review. I might just start omitting any discussion of sound effects in my future reviews, but this is the part where the sound effects are traditionally discussed so I guess I am fulfilling my mission.

All in all, this is the nicest game I have had the pleasure to play in quite some time, and it was a welcome surprise in this drought of adventure games. The only major drawbacks were that it was too short and too easy. However, it would be a good introduction to adventure gaming for those who have never tried it before.  It’s rated for all ages, but there is one crude synonym for “feces” and one very brief sex scene (which could probably be avoided by the wary prude). The End

The Verdict

The Lowdown

Developer: Neo Publisher: THQ Release Date: July 1999

Available for: Windows

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Screenshots

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System Requirements

Pentium 133 MHz processor Windows 95/98 16 MB RAM 2 MB graphics card 6X CD-ROM drive DirectX 6.0 (included) Sound card

Where to Find It

Check the Game TZ

      Copyright © Electric Eye Productions.  All rights reserved.  No reproduction in whole or in part without express written permission.

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17 Responses to First Impressions: Heavy Rain

  • Toger

    I hate QTEs, but Heavy Rain is sitting in my Amazon cart waiting for me to push the button. I don’t even own a PS3, but I plan on buying the game anyway. I do have a good friend who’ll let me play at his house. Of course, I’ll have to drive 100 miles, one way, through the snow to get to his house. His chat-happy birds will cheerfully chirp thereby completely disrupting any atmosphere, but I can play.

  • David

    What!?  Heavy Rain is full of QTEs?  I totally did not see that coming.

    The whole dad experience thing sounds intriguing.  I’m already getting odd looks from my girlfriend for exclaiming over cute kids on the bus or at the mall, something like what you described might send my biological clock over the edge.

  • Lewis B

    My sentiments exactly David!

    Mat has been playing the Heavy Rain demo for a while now, and although he admits he is intrigued by the story, he does constantly complain about the control method.

    R2 + Analogue stick to run? *scoff*

  • Gregg B

    @Lew: DEMO?! PS3 DEMO?! *runs off to PS3*

    That sounds like the Batman: Arkham Asylum controls – Crazy Bonkers Design. The sort of design that puts pull handles on push doors.

    @Steerpike: “I despise children. They are disgusting and annoying. They knock things over. They interfere with everything. They’re not useful until they’re at least 13, when you can get them to mow the lawn and stuff. But you can pay a service to do that for just a few hundred bucks a year and the service won’t vomit on you, shit in its diapers, grow up to resent you, or otherwise suck. Don’t flame me and don’t post comments to the contrary: kids are repulsive. Why anyone would want them is beyond my feeble imaginings.”

    HAHAhahaha- I er, – hahahaha – you’re as outspoken as me about demon spawn children.

  • Lewis B

    Yeah its been on the internet for weeks and weeks Greggi.  I think you have to do a couple of online puzzles etc to get the appropriate code or something.

    Search on Kotaku, they first ran with it IIRC.

  • Mat

    The puzzle code was for early access before it hit the PSN Store. It’s been available to all since last week.

    Regarding the demo, it took me around 3 or 4 attempts at it to appreciate it. First time around I couldn’t have been more dissapointed by it, but after the 3rd or 4th I decided I wanted to stick with it. I don’t think the demo is a particularly great example of what the game supposedly does best either – choice. I also HATE the control scheme and some of the voice acting is so wooden. Creating an immersive, realistic game is fine but having characters stumbling into tables and fridges because of the ham fisted controls, and listening to French voice actors impersonate Americans does remove that realism a little!

    Still, I rushed out to buy it this morning and will rush home from work to play it in about an hour!

  • xtal

    @ Toger: I don’t own a PS3 either, and it’s not like Heavy Rain seems to be “that” game which makes you run out and buy one– like Bioshock made me run out and get a 360– and it’s also not like this game looks groundbreaking in any way, because it really doesn’t. It’s just got me curious…and people tend to do crazy things the week after they get their yearly bonus. Soooooo yeah, who knows; maybe I’ll own a PS3 soon, but like hell I would admit that it was for Heavy Rain. Psh. I’d tell people it was because I wanted to watch BSG on blu-ray; though anyone who knows me would see right through that lie since I am an avid non-format-upgrader: I’ll switch my BSG collection from DVD to blu-ray the day I upgrade my copy of Jurassic Park from VHS to DVD. (Hint: never)

  • Toger

    @xtal: I’m in no hurry to upgrade my meagre DVD collection to blu-ray either, but I have to say the movies I’ve watched on my friend’s PS3 are absolutely stunning. Blade Runner was simply breath-taking in blu-ray and it made me want a PS3. I don’t think Heavy Rain will be a system seller for me, but I’m betting the game from the Ico team will.

  • xtal

    A game from the Ico team, you say? Hmmm. I’ve been making rounds on Kijiji and Craigslist looking for a copy of Ico (eBay prices are so shudder-inducing) for a few days now. I really need to play that game after my experience with the indescribable Shadow of the Colossus.

    It’s good to know they haven’t died some Interplay-esque death in the meantime.

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    Nope, they’re a small team that works within Sony. Fumito Ueda is the lead and he’s got like ten or so people who’ve worked with him on all his games. Sony pretty much lets them do what they want.

    The Last Guardian is the game that’s coming up from them. It looks more like Ico and less like Shadow of the Colossus to me, which is to say it appears to be focused on platform elements. If I didn’t already have a PS3, it’d be the game that sells it.

  • Gregg B

    @Toger: Ooh, Blade Runner on Blu-ray, gorgeous in all its gorgeosity. In 5.1 it sounds incredible too.

    I bought my PS3 for Team Ico’s unnamed-at-the-time game, Heavy Rain (back when it was just a teaser), LittleBig Planet (yes, yes, I know), Dead Space and Motor Storm: Pacific Rift which sort of pushed me off the fence.

  • Toger

    Gregg, oh yes. The surround sound was spectacular. Did I mention my friend’s HDTV is 72″ (obscene, isn’t it)? It’s like being at a high-class theatre: better food, pauses for bathroom breaks and no one talking through the movie.

    Is Trine up on PSN, yet? If so, that might be my tipping point: Last Guardian, Heavy Rain and Trine.

  • Gregg B

    *spits tea out, despite not drinking any*

    O_O

    72″?! I’m speechless. I can only imagine how awesome that is. Size does matter.

    Not so sure about Trine… hang on. I think it is.

  • Matt "Steerpike" Sakey

    I think it is too, Toger. I’ll check.

    To be honest, though, I doubt you’d be disappointed with the purchase even if Trine’s not there yet. I’ve been way happier with my PS3 than with my 360. Demon’s Souls, Valkyria Chronicles, Uncharted, Folklore, even little games like Flower – I’ve had more concentrated fun with the PS3 than with Microsoft’s console, which tends to gather dust for months between game releases.

    72″???? I thought size didn’t matter!

  • Toger

    Size doesn’t matter. 😀

    In my friend’s defense, it was a great deal: opened box, itty-bitty scratch on the case, not a dead pixel to be seen and it was less $$ than the 60″ he originally wanted.

    Thanks for checking guys. I’ve played a tiny bit of Uncharted, but I’m horrible at the combat. Flower intrigues me. As does Demon’s Souls, but I know that game will crush my soul.

  • Gregg B

    There were certain moments in Flower where it just totally succeeded in conveying a feeling that I can’t say I’ve had in many other games, usually when rushing across a field through the grass or through a canyon or just skimming a pond, but it was never anything to do with collecting bloody petals or fulfilling some rudimentary puzzle. I think my problem with it was that it felt like it was trying to be this deeply emotional piece but in the end there seemed to be too many concessions to being a game rather than just running with the emotive side of the experience. One thing I am sure about though, is the trophies. Don’t get me started on the fucking trophies…

    One of my favourite little games on the PS3 is Everyday Shooter. It’s got a brilliant soundtrack that suits its raw visual style and I love how each level requires a certain tactic or strategy to survive it. It’s a very satisfying game in small bursts.

  • Hanover

    Unfortunately Cage mucked up the ending yet again.  The problem is that the mechanic of the game forced them to have to cheat in order to prevent spoiling the mystery of the game.

    There is also a red herring that makes no sense and is obviously put there to misdirect the player.

    90% of the game is awesome, the last 10% while not as bad as the indigo prophecy, is still sloppy.

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