Recently Lauren and I decided to embark on a new type of game, Heavy Rain. Coined as an "Interactive Experience", Heavy Rain is a wholly unique for this generation of gaming. Though not co-op in the traditional sense, in my opinion, it is still an experience which can be a shared. Quantic Dream, the developer, had treaded lightly down this path before with their PS2 title Indigo Prophecy, but the overall story arc and number of branching paths are far more significant than in their previous title. Warning: there will be spoilers!
S: So, we approached gameplay by passing the controller around between scene changes and watching the story unfold. Rarely did we restart any chapters, in hopes our story would be wholly unique and a kind of single play through type of experience. Having played Indigo Prophecy, the first thing that stood out to me was the opportunity to make mistakes and live with them. It may not be the way we wanted to see a character's story end, but the potential was there. My question to Lauren would then be, does this bother you? For our story, Ethan did not escape the motel in time and therefore was not the hero, but I kind of thought the results of this were cool in the end. Do you feel the same way or would you have preferred the game force us to make Ethan escape?
L: I wasn't bothered at all by the fact that Ethan wasn't the hero. Sure, it would have had the "awww" factor to have the father save his son, but that's not what this new genre of games is about. Do you remember reading the old series "Wizards, Warriors, and You"? It was a choose your own adventure type book, one of my first introductions to RPGs. Did I ever flip back pages because my character died? Hell yes. Can you do the same in-game? As many times as you want, granted you saved. But that's not what the creators would have wanted. Each story-line is specific to each user. I have no desire to play again, because I already have seen the story play out. That being said, do you think this affects the repeatability of the game? Is this a good business move?
S: From a business stand point the answer is yes. Many Developers/Publishers are looking for ways to avoid having their games traded in, because in the long run it will eat into sales of "New" copies. Simply by providing the players more options, it increasing the value of their purchase. Also, from looking at how the Trophies are structured, it seems the Platinum is easily obtainable by playing out each scene and their various outcomes, increasing the replay value more. I don't mind it so much either, but like you, I appreciate the game for its unique story and it being unique to the individuals who play it. It makes for a great conversation with other people who had completed the game and seeing how different the events unfolded for each player. For example, when I was talking to my brother Easter weekend, a majority of the scenes were much different than the ones we experienced. Take for example the resolution, where in Madison became the hero in our story and Jaden saved the boy. For my brother, Ethan saved his son, while Madison played a much smaller role in the conclusion. As for Jaden, apparently a crucial button press was missed and the killer dropped him into some sort of grinder. Speaking of this, we played the game on easy, because I didn't want the six axis some how screw us over mid-game and getting a story result unintentionally. Did you feel like some of the button presses were still a little broken? And if so, could the idea of future Playstation Move support improve the controls or make them worse?
L: I'm actually glad we played the game on easy. While I didn't find the game difficult in the traditional sense, I did find myself getting "lost" in the movie and forgetting that I needed to interact in the game. When playing Final Fantasy, you always sit back and enjoy the cut scenes. This entire game is an interactive cut scene. At times, I thought some of the controls were a little broken. This was especially apparent as the game progressed, when the time to "hit" certain button combinations shortened. I think these problems could be alleviated with the introduction of Playstation Move. This game seems like a perfect first introduction into the realm of movement, since the movements are often innate interactions with the environment. Now, I know Sean was super jealous that I got to act out the sex scene; do you think the added Move element might make the violence or sex in this game too graphic?
S: Not super jealous, maybe just slightly jealous. At least we both agree they could have had sex in the bed, instead of on the floor next to the bed. As for the violence, Heavy Rain is currently a Mature title, so the ESRB would not do too much differently even with Move support. Considering we have both played Manhunt 2 on Wii, this game is pretty tame, Move support or not. Now would the general public find it more graphic? Probably. Still, all the parents crying out "think of the children" would need to can it, because the title is Mature and adults deserve games with adult content. Death is also a prevailing theme throughout the story, with each character possessing any number of ways to die. The death of the killers brother was also a very dark scene in my opinion, although the close proximity of their dead beat father made it that much more prolific. Combined with a dreary landscape, I found the game pretty depressing at times and frankly thought some characters were not as likable because of that. Not going to reveal to much, but the resolution of who the origami killer was did surprise me. He was really the only character I genuinely liked, until Madison kicked ass in the finale. I guess that is good on Quantic Dream though, since I was pretty surprised by the killer and their motivation. Since the primary purpose of like this is to convey an emotion, they were successful in my case. How about you? Did the ending do it for you or did some of the plot holes leave you wanting?
L: I found myself asking "how can this get any worse?" several times, speaking of the depressing undertones. Somehow it always did, like crawling through glass or chopping off your own finger. They did surprise me; however, with the revelation of the origami killer. I think that's the one great thing about this game, while it was a little slow and depressing, I had no idea who the killer was. I'm usually pretty good about guessing on sitcoms, movies, etc.....but perhaps the character development on this one was done well enough to fool me. I don't think too much was left out; honestly I was ready for it to be over. Not to say I didn't enjoy it, but the intensity level was such that I was ready for resolution.
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