OPM gives Heavy Rain 9 in world-first review & other reviews


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Just changed a diaper, I mean, ooooooooooohiii I'm glad I brought my A-game (Y)

Besides the clunky controls that are starting to get on my nerves, especially in cramped places, the game is alright - Nothing spectacular but it's a different experience with a great atmosphere.

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so far i thought the graphics have been very variable, the store robbery stage they have been using in the uk tv ads has probably the most detailed graphics of any console title, the rest of the game is good but not great. loading screens and non interactive stuff like the credits at the start also look very good though

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so far i thought the graphics have been very variable, the store robbery stage they have been using in the uk tv ads has probably the most detailed graphics of any console title, the rest of the game is good but not great. loading screens and non interactive stuff like the credits at the start also look very good though

It all depends on how much there is to render in the scene, so the loading screen where it ONLY has to render a face - They can use all the power on details.

The store was a tiny location and thus could up the quality and so forth.

I must say, it's a good idea to actually do it variably, very few games do that but it also hits you with a wave of disappointment when you go from a small scene with extreme details to

some bigger location and everything looks crap.

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£7.99 for SE :D

Game is definitely a slow starter though, on purpose, but it does indeed start slow.

Also one freeze during gameplay is all I got, but the game practically saves all the time, lost about 3 mins of progress.

I got it for 4.99, thus, I win.

Absolutely love the game, know what you mean about the "just one more..." haha.

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think i might need to play it again on a easier setting for a good ending, some of the qte's are way too hard

That's what I plan to do. I played it on normal as I would have played it, not trying for anything, even though I knew a couple of the trophies --

I intentionally failed the 4th test, and lost out on a trophy and changed the story simply because I knew that's how I would react to the situation.

Now I plan to play on easy gunning for certain outcomes of certain situations.

Although I can see what Cage meant about not playing it again, the plot twist is now lost, and I know the experience won't be the same. However, I do look forward to playing this again down the line later on when my perspective may have changed.

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Hhahaah Sethos :D

Man, my ending was different from the last two that were mentioned. This is so cool! I have to give it a month before I'll replay it though. Although I think I will have my friend come over for a few days and play it through, and I'll watch how it plays out for him. Awesome game!

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Good game and like most I think I will hit it on easy now and just play out the trophies.

My ending involved

Ethan passed all 5 trials and made it to his son, but Madison failed to convince the police that he was innocent. Ethan rescued his boy and then was gunned down by the police as he leaving the warehouse, Madison watched on in the back of a cop car. Scott killed the FBI agent who's name escapes me in the fight on the conveyor above the trash compactor. Madison was then at a book signing in what looked like a hint to a sequel but maybe that's just being hopeful.

Graphically a great game, I felt the level of interaction was quite good although having it on the higest settings, you didn;t get to see some of the commands required during fights till it was too late due to their positioning. The sheer amount of bodies and movement in the nightclub scene I felt was amazing. :) Certainly worth the acclaim it's getting but can see why some people are writing it off.

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I spent most of yesterday evening playing Heavy Rain, and so far I'm really impressed with it. I'm about half-way through chapter 2 at the moment.

I don't think I've played anything quite like it and I mean that in a good way.

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Finished it today and was quite disappointed with it. While the twist i never saw coming, some of the story telling was rubbish and i sometimes lost track. I hate the sixaxis in the QTE's sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. Quite gutted really as i have been looking forward to this game ever since The casting video. Fahrenheit i thought was a better game.

Anyway here is how my ending panned out.

Ethan saved his son, Madison came to rescue and they left safely. Scott killed Jayden which i didn't understand because up until then the QTE's were quite forgiving, but right at the end... i missed one event and the camera cut and i couldn't see the other event to press, then he fell to his death.

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I'm really struggling to get through it, the story is what keeps me going - Not because it's something special, just basic human curiosity.

The overall story just seems to get more and more convoluted and not in a good way, in the "What?" sense and they keep tagging on little stories and information to

each character that does have a pretty big impact on what you have to do but it has been explained so badly and everything is so distant you don't really care about these events.

There's also a lot of, not plot holes per say but stuff that makes no sense especially in relations to the police work but I'll see how this pans out before I go in to deep about that.

And the real drag is all the QTEs and button mashing - It works as a mini-game perhaps or just something occasional but basing an entire game off of it doesn't work, it doesn't hold

enough fun and innovation to carry an entire game, no way in hell. So combine that with that cumbersome controls and you have a nasty cocktail. As I said to begin with, I'm

struggling to get through it, basically sucking down coffee by the bucket loads to keep me going because without it I'd fall asleep every hour - The excitement levels are really

hitting rock bottom throughout most of what I've experienced so far, not to mention all of the pointless crap you have to do, to add some "life" to the scene or whatever.

Someone else just needs to come along and do a similar game but work on the recipe, make a DYNAMIC INTERACTIVE move style, not just interactive. I want to make decisions, I don't

want to play out pre-chosen decisions basically. Everything I do and say has little to no impact it seems, it all mounds to the same at the end of it.

Now I need to recharge my body and head in again later - I want to see how it pans out.

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I'm really struggling to get through it, the story is what keeps me going - Not because it's something special, just basic human curiosity.

The overall story just seems to get more and more convoluted and not in a good way, in the "What?" sense and they keep tagging on little stories and information to

each character that does have a pretty big impact on what you have to do but it has been explained so badly and everything is so distant you don't really care about these events.

There's also a lot of, not plot holes per say but stuff that makes no sense especially in relations to the police work but I'll see how this pans out before I go in to deep about that.

And the real drag is all the QTEs and button mashing - It works as a mini-game perhaps or just something occasional but basing an entire game off of it doesn't work, it doesn't hold

enough fun and innovation to carry an entire game, no way in hell. So combine that with that cumbersome controls and you have a nasty cocktail. As I said to begin with, I'm

struggling to get through it, basically sucking down coffee by the bucket loads to keep me going because without it I'd fall asleep every hour - The excitement levels are really

hitting rock bottom throughout most of what I've experienced so far, not to mention all of the pointless crap you have to do, to add some "life" to the scene or whatever.

Someone else just needs to come along and do a similar game but work on the recipe, make a DYNAMIC INTERACTIVE move style, not just interactive. I want to make decisions, I don't

want to play out pre-chosen decisions basically. Everything I do and say has little to no impact it seems, it all mounds to the same at the end of it.

Now I need to recharge my body and head in again later - I want to see how it pans out.

Once you finish, and especially after you see the epilogues, you realize how your decisions affected things. It basically kick-starts somewhere between

when Scott goes into the kwiki-mart (robbery scene) and ethan's first trial (driving against traffic)

.

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Finished it today and was quite disappointed with it. While the twist i never saw coming, some of the story telling was rubbish and i sometimes lost track. I hate the sixaxis in the QTE's sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. Quite gutted really as i have been looking forward to this game ever since The casting video. Fahrenheit i thought was a better game.

Anyway here is how my ending panned out.

Ethan saved his son, Madison came to rescue and they left safely. Scott killed Jayden which i didn't understand because up until then the QTE's were quite forgiving, but right at the end... i missed one event and the camera cut and i couldn't see the other event to press, then he fell to his death.

Oh god no, Fahrenheit has nothing on this, it seems like a sci fi film gone wrong in comparison.

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I'm really struggling to get through it, the story is what keeps me going - Not because it's something special, just basic human curiosity.

The overall story just seems to get more and more convoluted and not in a good way, in the "What?" sense and they keep tagging on little stories and information to

each character that does have a pretty big impact on what you have to do but it has been explained so badly and everything is so distant you don't really care about these events.

There's also a lot of, not plot holes per say but stuff that makes no sense especially in relations to the police work but I'll see how this pans out before I go in to deep about that.

And the real drag is all the QTEs and button mashing - It works as a mini-game perhaps or just something occasional but basing an entire game off of it doesn't work, it doesn't hold

enough fun and innovation to carry an entire game, no way in hell. So combine that with that cumbersome controls and you have a nasty cocktail. As I said to begin with, I'm

struggling to get through it, basically sucking down coffee by the bucket loads to keep me going because without it I'd fall asleep every hour - The excitement levels are really

hitting rock bottom throughout most of what I've experienced so far, not to mention all of the pointless crap you have to do, to add some "life" to the scene or whatever.

Someone else just needs to come along and do a similar game but work on the recipe, make a DYNAMIC INTERACTIVE move style, not just interactive. I want to make decisions, I don't

want to play out pre-chosen decisions basically. Everything I do and say has little to no impact it seems, it all mounds to the same at the end of it.

Now I need to recharge my body and head in again later - I want to see how it pans out.

I couldn't agree with you more. I did go through this in one sitting though, which is very odd for me. And I think yeah, it was definitely more curiosity than enjoyment. Color me pretty disappointed overall.

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The more I think about it the more I don't think I can be bothered to see other outcomes. I got my ending and it will be making its way back to HMV for a ?30 credit soon :)

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Apparently I was really close to the end when I wrote the above impression and have now completed it, got a pretty decent ending;

Shaun got saved, Ethan and Madison hooked up and found an apartment.

Scott was killed by the crusher / grinder thing

Jayden survived and kicked the drug habit, was on a TV show hailed as a Hero yet he started getting some visions from the ARI - Spent too much time in it?

What I said above is still all true and while I must admit, the ending did have me on the edge of my seat I'm not sure it was because of anything but my primal curiosity.

I mean, you present me with secrets, drama and death, of course I will want to know what the hell is going on. And honestly, that doesn't take a great story nor a great game

to manage that. Everything I said about the clunky controls and the fact QTEs are not meant for full-length games still ring true - It doesn't really give you an incentive to go back

because everything just felt like a huge chore.

There were times I honestly wished, I could press a button and let the game play automatically for an hour or so and only prompt me for major decisions because the story was the

only part of the game that kept me going. I really wish they'd worked some more on the controls and perhaps implemented a more natural control scheme and the QTE and button mashing

wasn't the primary control type.

The atmosphere was great, I have to give 'em that and the mood throughout the game was spot-on. Graphically it was up and down, sometimes you'd be blown away and the next you had to make

sure it was the PS3 running on not the PS2. The game did suffer from a flood of bugs, I didn't experience any of the reported crashes and whatnot at all, I did see an ocean of animation issues, little glitches,

bad syncing and the music stopping randomly and then starting again which killed the mood big-time.

I wish the story was a bit tighter and a lot less "jump in" - I'd rather play one character's story from "his" beginning and to the end than 4 characters, randomly jumping around and starting from

some completely random point in their lives. That also killed it for me, I didn't really feel any connection to the characters and I was confused most of the time or completely uninterested in their

emotions. The game features too much "fill" like cooking eggs, changing diapers etc. and it adds NOTHING.

So to sum it up, it could be a great start to a new era of next-gen games but it needs a lot of improvement, I'm relieved to be done with it and got all of the major plot twists, I'm not planning on going back.

To those uncertain about the game; it's worth a play, once but not a full retail price - Wait for it to drop a lot or rent it.

PS:

About the endings, I genuinely thought they put a massive amount of time into it but they basically made a few different endings for each character

and the game just picks from whatever you decision was and plays an ending for each character, you can even see the massive jerk when it switches scene :laugh:

I mean, the endings are super short and here I was thinking the different endings where like little movies in their own right ...

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One of my biggest criticisms about the game is the way they implemented interactivity. For much of the game it really seemed like they added interactivity just for the sake of interactivity without bearing to any other part of the game. And while other games do this, most games make it optional rather than required. I don't know if they did this to create any type of emotional attachment to the characters (ie playing with sons' toys or feeding baby) but the same attachment to the characters would have occurred regardless of them adding those parts or not.

I really felt like the game would have been perfect as a 4 hour game. For me, it seemed like they chose quantity over quality, maybe because people would have complained that the game is too short for 4 hours? But if it is supposed to be an "interactive drama" rather than a game then 4 hours would have been good enough for me.

I'm starting to play the game over again to see the different endings, and I do have to say, the game really does play itself for most of the game regardless if you correctly push the buttons or not push anything at all. Especially when it choses the dialog for you or when you just put the controller down during QTEs

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Yeah, like I said, there's too much "fill". So many scenes have been artificially extended with completely random crap that holds significance other than prolonging the game.

And that would actually be sweet, a 3-4 hour game where every decision made a huge impact, took you new places and gave you new challenges. I mean, you could then go back over and over

again to experience the game anew and try a totally different experience. They'd have to remove all the crap and only focus on a fast-paced thriller game, that would be so sweet!

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Will do sir

So for discussion's sake, here are my questions:

1. If Ethan never turned out to be the Origami, why did always dream of children dying and always wake up with a piece of Origami in his hands?

2. Why did Madison act like she's knows Scott when his mother whispered his name in her ear when they've never met before?

3. How did she know where he lived?

4. I really don't buy the fact that Scott killed the shopkeeper when I was controlling him but I never saw it in the first place, but why would he call the cops just to rush to wipe away any fingerprints?

5. Not really a question--but it's pretty obvious noone hired Scott since the beginning of the game

6. Why would the families of the dead children give scott evidence without giving the evidence to the police first?

7. What was the symbolism behind the butterfly and the lizard?

8. Is Scott rich or something?

9. Not really a question--Jayden is such a throwaway character I really wish I killed him in the Junk Yard

1: My guess would be, with his brain trauma, his brain forced some sort of major guilt trip or trauma upon him by making him think he was the Origami killer. I mean,

the Origami Killer must surely have been all over the news with how he's doing it etc. and that's enough subconscious information to make himself believe and act out scenes that would truly convince himself.

It's a far fetched story but it is airtight in case he has some massive mental traumas.

2: Good question, could be some information that hasn't been shared with the player but that is no excuse and it makes no sense.

3: Again, good question - One would say The Yellow Pages as he was a PI but he didn't carry the Shepherd last name, so she must have known him.

4: Yes, it does seem extremely cheap, I do remember a sort of 'glitch' at that exact point like some times was missing but cutting the player out of the loop

is an extremely cheap move to piece together the story.

5: Wouldn't say obvious, your mind makes it obvious because everything is in hind-sight. When you first start out, you just buy it because it's so vague yet plausible.

6: Yeah, does seem daft, I actually hate how often the police was cut out of the loop just to suit the story and that "helplessness" feeling.

7: Origami Figures from his childhood, representing certain childhood memories perhaps?

8: No, why? He seems like a retired officer living in an work down apartment with an old ass car making ends meat off his PI "job"

( He must have had other cases before and during the kills, as he would only kill during fall )

9: I'd say he's a pretty good filler by how he's on the "inside", I'd say Madison is a lot more throwaway or at least a useless playable character.

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Will do sir

1: My guess would be, with his brain trauma, his brain forced some sort of major guilt trip or trauma upon him by making him think he was the Origami killer. I mean,

the Origami Killer must surely have been all over the news with how he's doing it etc. and that's enough subconscious information to make himself believe and act out scenes that would truly convince himself.

It's a far fetched story but it is airtight in case he has some massive mental traumas.

2: Good question, could be some information that hasn't been shared with the player but that is no excuse and it makes no sense.

3: Again, good question - One would say The Yellow Pages as he was a PI but he didn't carry the Shepherd last name, so she must have known him.

4: Yes, it does seem extremely cheap, I do remember a sort of 'glitch' at that exact point like some times was missing but cutting the player out of the loop

is an extremely cheap move to piece together the story.

5: Wouldn't say obvious, your mind makes it obvious because everything is in hind-sight. When you first start out, you just buy it because it's so vague yet plausible.

6: Yeah, does seem daft, I actually hate how often the police was cut out of the loop just to suit the story and that "helplessness" feeling.

7: Origami Figures from his childhood, representing certain childhood memories perhaps?

8: No, why? He seems like a retired officer living in an work down apartment with an old ass car making ends meat off his PI "job"

( He must have had other cases before and during the kills, as he would only kill during fall )

9: I'd say he's a pretty good filler by how he's on the "inside", I'd say Madison is a lot more throwaway or at least a useless playable character.

The reason I asked about #8 is because a lot of the mystery involves buying property, cars, and even renting a lot for a year, but then again, this is probably a petty question since a single man that lives off of his means probably can still afford all of that anyway.

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The reason I asked about #8 is because a lot of the mystery involves buying property, cars, and even renting a lot for a year, but then again, this is probably a petty question since a single man that lives off of his means probably can still afford all of that anyway.

Ah yes

But as you say, I'm guessing he could afford it. He lives a pretty minimalistic life and seems to have enough money to rent some broken ass buildings etc.

Again, it's another one of those vague points in the story ...

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Only thing I'm annoyed about right now is it doesn't indicate how many ending there are (in-game) so at least for people wanting to see everything they'd know.... I mean you can't call things good ending, medium ending, bad ending, I know that, but there is a trophy for all endings :p

I think I got 50% of the trophies in one play through.

I won't be playing through the game again for a while, but I think the DLC is going to fill in a lot of background on certain characters and it's already confirmed one DLC is about playing as the killer in relation to the murders.

Definitely worth 8-8.5 to me on a scale, David Cage has wiped the floor with Fahrenheit, but through more learning from feedback from Heavy Rain I think his next project whatever it may be will be even better.

Some parts in the game genuinely had me and my GF genuinely as tense as ****, or feeling completely down after making a decision. For once there's some pretty difficult decisions to make in a game, it's not so black/white as to you knowing there and then how things will pan out.

For example

As Jayden I shot the Jesus freak as I panicked not being able to cool him down with my first choice and thought he might shoot me as he accused me of helping the cop he had his gun to. Then afterwards I felt bad and thought I maybe should of just tried to calm him down further - All the options are fast/blurry spinning as you know, really makes you panic at times.

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