Heavy Rain: Gorgeous but Vacuous?
Having been closely following the developments of Heavy Rain: the Origami Killer since we heard about it waaaaaay back in 2006, it would be an understatement to say that up until now, I’d been impatient for this game. Not only does the story touch an intrigued nerve – after all, how far are you prepared to go to save someone you love? – it’s also come packaged with a sleuth of images so stunning they make me positively droolsome.
However, HR’s not without controversy. The game’s been criticised for an over-reliance on quick time events, some are twitchy that a demo is less than forthcoming, and now the late 2009 release has been pushed back into 2010 because, apparently, it ‘needs its own release window’.
Guillaume de Fondaumiere, co-CEO of Quantic Dream, explained to CVG about the reasons behind Heavy Rain’s delay.
“The first and most important reason [for the delay] was the fact that I don’t think that such an innovative game like Heavy Rain and a new franchise should be released at the end of the year in the crowded period when everyone’s releasing there games,” says de Fondaumiere. “A game like Heavy Rain needs space, needs to be explained and shown. At the end of the year, people can’t afford to buy all those games so we wanted to give Heavy Rain the chance to have its own release window, and for us to really talk about it so people really understand it.”
“If Heavy Rain doesn’t succeed it’s going to have important implications for other developers and for ourselves,” he goes on to explain. “Maybe people will think ‘those innovative games don’t work, games cannot really convey realistic emotions.’ And they will continue to do the standard shooters and the like that we have been doing for however many years,” he said.
And he goes on. In addition to that bizarre admission that the game may not even succeed, he also suggests that Heavy Rain is a one-hit playthrough. No, really – read on …
“I would like people to play it once because that’s life. Life you can only play once [and] I would like people to have this experience that way.” He adds, “The right way to enjoy Heavy Rain is really to make one thing because it’s going to be your story. It’s going to be unique to you. It’s really the story you decided to write … I think playing it several times is also a way to kill the magic of it.”
Say again? Okay, so I get the theme – life is a one-off, no rehearsals, yadda yadda ya – but he’s suggesting there’s no replay value here … right?
But there is absolutely no denying that the game looks stunning. When GameInformer got their hands on the demo at GamesCon a few weeks ago, they stressed how immaculate the game looked, with “every single item for sale was rendered individually. Each shelf held different items and different quantities of items. Even more, each set of items had a unique design, magazines had believable covers and items were placed as if they had been picked up, examined and returned in a slightly different position.” Caps released to date only echo this, and the newest images are simply breathtaking.
Which leaves just one question: how pretty does a game have to be for you to buy it when there’s little value in replaying it? Does replay even matter to you? And, perhaps mostly importantly of all, how important is price when it comes to a title such as this?
Source: CVG
Tags: heavy rain, origami killer, PS3, quantic dream
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The biggest issue I have with Quantic Dream is having big ambitions, but never executing on all cylinders. Omikron: The Nomad Soul was a fun universe, with a strange David Bowie tie-in, but it tried to mix three genres, and it successfully mastered none of them. Indigo Prophecy/Fahrenheit was a great storytelling experience, and a great study on player direction, but it ended up being a fancy simon game at the end with the ridiculous amount of QTE's in the game.
I am hoping that Heavy Rain can sort things out for them, but I have huge reservations.
Sounds like there is replay potential, but he would rather you not. I totally sympathize with his suggestion. Nearly all of the significant story-focused games I adore I have only played ONCE on purpose. Playing it once helps maintain the illusion that the story actually happened and I was a part of it. Of course, that's if you can get past any video gamey tropes like re-loading and re-dying that slaughter that illusion in its sleep.
I totally agree with you on Indigo Prophecy/Fahrenheit and I’m really hoping HR isn’t like that because I’ve been following this game too and I’m getting my hopes up in the process!
I agree with Guillaume de Fondaumiere’s decision to not release the game in Nov-Dec due to the onslaught of the CoD’s and Assasin’s Creed type games.
I totally agree with you on Indigo Prophecy/Fahrenheit and I'm really hoping HR isn't like that because I've been following this game too and I'm getting my hopes up in the process!
I agree with Guillaume de Fondaumiere's decision to not release the game in Nov-Dec due to the onslaught of the CoD's and Assasin's Creed type games.
Like I said, I totally get his reasons why he says playthrough once, but that doesn't make financial sense for me to make the purchase. Makes me think I should save my money and borrow/rent the game rather than buy it for myself … which it strange, as I don't think that very often.
I'm clearly one of few that just thinks it sounds boring. I listened to a podcast which talked about the game at length, and I was shocked they seemed interested. I want to play a video game, not watch lengthy cut scenes then hit some random buttons that appear on screen.
Like I said, I totally get his reasons why he says playthrough once, but that doesn't make financial sense for me to make the purchase. Makes me think I should save my money and borrow/rent the game rather than buy it for myself … which it strange, as I don't think that very often.
I'm clearly one of few that just thinks it sounds boring. I listened to a podcast which talked about the game at length, and I was shocked they seemed interested. I want to play a video game, not watch lengthy cut scenes then hit some random buttons that appear on screen.