Heavy Rain: The Origami Killer (PS3) Coming Feb 23
I think this game is bound to be overlooked so I decided to make a thread. I was a big fan of Indigo Prophecy despite the horrible last third of the game(you can buy it on xbox live marketplace or steam). Heavy Rain is an indirect sequel to it by the same company. You play as 4 characters(a father, reporter, detective and an FBI agent) on the hunt of a serial killer who's calling card is to place origami figure in the hand of his(or her) child victims.
You'll like the game if you like:
-point and click adventure games
-quick time games like dragon's lair
-choose your own adventure books
-film noir, csi, dexter tv shows
-the videogame shenmue
This game is definitely not for everybody but it's worth a look to try out something new.
Last edited by Human Torch; 02-26-2010 at 12:43 AM.
Reason: removed non embedding video because of spoilers in the youtube comments
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Yeah, Indigo Prophecy (also known as Fahrenheit) was a great story until that HORRIBLE plot twist.
Looks neat to check out, but is it only a PS3 exclusive?
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Played the demo. Feels like a PC point & click adventure game geared towards consoles mixed in with some QTE. If you like action games this game isn't for you. QTE is the only action there is otherwise pure adventure.
I don't get this game at all. Is it like the The Sims, but hardcore? And you solve a crime?
There are so many kids that are going to get this game just to have sex with one of the protagonists, as well as spending time in a club bathroom adjusting your breasts.
I can't begin to explain the things wrong with it but it is basically the epitome of everything that is wrong with modern gaming lumped into one package for me.
Quick time events are one of the worst things ever invented for games and this game is basically just an interactive movie where everything you do is a quicktime event where the buttons you have to press have nothing to do with the actions that you are doing but are there just randomly inserted to make it feel like a game. If you want to pick up something from a table? Good luck, you have to do a hadoken on the analog stick before the timer runs out. Want to ask another character something something? Press square when the icon briefly flashes. Want to climb a hill? Press up for your left foot, hold R1 for your right foot, then press triangle for your left foot, push down the right analog stick fo the your right foot, press square for your left foot, do a hadoken with the d-pad, etc.
I should have know what was in store for me when the first minutes were spent fumbling with trying to do some quick time button combinations to get my guy to get his inhaler out of his pocket and to put it into his mouth.
Really? Are you serious? Ashtma Inhaler Simulator, the Game?
It's absolute garbage. This kind of game could have been made in 1980 with laserdisc technology.
The worst part that spoiled my immersion and suspension of disbelief however, is that this is supposed to be some sort of film noir game in a dark slummy modern setting...but when you play the FBI officer to do "detective work", he somehow has these CSI magic alien sunglasses from the 29th century. He puts them on suddenly he has nightvision, he sees all these ugly orange circles on everything (done in the CSI style of fake computer GUIs with random text and numbers flying everywhere) and these glasses allow him to "see" DNA, it allows him to "see" individual atoms and molecules and do organic chemstry and lab work all just by looking at crime scenes. Pollen will glow neon yellow, blood will glow radioactive green. Footprints will light up like a Christmas tree. He can look at something and determine it's chemical composition and mass. I can just imagine him looking at a photo and going "enhance, enhance, enhance, to create detail that didn't originally exist. It's totally ridiculous and does not belong in this kind of game at all.
Another bad thing about this game is that it's all trying to be stylistic and cinematic to the point where it's trying too hard. In cinematography there's this thing called average length of shot. That's how long the camera stays on something before it cuts away to another angle or another scene. It's generally considered bad form to have quick cut after quick cut ad infinitum for your entire movie and this game does it all. It changes camera angles on you every couple seconds to try to be all stylistic and dramatic but all it does is induce a headache. You are walking forward and all of a sudden the camera will be to your left and you get disoriented to what direction you were going, then it cuts to another character, then it cuts to behind you at an angle, then it cuts to the ground. It's awful.
What this game really should have been is 1997's Westwood Studio's Blade Runner mixed with one of the 1990s EA Sherlock Holmes games but instead it's just Dragon's Lair with probably 10,000 quick time events making up the entirety of the gameplay. I swear, with most of these hyped up modern console games, these developers just want to make movies instead of good games (see Infinity Ward).
Last edited by Hack&Lube; 02-14-2010 at 11:45 PM.
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I can't begin to explain the things wrong with it but it is basically the epitome of everything that is wrong with modern gaming lumped into one package for me.
Quick time events are one of the worst things ever invented for games and this game is basically just an interactive movie where everything you do is a quicktime event where the buttons you have to press have nothing to do with the actions that you are doing but are there just randomly inserted to make it feel like a game. If you want to pick up something from a table? Good luck, you have to do a hadoken on the analog stick before the timer runs out. Want to ask another character something something? Press square when the icon briefly flashes. Want to climb a hill? Press up for your left foot, hold R1 for your right foot, then press triangle for your left foot, push down the right analog stick fo the your right foot, press square for your left foot, do a hadoken with the d-pad, etc.
I should have know what was in store for me when the first minutes were spent fumbling with trying to do some quick time button combinations to get my guy to get his inhaler out of his pocket and to put it into his mouth.
Really? Are you serious? Ashtma Inhaler Simulator, the Game?
It's absolute garbage. This kind of game could have been made in 1980 with laserdisc technology.
I actually find the controls to be immersive, instead of a pain like you describe. The feel natural to me, and actually make you feel like you're the character in the game, instead of just pushing buttons. They felt logically laid out and made sense in the context. If you're were fumbling to get the inhaler out, that would be the point of the button presses. In a panicked state, the character is trying to get the inhaler out, and would be fumbling through pockets in real life to find it. Meh.
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The worst part that spoiled my immersion and suspension of disbelief however, is that this is supposed to be some sort of film noir game in a dark slummy modern setting...but when you play the FBI officer to do "detective work", he somehow has these CSI magic alien sunglasses from the 29th century. He puts them on suddenly he has nightvision, he sees all these ugly orange circles on everything (done in the gay CSI style of fake computer GUIs with random text and numbers flying everywhere) and these glasses allow him to "see" DNA, it allows him to "see" individual atoms and molecules and do organic chemstry and lab work all just by looking at crime scenes. Pollen will glow neon yellow, blood will glow radioactive green. Footprints will light up like a Christmas tree. He can look at something and determine it's chemical composition and mass. I can just imagine him looking at a photo and going "enhance, enhance, enhance, to create detail that didn't originally exist. It's totally gay and does not belong in this kind of game at all.
Wow, using gay twice in a paragraph as a derogatory term. That should really help out your argument in trying to deter people to play this game.
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Another bad thing about this game is that it's all trying to be stylistic and cinematic to the point where it's trying too hard. In cinematography there's this thing called average length of shot. That's how long the camera stays on something before it cuts away to another angle or another scene. It's generally considered bad form to have quick cut after quick cut ad infinitum for your entire movie and this game does it all. It changes camera angles on you every couple seconds to try to be all stylistic and dramatic but all it does is induce a headache. You are walking forward and all of a sudden the camera will be to your left and you get disoriented to what direction you were going, then it cuts to another character, then it cuts to behind you at an angle, then it cuts to the ground. It's awful.
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Didn't have this problem at all. It cuts only in certain places to give you a better angle, or if you're mashing the right thumbstick to change views.
I strongly believe this is going to be one of the best story driven experiences a game has to offer, and is a must play for anyone with a PS3. You have to understand that a demo is a brief glimpse of the game, but with this game being so story heavy, you have to play the whole game to really appreciate it.
You guys are free to enjoy the game. For me, it was absolutely appaling and a game that I would never touch as it was the perfect storm of two of the things I hate most about modern entertainment in the guise of the adventure genre that I used to love so much.
1. Quick Time Events
2. CSI cheesy fake technology and fake pointless computer GUIs being passed off as real criminal science/detective work
I'm sorry, but making play twister on my controller while watching for countdown dials and focusing me on my twitch reaction time to press and hold button combinations only detracts from the very story they are trying to convey. Give me back traditional controls (a use button) or even better - a freaking keyboard text parser. At least that is logical and I am not pressing random buttons and executing street fighter moves to make a guy climb a muddy hill. That's not good gameplay, that's padding the interactive movie with garbage.
Why not simply have a use button? And to increase the mystery and immersion and difficulty of the game - provide no prompts at all. The game is silly because it tells when when I need to do something by popping it up on the screen as a QTE instead of letting me use my intelligence and my own eyes to scan for suspicious things and other options and other avenues or think of something to do on impulse (like bash down a door, examine something under the bed, etc.) That's what adventure gaming should be about. That's the rewarding part of solving a puzzle or mystery.
Instead this is like that old toy where it tells you to spin it or pull it before the time runs out or some version of Simon Says and you have to do that where the QTEs really are not a natural way to use your brain. This is the reason why the Wii is popular among the masses because it is intuitive. QTEs are the opposite of intuitive. What does wiggling the analog stick and pressing R2 and left have to do with using an ashtma inhaler? How does that contribute to the story? It's basically a choose your own adventure novel played out in front of you, but instead of it telling you to turn to page 34, you first have to play twister on your controller and press a combination of buttons not related to what's happening on screen.
For some reason QTEs make me feel like a rat in a science experiment where I have to press the button when the screen tells me to do so or I get zapped if the timer runs out. Eventually you are conditioned just like a rat in an experiment to twitch reactions and pressing buttons and your instincts focus on seeing the QT prompt icons instead of actually immersing yourself in a game. That's my experience at least.
the buttons you have to press have nothing to do with the actions that you are doing but are there just randomly inserted to make it feel like a game.
Wrong, you weren't paying attention, they directly relate to what's happening on the screen. Shake controller = shake inhaler. Sharp thrust = kick down door/tackle. Face buttons = hand/feet grip. Analog stick = arm movement. When the character is in an uncomfortable position your hands are in an uncomfortable position as well.
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Want to ask another character something something? Press square when the icon briefly flashes.
Yeah that's not a quick time event, it's pretty much a dialogue tree floating around the characters head instead of in a black box at the bottom. And what's wrong with having it timed? The prostitute even says you only have 10 minutes, if you dilly dally she cuts off the questioning once the timer goes.
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Want to climb a hill? Press up for your left foot, hold R1 for your right foot, then press triangle for your left foot, push down the right analog stick fo the your right foot, press square for your left foot, do a hadoken with the d-pad, etc.
Again it directly relates to what's happening on the screen. You push up to initiate the movement. Then the face buttons are used to represent body parts. You never use the analogue stick after that or the d-pad(ever). If the dpad was part of the controls I'd imagine your head would explode.
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I should have know what was in store for me when the first minutes were spent fumbling with trying to do some quick time button combinations to get my guy to get his inhaler out of his pocket and to put it into his mouth.
Really? Are you serious? Ashtma Inhaler Simulator, the Game?
You were fumbling at the tutorial where you have to do only a couple gestures? You're a PC gamer(WASD ftw right?), you shouldn't have any problems with complex controls and this isn't even that.
Also, it's an adventure game without the clunky inventory menu. Did you want a separate screen to open up showing everything he's carrying so you could select it yourself? I'm glad the inventory is gone and you're never left wondering when you're going to need/combine a specific item with another.
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It's absolute garbage. This kind of game could have been made in 1980 with laserdisc technology.
Big exaggeration there, no it couldn't.
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gay CSI glasses totally gay
This part is awesome. To me it's basically a homage to point and click games where you used a mouse pointer to scan over items in a room until it lights up and you'd know you can interact with it.
It's also a gameplay device used to keep the player involved without bogging it down with some behind the scenes lab work. Why was CSI popular? Because it's fast paced. Real forensic evidence takes days,weeks, months to take shape(or even not at all). Why not skip all that and introduce a game like element to deal with it? Imagine the scene without the glasses...it'd be a bore. Sorry it breaks immersion for you, I didn't have any problems with it and saw it as a needed story/gameplay element. I'm looking forward to see what role it plays in the full game. Here's a video ofthe device being used a bit more for you to enjoy...2 min in...spoilers I guess...there's also an unrelated scene at about 3:50 so watch out for that(not a real big spoiler IMO): http://www.gamersyde.com/stream_heav...-14184_en.html
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It changes camera angles on you every couple seconds to try to be all stylistic and dramatic but all it does is induce a headache. You are walking forward and all of a sudden the camera will be to your left and you get disoriented to what direction you were going, then it cuts to another character, then it cuts to behind you at an angle, then it cuts to the ground. It's awful.
This technique has been used in games before like resident evil, silent hill and alone in the dark. It's all about setting mood(adventure games do this to but with the advantage of having a mouse when dealing with direction). The problem in those games were once the view changed, forward would no longer be forward. Heavy Rain solves this problem with a button that makes you walk forward all the time regardless of camera angle. I personally didn't have any camera trouble.
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I swear, with most of these hyped up modern console games, these developers just want to make movies instead of good games (see Infinity Ward).
Movie like scenes are expected in games now with the shift to 3d environments, added voice actors and the continuing graphic upgrades. No more walls of text narrating story.
Also here's something funny...in Indigo Prophecy, at the start screen it says "play movie" instead of "start game" and the tutorial is given by the game director in a movie studio lot.
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Originally Posted by Hack&Lube
You guys are free to enjoy the game. For me, it was absolutely appaling and a game that I would never touch as it was the perfect storm of two of the things I hate most about modern entertainment in the guise of the adventure genre that I used to love so much.
1. Quick Time Events
2. CSI cheesy fake technology and fake pointless computer GUIs being passed off as real criminal science/detective work
I listed those two things in the opening post...maybe that should have given you reason to avoid it. I'm not saying that others who download it have to like the game, but it seems like you already made up your mind about the game once you saw those things on the list.
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Why not simply have a use button? And to increase the mystery and immersion and difficulty of the game - provide no prompts at all. The game is silly because it tells when when I need to do something by popping it up on the screen as a QTE instead of letting me use my intelligence and my own eyes to scan for suspicious things and other options and other avenues or think of something to do on impulse (like bash down a door, examine something under the bed, etc.) That's what adventure gaming should be about. That's the rewarding part of solving a puzzle or mystery.
I guess this would be the ideal solution but impossible to implement especially with the more realistic graphics and the number of background detail in each scene. Having a tiny button prompt pop up when you are near it seems to be a good solution. It's like how games show a shiny gleam or outline on an object like a switch. People need to know what they can interact with, otherwise all they do is walk around pushing x(mouse click, mouse click, mouse click) until they finds something that's interactive. You might be able to get away with head pointing but that's usually inaccurate and most of the scenes in heavy rain need you to make fast choices.
Heavy Rain is basically a modern point and click game without the point and click. One reason the genre died is because all you do is click click click watch an animation and click some more, all with one button. I don't see why quick time events being used to break up that monotony is such a problem especially when these ones are so much more intuitive than the norm.
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Instead this is like that old toy where it tells you to spin it or pull it before the time runs out or some version of Simon Says and you have to do that where the QTEs really are not a natural way to use your brain. This is the reason why the Wii is popular among the masses because it is intuitive. QTEs are the opposite of intuitive. What does wiggling the analog stick and pressing R2 and left have to do with using an ashtma inhaler? How does that contribute to the story? It's basically a choose your own adventure novel played out in front of you, but instead of it telling you to turn to page 34, you first have to play twister on your controller and press a combination of buttons not related to what's happening on screen.
Why bring up the success of the wii when it has it's fair share of quick time events? It seems like every wii game now shows a prompt to use waggle at some point in the game.
And you're not randomly wiggling the stick like I pointed out at the start of this post. Basically the right analog stick is the wii remote pointer. Here's a real life example:
-Pretend you have a sunglasses in your pocket.
-Put your hand in your pocket and take it out(or move the analog stick down).
-Now swing it up towards your head and put them on.
-There you just did an upside down fireball motion with your arm.
All the movements in heavy rain requiring you to take something out/pick something up use the fireball motion which mimics a real arm, just mapped to an analog stick. No different than what the wii does besides having a controller limitation. The creators of heavy rain even wanted to use that sony copy cat motion control for the game but the controllers got pushed back. I bet their follow up will use it from the start along with even more quick time events.
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For some reason QTEs make me feel like a rat in a science experiment where I have to press the button when the screen tells me to do so or I get zapped if the timer runs out. Eventually you are conditioned just like a rat in an experiment to twitch reactions and pressing buttons and your instincts focus on seeing the QT prompt icons instead of actually immersing yourself in a game. That's my experience at least.
QTE's are hardly any different than what the music game, puzzle or even fighting genre games do during gameplay.
Damn that was a lot....
Last edited by Human Torch; 02-14-2010 at 11:38 AM.
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Quicktime Events are simply evil, I guess I can't convince any of you here. At least there are some people (like Zahtzee of Zero Punctuation) who would agree.
And yes, I still hate the CSI glasses from the 29th century. It absolutely make no sense. How does he just look at blood and it shows him a DNA double helix or the PPM concentration of a solution? Are you telling me has Gen IV nightvision, a mass spectrometer, electron microscope, x-ray fluorescence spectroscope, nuclear magnetic resonance scanner, thermogravimetric analyzer, and an psychic HD video recorder (that seems to be able to record his thoughts!), etc. all in his shades? I hate the dumbing down of science or putting ridiculous technology in the hands of everyday people and the creation of fake computer graphics for the masses.
I'm not as down on quicktime events as some, I normally don't like them in something like God of War because it's jarring.. you have one game play mechanic and then all of a sudden switch to another. I appreciate why they do it; to allow for a more cinematic portion while still giving the sense of some control to the user.
In this case, the whole interaction with the game is quicktime events, so really it didn't feel the same to me; it felt like it fit. I do admit that the slippery hill was too much I felt, but on the other hand the fight I thought was quite exciting.
As for the CSI thing, I find it easy to suspend my disbelief because I can appreciate why they do it. Real science is hard, dull, and boring, and in a video game you just want to get to the conclusion of the science; the results. So you have a "magic" device that does it with technology. Whatever, the important part of the game is elsewhere and how the results of a DNA analysis or a tire track match are presented is secondary and doesn't suspend my disbelief enough to make the game not fun.
However everyone has their hot points; I can't stand it when games/movies/whatever get basic physics wrong.
__________________ Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position.
But certainty is an absurd one.
Quicktime Events are simply evil, I guess I can't convince any of you here. At least there are some people (like Zahtzee of Zero Punctuation) who would agree.
I hate the dumbing down of science or putting ridiculous technology in the hands of everyday people and the creation of fake computer graphics for the masses.
Haha fair enough. I'll leave you to type "open mailbox" while I push down on an analog stick to do the same action.
And the dumbing down of science for the masses with magical databases and the like isn't anything new. It's necessary to move the plot forward and I have no idea how they could do it otherwise.
Last edited by Human Torch; 02-14-2010 at 07:40 PM.
Heavy Rain: The Origami Killer (PS3) Coming Feb 23
I'll go back to Zork.
