Heavy Rain

[Nightshape]

It's no more an excellent movie than it is an excellent game.

 

It's an excellent thing out there on its own being well, fun, entertaining, and well excellent.

 

It's fresh, but not a game or a movie. Think interactive story experience.

[Killian Kalthorne]

Going into law enforcement or are you trying to collect on the eventual bounties?

 

I was in law enforcement. My quality of life has improved somewhat since exiting that field of work. Of course, being a cop with a law degree will get you endless amounts of nookie - that I miss.

 

You did it for the nookie?

[Purkake]

Heavy Rain is top selling game in UK!!!

 

http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/27439/H...r_One_In_UK.php

I'd wait until we get actual numbers. Being a top selling game when there is hardly any competition isn't much of a feat.

 

Nightshape, what? Excellent something excellent? Try coherent sentences

Edited March 2, 2010 by Purkake

[Niten_Ryu]

This is interesting. First AAA quality game that you can play on youtube. And it's even better as you only choose what to do and that poor person who made those videos had to do all the controller movement / QTE crap

[Purkake]

Shh!

 

Sony already had the MGS4 ending(s) removed from youtube a few times...

Edited March 2, 2010 by Purkake

[Nepenthe]

Going into law enforcement or are you trying to collect on the eventual bounties?

 

I was in law enforcement. My quality of life has improved somewhat since exiting that field of work. Of course, being a cop with a law degree will get you endless amounts of nookie - that I miss.

 

You did it for the nookie?

 

I was hoping somebody would catch on that.

[Llyranor]

The demo was great. I really enjoyed holding down 3 buttons to make the fat detective squeeze through that tight space. I also really liked the slow walking pace because of how fat he was - imagine how immersion-breaking it'd be if he could outrun a snail! The part where the fat detective was having an asthma attack was pretty exciting, too. Was he going to make it? Would the fat detective get his pump out in time? Why yes, he did! All thanks to my contribution as a player in making him take it out of his pocket just in the nick of time by pushing on the analog stick. The fight was the greatest part, however. I was on the edge of my seat pressing timed buttons to execute on-screen actions. X --> punch! Triangle --> evade swing! Ohhhh maaaan. What an adrenaline ride. The demo was probably my GOTY so far.

 

I don't know what other developers are smoking, but David Cage is at least 10 yrs ahead of all of them combined when it comes to interactive storytelling.

[Bokishi]

The demo was great. I really enjoyed holding down 3 buttons to make the fat detective squeeze through that tight space. I also really liked the slow walking pace because of how fat he was - imagine how immersion-breaking it'd be if he could outrun a snail! The part where the fat detective was having an asthma attack was pretty exciting, too. Was he going to make it? Would the fat detective get his pump out in time? Why yes, he did! All thanks to my contribution as a player in making him take it out of his pocket just in the nick of time by pushing on the analog stick. The fight was the greatest part, however. I was on the edge of my seat pressing timed buttons to execute on-screen actions. X --> punch! Triangle --> evade swing! Ohhhh maaaan. What an adrenaline ride. The demo was probably my GOTY so far.

 

I don't know what other developers are smoking, but David Cage is at least 10 yrs ahead of all of them combined when it comes to interactive storytelling.

 

haha

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

The demo was great. I really enjoyed holding down 3 buttons to make the fat detective squeeze through that tight space. I also really liked the slow walking pace because of how fat he was - imagine how immersion-breaking it'd be if he could outrun a snail! The part where the fat detective was having an asthma attack was pretty exciting, too. Was he going to make it? Would the fat detective get his pump out in time? Why yes, he did! All thanks to my contribution as a player in making him take it out of his pocket just in the nick of time by pushing on the analog stick. The fight was the greatest part, however. I was on the edge of my seat pressing timed buttons to execute on-screen actions. X --> punch! Triangle --> evade swing! Ohhhh maaaan. What an adrenaline ride. The demo was probably my GOTY so far.

 

I don't know what other developers are smoking, but David Cage is at least 10 yrs ahead of all of them combined when it comes to interactive storytelling.

This. Heavy Rain is not a game.

[Pop]

I always laugh to myself whenever people say that. The sort of game that Heavy Rain is (that is, not a strategy game or RPG) can accurately be reduced to "press the right button at the right time". That's all fighting games really are.

 

Even then it's still funny to see people scrutinizing "you press a button... and then something happens" gameplay. In the same way it's funny to see people run into things they aren't paying attention to.

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

I always laugh to myself whenever people say that. The sort of game that Heavy Rain is (that is, not a strategy game or RPG) can accurately be reduced to "press the right button at the right time". That's all fighting games really are.

Playing Heavy Rain and then playing a fighting game aren't really the same. I'm not saying fighting games have compelling gameplay as opposed to just pressing buttons when the game prompts you to, but Heavy Rain could have had none of that QTE business at all. Yes, some missed QTEs/choices can change the story, but not to the point where I can consider it "gameplay".

 

It's like The Path. It's good, it's art (or at least very "auteur"), but it's not much of a game.

Edited March 3, 2010 by WILL THE ALMIGHTY

[Pop]

As opposed to what? An inventory system, so when the guy has his attack you go to the inventory abstract screen, select your inhaler and click "use"? Now that's what I call gameplay. What about the fight sequences? Instead of the choreographed cinematic type things, they could have a normal DMC-style fighting system. Wouldn't that be fun? Except for the fact that having some woman in her underwear effortlessly whoop ass on a bunch of knife-wielding home invaders kind of deflates the tension.

 

I have no idea what you're talking about.

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

This is what I mean, Heavy Rain doesn't really feel like it needs gameplay at all. Might as well be a movie.

[Purkake]

Like MGS4, rite?

 

I guess it comes down to what you want from your games. If you want awesome gameplay, this isn't probably going to deliver. If you want a great interactive story and a unique experience, this might actually be fun.

 

Ya dig?

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

Like MGS4, rite?

 

I guess it comes down to what you want from your games. If you want awesome gameplay, this isn't probably going to deliver. If you want a great interactive story and a unique experience, this might actually be fun.

 

Ya dig?

MGS4 had stealth gameplay, and honestly it was a pretty big part of the game. Do the story and gameplay mesh together all that well? No, but Heavy Rain didn't even try.

[Pop]

This is what I mean, Heavy Rain doesn't really feel like it needs gameplay at all. Might as well be a movie.

Except for the whole choice / consequence thing. Whenever Heavy Rain comes up it invariably comes down to this whole argument. There is a degree of control over characters that allows me to confidently call this a "game". That it does not include traditional combat / inventory minigames does not, in itself, mean anything. You can make conscious choices (or mistakes) that impact the way the game plays out. There is very clear output based on the input of the player. What else is there? Call it a bad game if you want, call it a boring game by all means, but it's a game.

Edited March 3, 2010 by Pop

[WILL THE ALMIGHTY]

It's sacrificing gameplay for story, and I just plain don't want this to become a trend.

[Purkake]

We're talking about "Heavy Rain, the game" here, not "gaming industry trends in the 21st century".

 

Does it need X amount of gameplay to be good? As long as it's interactive, it goes under video games.

 

Can't we think outside the box here? Why can't we have this kind of games and the older kind as well? They offer different experiences.

Edited March 3, 2010 by Purkake

[Pop]

It's sacrificing gameplay for story, and I just plain don't want this to become a trend.

Why not? You can play Super Mario Brothers and I'll play stuff that isn't afraid to try ****.

[Purkake]

Ooh, if we can sacrifice story for gameplay(eg. Pacman) why not the other way around?

Edited March 3, 2010 by Purkake

[Maria Caliban]

Instead of the choreographed cinematic type things, they could have a normal DMC-style fighting system. Wouldn't that be fun?

 

Yes.

 

Except for the fact that having some woman in her underwear effortlessly whoop ass on a bunch of knife-wielding home invaders kind of deflates the tension.

 

I've only played one DMC, but it was rather tense.

 

However, what about a Silent Hill type combat? You could both feel vulnerable while engaging the player a bit more in combat.

[Purkake]

There's a reason they removed combat from the latest Silent Hill game.

 

Hint: It sucked.

[Nick_i_am]

It's not a fighting game (you know, those things that require strategy and precision as anything more than a button masher).

 

It's a choose your own adventure book with pretty visuals.

 

I'm not saying that makes it a bad peice of media, but it's a horrible GAME. I'm all for diverging paths and choice and result and all that, I am NOT all for 'shake controler to wipe arse', that's not gameplay, it's not engaging, it's a bad game. As a GAME.

 

Sure, the story could work as a film, but HR works for its player involvment in the desicions the characters make. THATS where it shines, even if it needs to tighten up the writting and VA. But as a game, it sucks an Edge Mavrick and Arabeth rolled into a ball of Bastila. Horrible horrible game. Not unenjoyable as a piece of media, but a horrible game. It's like the anti-Star Ocean 4.

 

And seriously 'it's like a fighter because all you do is push buttons'. I mean, seriously. Really. Honestly. Seriously. I mean, yeah. Jeez, man, jeez.

No words man, no words.

 

Except all of those, shut up.

[Nick_i_am]

Like a fighter? Seriously? Wow. Jeez.

[Nick_i_am]

I mean, come on.