Date Acquired: 2-22-2010
Date Completed: 4-13-2010
Thoughts: Actually, I'm going to wait on my thoughts, as Chris is playing it right now. He'll be finished with the game soon, and then I don't have to worry about spoilers. And I don't want to hear about you Jon, you are never getting a PS3 and we both know it.
So why post anything at all? I guess mainly just to cyber-squat and let Chris know I finished it first.... ;)
First of all, I just want to say that I HATE the boxart. Hate it. For a lot of reasons. The first reason is that it's missleading. In Sony's misguided attempt to attach sex appeal to the game, they promoted Madison to the most prominent position of the box art. The casual observer would understandably assume this is a game about Madison, when in fact she has probably the least role of all 4 major characters. The primary character of the game is actual Ethan, the sweaty, unshaven fellow you can barely make out over Madison's shoulder. The Europe boxart was just an image of the origami. I can't say I'm crazy about that image either, but at least it's original. The other thing I dislike about the boxart, SPOILER ALERT, I'm puttin the following text in white, if you don't want a critical component of the game ruined, skip over it. If you've finished the game, feel free to highlight it:::: If you were to show the boxart to a random sample of people and ask them to conclude who the villain of this game is in the boxart, 100% of them would correctly select the menacing lookin man holding the gun. Perhaps it's ingenious, hiding the killer in plain site on the box art, but I'd prefer that this was a red herring rather than a plot giveaway.
I never played Indigo Prophecy, the previous offering from developer Quantom Dream, so I can't compare and contrast the two, or appreciate the evolution. I can say that QD created a unique, engrossing, engaging game with a fantastic premise and a gripping plot. It's not the most original story in the world, but in the gamesphere, it is a novelty. The gameplay itself is probably the game's biggest downfall, not a great sign. The game is equal parts exporation, trying to discover hidden clues, and equal parts quick time events. All of the action in the game is represented via quicktime events. I find this to be perfectly acceptable for one game, but I question how many other games I would be willing to purchase without a more engaging form of gameplay.
Heavy Rain is an experience anyone who owns a PS3 should experience, but I'm not sure I can recommend it as a purchase. It can be completed in 8 hours or less, and while it has some replay value, in the form of different outcomes, (it's possible to finish the game with all of the main characters dead or in jail.) I think you could finish the game and satisfy your interests in the other possibilities in a rental. I won't be opposed to a Heavy Rain 2, but I won't invest in it unless there is a large overhaul in the gameplay. I would be more interested to see Quantom Dreams try a seperate property, but in today's day and age of sequalitus and a terror at the thought of releasing new IPs, I find that possibility unlikely.
