- Feb 7, 2011
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So, since Beyond Two Souls is coming out people have been talking a lot about David Cage's other two games, Indigo Prophecy and Heavy Rain. These are two really polarizing games, there are people who think that they're absolutely brilliant, and there's people who think that they are the dumbest garbage ever.
In the case of people thinking that the games are good, they always point to the stories, and talk about how engaging and emotional they are, and how they're well written.
Those people are WRONG.
I've decided to put together a list of all the ways in which David Cages stories make absolutely no sense. How? I'm going to go through both games, and point out as many of the inconsistencies and stupid plot holes as I possibly can. I might not get all of them, there's A LOT, but the rest of you out there who have played these games can fill in the blanks.
Indigo Prophecy:
Heavy Rain:
Both of these games have massive, terrible, incredibly stupid plot holes, and everything that is wrong with both Indigo Prophecy and Heavy Rain is tied directly to David Cage writing and directing those games. Even if we disregard the fact that a lot of us hate quicktime events, and the controls of the games, which are subjective criticisms, objectively speaking the games fail on the most basic levels of storytelling, and this is unforgivable for games whose primary, and only purpose is good story telling.
Now, are there games with worse stories out there? Yes, in fact, most video games have bad or even terrible stories, and plot holes, but that's really not the point here. The reason those games have bad stories usually is because the story is an afterthought, an excuse for the game mechanics. With Indigo Prophecy and Heavy Rain David Cage did his best trying to craft a good stories for his video games, almost completely sacrificing game mechanics to make way for his cinematic stories, and for all that work, the stories are still utter nonsense. This is why David Cage is one of the worst writers in the industry. He is given all the tools, everything he could possibly need or want to craft a good story, and that's all that's exacted from him, and yet he still fails all because he is a bad story teller.
Stop defending his games.
TLR - David Cage is a horrible writer and you should get unhyped for Beyond Two Souls. The entire plot structure of both his previous games is completely destroyed if you think about any of the characters' actions for more than 5 seconds.
In the case of people thinking that the games are good, they always point to the stories, and talk about how engaging and emotional they are, and how they're well written.
Those people are WRONG.
I've decided to put together a list of all the ways in which David Cages stories make absolutely no sense. How? I'm going to go through both games, and point out as many of the inconsistencies and stupid plot holes as I possibly can. I might not get all of them, there's A LOT, but the rest of you out there who have played these games can fill in the blanks.
Indigo Prophecy:
1. The oracle is a Mayan guy with Mayan mystical powers, yet none of the imagery associated with his powers is in any way Mayan. He attacks you with giant head lice, angels, etc. Hell, he has to use candles and pentagrams to do his Mayan killing ritual. There isn't a unified theme to anything, it's like David Cage just took all the symbolism and imagery he could think of and shoved it into the game with absolutely no meanings attached to it.
2. There is never an explanation for why the world is freezing over. There's no lead up to it, nothing. In the last chapter of the game David Cage just goes "oh, by the way, apocalypse."
3. Why does Lucas Kane have the same powers as the Oracle when their powers come from two completely different places?! The Oracle has magic Mayan powers and Lucas Kane got his powers from Aliens.
4. It's explicitly stated by the Mayan studies professor that the reason the Oracle has to control Lucas Kane to kill people for his ritual is because the Oracle is not allowed to kill anyone himself, otherwise he loses his powers because he becomes impure. Approximately half an hour later the Oracle kills Lucas and his ex-girlfriend, and his powers do not disappear.
5. Now back to the aliens. Why are there aliens? Why are there aliens? WHY ARE THERE ALIENS?!
6. Carla believes everything Lucas tells her about having magic powers, and being controlled by a mystical Mayan Oracle, when she has seen absolutely no proof of any of that. All of the evidence she has points to Lucas Kane being the killer, and yet when he says "I didn't do it, I was being mind controlled by the Oracle" her response is "yup, his story checks out." Not only that, but she has sex with him and falls in love with him within an hour of actually meeting. WHAT?!
7. Why do the two cops play basketball outside, in nothing but shorts and jerseys when it's 2 degrees Fahrenheit out and the world is apparently freezing over? WHY?!
8. Lucas Kanes hair changes color for no reason and is never explained in the plot. He starts out with brown hair, then after he escapes from the police using his alien martial arts powers he has blond hair, and then after he dies and gets resurrected his hair is black. No mention of this, no explanation, nothing.
9. The Indigo child has absolutely no point, she may as well have been a magic item or something, considering the fact that she's a person never plays into the game, what with her not having a single line of dialogue, and no one caring about the consequences of what will happen to the child after they complete their magic rituals with her.
2. There is never an explanation for why the world is freezing over. There's no lead up to it, nothing. In the last chapter of the game David Cage just goes "oh, by the way, apocalypse."
3. Why does Lucas Kane have the same powers as the Oracle when their powers come from two completely different places?! The Oracle has magic Mayan powers and Lucas Kane got his powers from Aliens.
4. It's explicitly stated by the Mayan studies professor that the reason the Oracle has to control Lucas Kane to kill people for his ritual is because the Oracle is not allowed to kill anyone himself, otherwise he loses his powers because he becomes impure. Approximately half an hour later the Oracle kills Lucas and his ex-girlfriend, and his powers do not disappear.
5. Now back to the aliens. Why are there aliens? Why are there aliens? WHY ARE THERE ALIENS?!
6. Carla believes everything Lucas tells her about having magic powers, and being controlled by a mystical Mayan Oracle, when she has seen absolutely no proof of any of that. All of the evidence she has points to Lucas Kane being the killer, and yet when he says "I didn't do it, I was being mind controlled by the Oracle" her response is "yup, his story checks out." Not only that, but she has sex with him and falls in love with him within an hour of actually meeting. WHAT?!
7. Why do the two cops play basketball outside, in nothing but shorts and jerseys when it's 2 degrees Fahrenheit out and the world is apparently freezing over? WHY?!
8. Lucas Kanes hair changes color for no reason and is never explained in the plot. He starts out with brown hair, then after he escapes from the police using his alien martial arts powers he has blond hair, and then after he dies and gets resurrected his hair is black. No mention of this, no explanation, nothing.
9. The Indigo child has absolutely no point, she may as well have been a magic item or something, considering the fact that she's a person never plays into the game, what with her not having a single line of dialogue, and no one caring about the consequences of what will happen to the child after they complete their magic rituals with her.
Heavy Rain:
1. Throughout the game Ethan has random black outs where he loses consciousness then wakes up hours later without knowing where he is or what he's done, and with origami figures in his pocket. Every time this happens he gets a little closer to believing that he himself is the origami killer, and that he kidnapped his own son when he was unconscious. This is not the case, since Shelby is the killer, but the game never explains why Ethan was having blackouts, or why he had origami figures in this pocket afterward. It's a plot thread that comes out of nowhere, and then gets dropped just as fast with absolutely no explanation. Not only this, but the black outs are also the main evidence that the police have against Ethan.
2. Why the hell does anyone believe Ethan when he says he isn't the Origami Killer? Madison helps him, find his kid, patches him up, has sex with him, falls in love with him, helps him escape from the police, and why? He never gives her any real explanation, he's really just some guy to her. This is the same problem as Indigo Prophecy, women having sex with the main character and falling in love with him for NO REASON, just because he's the main character.
3. Why does Jayden help Ethan escape from the police department? Again, it makes absolutely no sense. Even if he's innocent, like Jayden believes, with absolutely no proof, Jayden has no reason to help him escape police custody. Especially not when it's incredibly obvious that Jayden was the one who helped him escape, and yet Jayden never gets caught, never gets fired or reprimanded, nothing.
4. Why does Shelby call the police on himself after he kills the old guy in the type writer shop? It's like he leaves behind evidence that he killed the guy purposefully and then really hopes that the police are incredibly incompetent.
5. Speaking of the police being incompetent, why doesn't Shelby get arrested after the shootout in the mansion? He killed 20 guys, that's a lot of dead bodies to cover up.
6. How the hell does Shelby set up the trial for Ethan that has the tunnel covered in broken glass? Ethan is a skinny guy and can barely fit in the tunnel, how does Shelby manage to do it being twice Ethan's size?
2. Why the hell does anyone believe Ethan when he says he isn't the Origami Killer? Madison helps him, find his kid, patches him up, has sex with him, falls in love with him, helps him escape from the police, and why? He never gives her any real explanation, he's really just some guy to her. This is the same problem as Indigo Prophecy, women having sex with the main character and falling in love with him for NO REASON, just because he's the main character.
3. Why does Jayden help Ethan escape from the police department? Again, it makes absolutely no sense. Even if he's innocent, like Jayden believes, with absolutely no proof, Jayden has no reason to help him escape police custody. Especially not when it's incredibly obvious that Jayden was the one who helped him escape, and yet Jayden never gets caught, never gets fired or reprimanded, nothing.
4. Why does Shelby call the police on himself after he kills the old guy in the type writer shop? It's like he leaves behind evidence that he killed the guy purposefully and then really hopes that the police are incredibly incompetent.
5. Speaking of the police being incompetent, why doesn't Shelby get arrested after the shootout in the mansion? He killed 20 guys, that's a lot of dead bodies to cover up.
6. How the hell does Shelby set up the trial for Ethan that has the tunnel covered in broken glass? Ethan is a skinny guy and can barely fit in the tunnel, how does Shelby manage to do it being twice Ethan's size?
Both of these games have massive, terrible, incredibly stupid plot holes, and everything that is wrong with both Indigo Prophecy and Heavy Rain is tied directly to David Cage writing and directing those games. Even if we disregard the fact that a lot of us hate quicktime events, and the controls of the games, which are subjective criticisms, objectively speaking the games fail on the most basic levels of storytelling, and this is unforgivable for games whose primary, and only purpose is good story telling.
Now, are there games with worse stories out there? Yes, in fact, most video games have bad or even terrible stories, and plot holes, but that's really not the point here. The reason those games have bad stories usually is because the story is an afterthought, an excuse for the game mechanics. With Indigo Prophecy and Heavy Rain David Cage did his best trying to craft a good stories for his video games, almost completely sacrificing game mechanics to make way for his cinematic stories, and for all that work, the stories are still utter nonsense. This is why David Cage is one of the worst writers in the industry. He is given all the tools, everything he could possibly need or want to craft a good story, and that's all that's exacted from him, and yet he still fails all because he is a bad story teller.
Stop defending his games.
TLR - David Cage is a horrible writer and you should get unhyped for Beyond Two Souls. The entire plot structure of both his previous games is completely destroyed if you think about any of the characters' actions for more than 5 seconds.