Poll: Heavy Rain, a gaming masterpiece?

[SensibleCrout]

I haven't played Heavy Rain and I don't think I will. I think Heavy Rain is a huge step back in game design. Remember the first "interactive movie" type games, Dragon's Lair [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon%27s_Lair] and Rebel Assault [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars:_Rebel_Assault]? For the time, they had absolutely stunning graphics - just like Heavy Rain today. And gameplay consisted of staring at cutscenes and pressing the right button at the right moment, which is mindbogglingly boring today just as it was back then.

 

[Hobo Joe]

It was just a film you press buttons to watch, so no.

 

[RebelByDesign]

I was utterly compelled to finish it in one sitting. All my free time since then has gone into replaying it. I think you can guess my feelings on the game. I need more time for reflection in order to be able to articulate my thoughts on it more clearly but I thought it was phenomenal and would love to see more games of this sort. I love shooters and action-oriented games, but sometimes and story-driven immersive experience is what I want and Heavy Rain does it just as well as I've seen it done. I hope Quantic Dream continue to drive forward with this format because I'm fascinated to see what they might achieve with it. HR isn't perfect, by any means. I'd surely buy any game they churned out that stayed true to the roots of Fahrenheit and Heavy Rain.

 

[kimba_lion]

i think heavy rain s a masterpiece, only i wishit was a little longer, all of the characters are awesome the story held me captivated through the whole game..

trully amazing

 

[Ironboot]

It's a very good game, but I wouldn't call it a masterpiece. If they manage to correct the flaws and improve the concept, future games of this type will be mindblowing.

 

[kampori]

I generally dislike PS3 exclusive titles (yes I'm a sucker for the Xbox), but this is literally the only game that makes me want to insert a game into my PS3 instead of the usual Blu-Rays

However, as the title implies, no.. I barely consider it a game. As the great Yahtzee says very well- it hardly qualifies for a game, but is aweful as a film... its in limbo & for that reason is terrible.
As a game, the story line from what I've seen of it seems interesting enough, but I've seen many clips towards middle-end of the game (my bro plays it a lot at his flat when I visit him) and it seems a mess. A lot of plot holes etc.. but I don't care too much about that as long as the story itself, plot-holes or not, is good enough. So I cannot contribute on this part yet..

alas after all this, I still want to play it. I hate QTEs, but again as Yahtzee says.. something like if its part of the core gameplay & it works, then it works and so can be forgiven. Seems to be a lot of role-play/decision making etc, which I love. (I'm a huge fan of BioWare rpgs- ME/DA/SW etc). The story looks intriguing.. but most of all, it's just different.

When I get back to England I might give it a shot.. First game I'll ever play on my PS3 (which I've had since it came out pretty much!)

 

[Casual Shinji]

As an overall experience I found it kinda mediocre.

But there were a few moments of brilliant intensity like, "the cutting off your finger" bit or escaping from the insane surgeon.

 

[CovertCell]

Great game but there were a few problems. It's very ambitious and I respect that but there were a few times where it lagged for me. As I was chasing that guy in the market the game seemed to take a few seconds to figure out what I did, the audio would cut out in key places, voice acting was hit and miss. Hopefully the next game, even if it isnt Heavy Rain 2, will fix these issues.

 

[Kramcake2516]

Hate it plays just like a movie yayyyyyy!!!!! how about no i hate games like this i just want to play not sit through 9 hours of people talking rubbish . In future if i want a movie experiance i will buy a movie .

 

[Kurokami]

After playing through Heavy Rain my first time I realised that it is arguably my favorite game of all time.It's the first game ever to make me feel so many emotions. I felt everything from pity and anxiety to sadness and shame. These are normally negative emotions but Heavy Rain pulled them off so perfectly not to mention all those emotions take place in the controlled enviroment of a video game. I really, sincerely felt all these emotions for the characters throughout the whole game. On several occasions it even made me question my morals and even myself. Yes, it hit me that deeply.

In conclusion, Heavy Rain, while not perfect, is truly a gaming masterpiece IMO. They took everything that made Indigo Prophecy good and refined it all into something nearly perfect. Heavy Rain nearly redefines "video game". So if you have a PS3 and a spare $60, got get Heavy Rain now, you must save ingenuity in gaming such as this before it goes extinct. Before it all gets lost amongst the monotony of the mindless FPS genre

I've played it and felt it to be a very round and about way of telling a story, so far I haven't seen anything amazing, it doesn't look like any choices I've made have made ANY significant change to anything at all, and the whole quicktime sequence idea is so incredibly naggy that it feels like someone constantly trying to get your attention while you're watching a movie that tries hard to be intense.

This having been one of the few games I've actually spent money on, not to mention traded in a few loved games for, I would love for you to tell me when it actually drew that step for you into amazing.

So my take on the game so far: Predictable and shallow characters, lack of real choices and... I don't know, the game doesn't really have that much going for it for me to criticize. I'll say that from a visual perspective however, its often (note: not always) very beautiful.

Oh the loading times seem somewhat unjustified to me.

In any case, please tell me, in a spoiler perhaps, when the game really started getting intense in the way of choices.

 

[Veldt Falsetto]

I loved it, not a masterpiece but is great and thrilling.
Then again these complaints about it being a bad film due to acting and story don't effect the game because in my eyes almost every film released in the last 5 years had bad acting and predictable storylines and I was immersed in the characters themselves, though I am strange.

 

[DannibalG36]

Well, what have we here? I was just arguing with (I swear) one of Heavy Rain's biggest supporters. He came to the debate with his guns loaded, and by the end of the argument, even I had to admit that Heavy Rain is one of the most immersive productions ever made. At least, his report about being sucked into the game was extremely convincing. But I still ended up loathing Heavy Rain with a passionate disdain.

A more detailed breakdown of my gripes:

1) Heavy Rain is not a game. It is a gripping, harrowing emotional journey that left me drained at the end of it all. "How is this a gripe?" you might ask. I play games to have fun. Heavy Rain was most definitely not fun; it is more of a dramatic-mystery-simulator thingummy, albeit a beautifully rendered one. Judging by the enthusiastic response to the game, many seem to be confusing Heavy Rain's emotional, roller coaster experience for fun. Fun is elation, not manipulation. I did not pay fifty dollars to have my emotions aroused by a toy - a beautiful, haunting toy, but a toy nevertheless.

2) The control scheme was a fiddly bugger. Yes, I do realize that it's a completely new idea, yes, nothing else would have worked for Heavy Rain, and, yes, it does get easier and more natural as the game progresses. Yet, for the *entire game*, I never lost sight of the fact that I was holding, waving, and tapping a piece of plastic that controlled my virtual counterpart. This was an annoyance that never settled, not even on the second playthrough. In sum, the controls simply took the immersion and whacked it to broken shards of game. (And I did feel a bit ridiculous waggling the controller to brush my teeth.)

3) The story had pacing that could have come straight out of geologic history: unbearably long stretches of dullness punctuated by moments of raw terror. Why do I have to spend hours interacting with my virtual family? Is it to build an emotional connection with my wife and sons? Because at every tragedy I praised heaven that one of them had been taken from me in a suitably wretched manner, simply because their characters had done nothing but bore and frustrate me to no end. Cutting off your own limbs is an undebiably visceral experience, but Heavy Rain has already been beaten to the mark by Dead Space: Extraction and Modern Warfare 2 (OK, it is pulling a knife out of your chest, not cutting off an actual limb, but the shock I had at that moment was the same in MW2 and Heavy Rain).

Ah, that was cathartic.

What do you guys think?

 

[THEMILKMAN]

After playing through Heavy Rain my first time I realised that it is arguably my favorite game of all time.It's the first game ever to make me feel so many emotions. I felt everything from pity and anxiety to sadness and shame. These are normally negative emotions but Heavy Rain pulled them off so perfectly not to mention all those emotions take place in the controlled enviroment of a video game. I really, sincerely felt all these emotions for the characters throughout the whole game. On several occasions it even made me question my morals and even myself. Yes, it hit me that deeply.

In conclusion, Heavy Rain, while not perfect, is truly a gaming masterpiece IMO. They took everything that made Indigo Prophecy good and refined it all into something nearly perfect. Heavy Rain nearly redefines "video game". So if you have a PS3 and a spare $60, got get Heavy Rain now, you must save ingenuity in gaming such as this before it goes extinct. Before it all gets lost amongst the monotony of the mindless FPS genre

I'll get right on that as soon as you tell me how to make a spoiler box LOL (seriously)

I've played it and felt it to be a very round and about way of telling a story, so far I haven't seen anything amazing, it doesn't look like any choices I've made have made ANY significant change to anything at all, and the whole quicktime sequence idea is so incredibly naggy that it feels like someone constantly trying to get your attention while you're watching a movie that tries hard to be intense.

This having been one of the few games I've actually spent money on, not to mention traded in a few loved games for, I would love for you to tell me when it actually drew that step for you into amazing.

So my take on the game so far: Predictable and shallow characters, lack of real choices and... I don't know, the game doesn't really have that much going for it for me to criticize. I'll say that from a visual perspective however, its often (note: not always) very beautiful.

Oh the loading times seem somewhat unjustified to me.

In any case, please tell me, in a spoiler perhaps, when the game really started getting intense in the way of choices.

After playing through Heavy Rain my first time I realised that it is arguably my favorite game of all time.It's the first game ever to make me feel so many emotions. I felt everything from pity and anxiety to sadness and shame. These are normally negative emotions but Heavy Rain pulled them off so perfectly not to mention all those emotions take place in the controlled enviroment of a video game. I really, sincerely felt all these emotions for the characters throughout the whole game. On several occasions it even made me question my morals and even myself. Yes, it hit me that deeply.

In conclusion, Heavy Rain, while not perfect, is truly a gaming masterpiece IMO. They took everything that made Indigo Prophecy good and refined it all into something nearly perfect. Heavy Rain nearly redefines "video game". So if you have a PS3 and a spare $60, got get Heavy Rain now, you must save ingenuity in gaming such as this before it goes extinct. Before it all gets lost amongst the monotony of the mindless FPS genre

I've played it and felt it to be a very round and about way of telling a story, so far I haven't seen anything amazing, it doesn't look like any choices I've made have made ANY significant change to anything at all, and the whole quicktime sequence idea is so incredibly naggy that it feels like someone constantly trying to get your attention while you're watching a movie that tries hard to be intense.

This having been one of the few games I've actually spent money on, not to mention traded in a few loved games for, I would love for you to tell me when it actually drew that step for you into amazing.

So my take on the game so far: Predictable and shallow characters, lack of real choices and... I don't know, the game doesn't really have that much going for it for me to criticize. I'll say that from a visual perspective however, its often (note: not always) very beautiful.

Oh the loading times seem somewhat unjustified to me.

In any case, please tell me, in a spoiler perhaps, when the game really started getting intense in the way of choices.

I'll get right on that as soon as you tell me how to make a spoiler box (seriously). BTW where are you in the game right now?

 

[SimuLord]

Heavy Rain: A mishmash of quick-time events wrapped up in a Swiss cheese plot, half baked, then eaten, digested, and fished out of the toilet and put in a box.

 

[The Heik]

^This.

Never before in my life has a game made me feel so many things at the same time. It's like the best movie ever!

That's what I don't like about this. "Best Movie Ever". This isn't a game, it's an interactive movie, and that make it a failure as a game. It may have a great story, but it's trying to remove itself from the very thing that makes games unique.

I bet that if the same sort of thing was tried in any other medium, we'd burn it at the stake. A movie that plays like a book, or a book that reads like a bunch of pictures? No thank you.

 

[Gethsemani_v1legacy]

I can't see how Heavy Rain is not a game. It is as much a game as say Guitar Hero, Rockband, Dance Dance Revolution or any other game where the main emphasis of the player input is to hit the correct button at the correct time. That it isn't a very advanced game is another issue, but all the things that make it a game is there.

I think the problem many are having with Heavy Rain is that it is telling a story that is very rarely told in computer games and it tells it in a way that is rarely used in games and by using a controll scheme that seems counter-intuitive to the hardcore gamer. I can see why it puts people off and there's nothing wrong in not liking Heavy Rain. But to not call it a game is to take it a step too far.

It does things that games "Aren't supposed to do" such as giving an almost 2 hour long intro without any real action to make you sympathise with the main character. This can be put in context along with Peter Molyneuxs twitter question for Fable 3: "Is 30 minutes too much time without fighting in the introduction to the game?"
Heavy Rain stumbles occasionally, especially some of the voice acting is down right horrid and some choices have far less impact then you'd think/hope not to mention how the control scheme in certain parts is more of a hinder than a help.

But what about the good parts? Everyone might not like it, but Heavy Rain deals in emotion and those who get that far into the game without hating the controls or the slow start will eventually see just how good it is at this. Whatever it is the shame of having failed an input sequence and realizing that Jayden gets crushed by a trashcompactor to the elation of seeing Ethan save Shaun, Heavy Rain plays with your emotions. Personally, the last 30 minutes of Heavy Rain is the most intensly streesful gaming experience I have had. Heavy Rain keeps people hooked, it makes others watch you play because the story is compelling enough to stand alone (and I know I am not the only one who has had others watch their entire playthrough) and many action sequences could have been in a movie.

Heavy Rain is not for everyone, that much is obvious. It appeals to some because it offers to be something different and for the most part it lives up to its' promises. Being turned off by that idea is nothing wrong, nor is being turned off by the control system, the horrid acting or the occasionally terrible pacing. What I think is wrong however is to say Heavy Rain is not a game just because you don't like it. It is not a masterpiece as far as gaming goes I have to admit, but I think it is an important milestone and a very good game.