It’s a QTE game. Anyone who sez otherwise is incorrect.
With that out of the way, let’s move on to other subjects.
0.5) GameStop gave me $30 for my six trade ins, and that’s with their 50% bonus through March 13. Whores. So Heavy Rain put me back another $30, which makes me sad, but not that sad, because I suck with money.
1) 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.
2) That said, Heavy Rain made me feel funny in the first hour. I did battle with my sons in the back yard, using toy swords, and I saw, for a second, why Dads are so happy with their offspring. I misplaced one of my children in a mall and my heart – my cold stone heart – was beating unnecessarily hard. Later on I feebly attempted to care for one of my (cartoon-addicted) kids and kind of failed.
Why? Sadly, not because I didn’t try.
Look, I’m less than two hours into Heavy Rain, but let’s right now put to bed any and all claims that it’s some revelation. It’s a Quick Time Event game, regardless of the fact that David Cage almost bursts into tears whenever you accuse it of being that. QTEs are fast and furious. Press up to set the table. Press X to dodge that broken bottle. Press down to kick the door in. And there is no indication of context; the prompts don’t tell you what a button press might do. Fridge open, I hunted for dinner for my hideous spawn. Push up, push right, push semicircle right-up. Aiming for a microwave pizza, I grabbed instead a carton of orange juice and drank some. After that the fridge refused to open. This isn’t a game where you can do anything, this is a game where you can do exactly, and only, what David Cage says you can do.
Two Toes wrote wonderfully about the opportunity of Heavy Rain, the implication of contextual controls and what have you. I’m sorry to reveal that for all its promise, it’s a game of Quick Time Events.
But does that make it bad? Hell no. Even 45 minutes tell me that this is a game that’ll make your eyes water and your stomach do weird buzzy things. Flaws so far are limited to the aforementioned QTEs, the Uncanny Valley, and the fact that most actors, regardless of talent, are very clearly speaking English as a second language. Beyond that this is an important game that does unpleasant things to your heart rate. Like 1UP, with an hour devoted, I recommend that you support what’s been attempted here, even if you hate it.
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.
What!? Heavy Rain is full of QTEs? I totally did
notsee 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.
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*
@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 spawnchildren.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.
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!
@ 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)
@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.
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.
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.
@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.
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.
*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.
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!
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.
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.
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.