Joa_Belgium said:
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.
Oh, joy.
What characters were in this game exactly? Between the four protagonists, you could maybe muster up two dimensions between them. The Dad didn't have a personality until the first kid died, and even then it consisted of nothing more than "I'm sad" (yes, an understandable emotion, but like I said, it's the only trait that was applied to him, besides "devoted" after the second kid gets snatched. I guess he has the mutant power of gaining humanity after tragedy strikes); the Girl, well, Yahtzee pretty much summed up that she's only there to be exploited; the PI had the slightly interesting hook of having asthma, but that got dropped in favor of a twist that, even forgiving the huge narrative cheat (and it is a cheat, for those of you who know what it is), was dull and uninspired; FBI Guy had potential, but his side of the story amounted to a couple of cliches stapled together (good cop/bad cop on one hand, and the Hollywood version of drug-addict on the other, where the effects of said addiction is mere plot contrivance). These were about as artificial as characters get in any form of storytelling, existing only to recite the exact same tired lines as every bargain-basement TV movie.
And thank you for telling us all what Heavy Rain is really about. It's opened my eyes that we can bond with these dull people through shaving, brushing our teeth, and watching them walk into a wall for the 800th time while the camera and the controls decide whether or not to work properly. Personally, I'd rather have bonded with the character because they had some interesting quirk or were funny, or had some good cameraderie with the people around them, or were mysterious in some way, but I suppose that will have to do. I have seen the light!
All sarcasm aside: your holier-than-thou attitude towards the review is hilarious. Especially how you take the time to lecture us all on how great the game is, but really only sounding like David Cage's publicist. After all, it's hardly an either/or scenario between "emotionally immersive" vs. "heads blown off for no reason", as there are numerous games that can get the former without being pretentious swipes from bad films (see: Silent Hill 2, Psychonauts, Ico, Shenmue, Assassin's Creed, hell you can argue GTAIV, the Metal Gear series, or the Final Fantasy series all do this).
And you're certainly free to love Heavy Rain, no one here will stop you, but don't assume that those who don't are a bunch of plebians screaming 'EM0 F@G11!!1" at the thought of mature storytelling.
