Heavy Rain

I played it in English, the facial animation and voice acting were perfectly fine. If it's meant to take place in the United States, I don't see the point of playing it in French unless it looks significantly better.

So, am I eating my hat? Almost. Almost. The first scene was very impressive. It's certainly not a perfect formula, and I'd go as far as saying this kind of interaction is inherently flawed. It doesn't matter that it's not fun, but it's objectively less impressive and interesting than proper, systemised play (I don't mean play in the normal sense either, I mean "gameplay") that produces similar results. I would say Far Cry 2, others would say no such title exists yet.

That said, scene one was both gripping and affecting, and at times exciting too. Initial impressions were bad - walking is needlessly awkward and the animation doesn't sit well with the smooth motion of characters at other times. The overweight detective that I was controlling began to wheeze and the game prompted a series of motions to take the inhaler. That was amazing.

Conversation works fairly well most of the time, but occasionally it's hard to understand what a certain word corresponds to. Sort of like the first Mass Effect, when the tone you think you're choosing doesn't correspond to the one Shepard uses. Otherwise I was seriously invested in the meat of this level, talking for five minutes and remaining interested the whole time, which was plesently surprising if nothing else.

Another issue: though it mostly did feel like I was shaping the direction of the speech, on more than one occasion there was little else to do but click through all the dialogue options until a character moved on. That's not marching through a narrative, that's just Oblivion all over again. Otherwise, it was pretty great. There was then a fight scene, which literally was just a QTE, but it was surprisingly tactile. The same problem appeared at the end of this, though, when my guy took it upon himself to punch his opponent several times of his own volition. This moving of the player in and out of interactivity and influence at seemingly spurious intervals is what it should try to avoid, but that I encountered it several times in the demo is a concern.

Overall, though, if the rest of the game is like that, I'll be happy to play through. The next scene, though, took that problem that I pointed out and exacerbated it beyond belief. I already thought the stupid detective glasses were completely crap, but you don't fully understand until you're walking awkwardly around a muddy enclosure holding R2 and tapping R1 periodically, then flicking the right stick down when standing over some hilariously highlighted "evidence". I found it all and tried to leave, but after walking over to the car and trying to open the door, the guy just refused and turned around. I had to look at the body or whatever. Totally obnoxious. That entire scene was one big slap in my possibly repentant face.

I'm definitely getting the full game, actually looking forward to it now. If they keep that shit to a minimum, it could be really good. The acting in the first scene wasn't as cheesy as I had feared, but scene two again shat all over that. We shall see.

Playstation: The Official Magazine (US) wrote:We're enjoying it immensely... It is a game like none other.

5/5

Black Suede wrote:It's going to be really awkward while undressing Madison to go in the shower. I dunno what I would say if someone walked in, like my mum or dad. To be honest, they wouldn't mind, but David Cage is just a little too pervy sometimes.

PSM3 wrote:It's essentially a nine-hour film that you nudge along by following on-screen button prompts, although you feel more connected with the action than this might suggest.

8.8

CVG wrote:You have to appreciate Heavy Rain for what it is; a fantastic and absorbing narrative, and a bold new venture in interactive storytelling. Not Shenmue.