Zero Punctuation: Heavy Rain
- Thread starter Yahtzee Croshaw
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The whole thing about revisiting the same mystery story reminded me of a good old game called Blade Runner. Like the sci-fi movie, the game had you tracking down various androids to execute. To encourage replay value, certain characters alternated between human and android, either as a result of your in-game actions, or simply through randomisation. Becaue of this, you can play the game half a dozen times and get significantly different endings each time. This depends on who is and who isn't an android, and what you actually do about it when you find out.
The most harrowing thing about the game though is that whatever descision you make,
The most harrowing thing about the game though is that whatever descision you make,
Your pet dog will inevitably be killed in one of many ways.
No but it should be, just for that reason-it being another way of doing the adventure game. QTEs are about as tedious as clicking on random things.Spectrum_Prez said:
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Really Yhatzee. What were you thinking? I was hoping to see you review this, and tear it a new one but I didn't really think you were that masochistic. My biggest surprise is that it sounds like you actually enjoyed parts of it. Maybe it wont be as quick a rental as I thought. Then again, your review of No More Heroes is one of the reasons I started renting again.
A1 said:
SPOILEREST SPOILER ALERT THAT EVER SPOILERED EVER!
YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!!!
1)What the hell is the deal with the black outs? OKAY, sure they started after the accident, but what did they serve up, other than a contrived excuse to seperate you from your son and make you think Ethan's the killer? it's completely forgotten about another hour in. I thought i'd be struggling with black outs (even getting better) through the game. OR if this game was really awesome, Ethan witnessed a murder during a black out. That would explain being mister mumbles about drowned kids. and why that street? is it because what's his face lived there? why is he going to that specific street?
2)if i'm the killer, why did i shut the window? why wouldn't i think, "huh, the killer must have escaped through there..." and went about my business...
3) the hell happened to red herring killer?
4) why couldn't they at least tell me why he did it? what set him off? what is the reasoning to kill? why wait until his twilight years to get started on this nonsense. (and i love the twist, in theory) the moment where he was burning the evidence, THAT is when the 'read the thoughts' mechanic should have been used. I don't need him standing around in a bullshit monologue, have him monologue in thought, and thus it would have matched up with your game choices: did he feel guilt? or was he a cold operator? I thought the only reason you CAN"T read his thoughts at that point was because he was protecting the ACTUAL killer.
5) the fact that Blake isn't facing down you vs. the actual killer is the most INCREDIBLE missed opportunity. depending on how well you treated him, he'll choose between shooting you or his best friend...
6) i'll have to play again to double check, but the murders started 3 years ago. Ethan's accident/tragedy happened 2 years ago. he almost certainly has an alibi for at least the first year this nonsense started.
7) Dr. who guy has no personal stakes in the matter. I was imagining that he was Ethan's estranged brother, getting too close to the case. it's kinda crap that Ethan's not taking the fight to the guy that started all this.
8) the sex scene was fine by me. dude's at the end of his rope, prepared to die, and pretty much dead certain he'd never see his kid alive again, or survive. not to mention the past two years. let the man have some respite. (i was also pretty sure that no matter how quickly i found the son, he'd be 'almost drowning.')
9) to another destructoid article, Ethan and I were sick of playing by second rate jigsaw's antics. I didn't come all this way to die! I'll figure out how to save my kid on my own. (and i did, yay)
10) In the clock fixer's I'm certain I didn't have enough time to murder that old man, and i'm almost certain they cheated that last bit. that's probably the hole that pissed me off most.
11) the motives/past for Ethan is pretty straight forward. it's just that no one else's is quite so clear. and i have the unfortunate suspicion that that is what Heavy Rain Chronicles DLC is for. Worst of all, this is what's going to happen, give David Cage 20 more dollars for the backstory you need for the game to make sense.
I think i'm the only person who fully expected Yahtzee to completely dissemble the game into bits and pieces, those being quick-time events and monotony mostly with a few bits of Kill Bill style fighting sequences....if anyone went into this game thinking it was solid gold, you obviously have had something terrible happen to your sense. Indigo Prophecy was OK if you can forgive the rongo-rongo-world bonanza near the end which made 0 sense. I half-expected one of the main characters to suddenly gain Goku powers....
Man I don't get Yatzhee sometimes. It's funny and he's a really great guy, but what's he exactly trying to get at?
He keeps on complaining about lazy sequels, cookie-cutter bland adventures and an overall lack of originality, but then he doesn't do anything about it. He keeps on reviewing shitty, mainstream titles instead of maybe branching out a bit to show us some better games. He said that 'noone likes it when I'm being nice', but that's just not true. His Psychonauts review owned, I bet thousands of people picked that up and tried it because of his recommendation. I did. He just doesn't do anything about it. He has a viewership of millions, he really could pitch some new concepts at us instead of whining and repeating the same tripe.
So the pacing is off? I strongly disagree. In order for these 'visceral' moments to work, the pacing has to be balanced with high to low moments. Like in great movies, starting slow is often extremely helpfull because it makes the more accelerated bits seem more extreme. It's supposed to be a murder mistery like 'Misery' or 'Don't Look Now', it's always good to set these up in the frameworks of common lifes to get the necessary shock value later on. U2 was great, but the shoot-bang-bang formula will only work so well, and no single moment is able to stand out. Excessive action is really a problem in modern entertainment.
I loved the beginning of this game. You really don't know what to expect. It starts incredibly slow. Ridiculously slow. I sure as hell made some jokes about it, while I was playing it (like shake contoller after the peeing animation), but it still worked because it was new and set the frame works. My mother was interested in the game from watching the first 10 minutes, that says it all (and she's very hard to get interested in games). The only thing she's been interested in in this medium is The Last Guardian, because it resembles the imaginative.
I don't mind that he doesn't like it. Hell there are loads of things that I didn't like about it. Voice acting was extremely unbalanced, it relied on a fair share of clichees and the timing that the game is on can be iritating at times. But it was a breath of fresh air in the current releases. Atleast he can highlight that it does some new things, instead of giving people the impression that this is a Sims game.
He keeps on complaining about lazy sequels, cookie-cutter bland adventures and an overall lack of originality, but then he doesn't do anything about it. He keeps on reviewing shitty, mainstream titles instead of maybe branching out a bit to show us some better games. He said that 'noone likes it when I'm being nice', but that's just not true. His Psychonauts review owned, I bet thousands of people picked that up and tried it because of his recommendation. I did. He just doesn't do anything about it. He has a viewership of millions, he really could pitch some new concepts at us instead of whining and repeating the same tripe.
So the pacing is off? I strongly disagree. In order for these 'visceral' moments to work, the pacing has to be balanced with high to low moments. Like in great movies, starting slow is often extremely helpfull because it makes the more accelerated bits seem more extreme. It's supposed to be a murder mistery like 'Misery' or 'Don't Look Now', it's always good to set these up in the frameworks of common lifes to get the necessary shock value later on. U2 was great, but the shoot-bang-bang formula will only work so well, and no single moment is able to stand out. Excessive action is really a problem in modern entertainment.
I loved the beginning of this game. You really don't know what to expect. It starts incredibly slow. Ridiculously slow. I sure as hell made some jokes about it, while I was playing it (like shake contoller after the peeing animation), but it still worked because it was new and set the frame works. My mother was interested in the game from watching the first 10 minutes, that says it all (and she's very hard to get interested in games). The only thing she's been interested in in this medium is The Last Guardian, because it resembles the imaginative.
I don't mind that he doesn't like it. Hell there are loads of things that I didn't like about it. Voice acting was extremely unbalanced, it relied on a fair share of clichees and the timing that the game is on can be iritating at times. But it was a breath of fresh air in the current releases. Atleast he can highlight that it does some new things, instead of giving people the impression that this is a Sims game.
I feel obligated to jump into this discussion and tell this so-called critic and his followers what Heavy Rain is really about. This video that does nothing more and nothing less than rants on an ingenious game is in my opinion a valuable waste of internet space and the biggest load of ass paint I have ever seen.
If you didn't get the point of the emotional immersion in the story and the bond you create with the characters, you have failed to understand the point of Heavy Rain. Do take notice of the fact that the majority of the reviewers are giving this game 90 at least. That says a lot about you and your "understanding" of the fact that these characters are supposed to be portrayed as real people with a life. But apparently, all you want are artificial characters with no realistic background that are always getting their heads blown off for no apparent reason.
So in conclusion: you have lost all credibility, Yahtzee, if you ever had any to begin with. The only thing missing is the spoiling of the Origami Killer's identity. That would have really been the finishing touch on this mountain of wannabe review crap.
Yes, this is my opinion and I'm not changing a single word. Feel free to ban me.
If you didn't get the point of the emotional immersion in the story and the bond you create with the characters, you have failed to understand the point of Heavy Rain. Do take notice of the fact that the majority of the reviewers are giving this game 90 at least. That says a lot about you and your "understanding" of the fact that these characters are supposed to be portrayed as real people with a life. But apparently, all you want are artificial characters with no realistic background that are always getting their heads blown off for no apparent reason.
So in conclusion: you have lost all credibility, Yahtzee, if you ever had any to begin with. The only thing missing is the spoiling of the Origami Killer's identity. That would have really been the finishing touch on this mountain of wannabe review crap.
Yes, this is my opinion and I'm not changing a single word. Feel free to ban me.
Based on how Yahtzee started the review I would say the 2:00 to 2:08 part *does* give the impression the game is a long series of QTE in the tradition of an interactive movie with not much in the interactivity department. Hence the comment about the movie reviewer wondering why the "movie" is 10 hours long.A1 said:
TOp notch analogies out there tonight, Mr. Crowshaw
Your inventiveness as a novelist is a credit to all writers everywhere
Your inventiveness as a novelist is a credit to all writers everywhere
Being British and getting European games, i remember Fahrenheit... i remember loving it too, it was my first game with Quick-time events and because they were essentially how you fought and did about 80% of the game (the rest being walking around, trying to cover up/find clues, attempting to find key storyline impliments... oh, or more QTE's ;p), so i found it quite enjoyable... i found it thrilling during the cutscenes, i got fully immersed in the parts where i was walking around, pulling back sheets i'd covered up only half an hour ago etc.
plus, i found the story quite good... then again, i only got up to the bit where the main character has flashbacks of his childhood at some Army-place... apparently it all goes to pot only 5 minutes later.
And from what i've interpreted from Yahtzee, is that "Heavy Rain" is "Fahrenheit 2" with a little life-simulation to start off... so i think i'll get it
whats that, PS3 exclusive... craaap
plus, i found the story quite good... then again, i only got up to the bit where the main character has flashbacks of his childhood at some Army-place... apparently it all goes to pot only 5 minutes later.
And from what i've interpreted from Yahtzee, is that "Heavy Rain" is "Fahrenheit 2" with a little life-simulation to start off... so i think i'll get it
whats that, PS3 exclusive... craaap
Yahtzee didn't attack the QTE half as much as I thought he would, haha.
Overall, I thought Heavy Rain was pretty good, but the writing was a bit bizarre to say the least.
Overall, I thought Heavy Rain was pretty good, but the writing was a bit bizarre to say the least.
The thing you have to give Heavy Rain is at least it's an experiment with the establishment as video games as a story driven medium. Not to contest any other titles in their ability to tell a good story, which they can very much do and in some cases better then any other medium, but after the parade of stoic shooters and selflessly heroic rpg's it's good to break apart the formula to see what else you can do.
Not unless the killer was a 16 ton weight.D4zZ said:
Seems a nice game to play when you have absolutely nothing to do and you have played every other game there is out there at the moment. If I had a ps3 I'd check it out at least.
Intelligent posters need not appply.mike1921 said:
They obvious don't get it so you might as well let them dwell in their own shiny little world.