Heavy Rain: Is it a good thing?
I got the chance to play a bit of Heavy Rain the other day, and must say I am a little on the fence as to whether or not its a good game. Don’t get me wrong, Heavy Rain is a visually stun, masterfully written game, but I just can’t help but feel a little disappointed in the game-play. Before we move forward please take a look at this video, I feel it portrays a decent amount of what I will be talking about in the rest of this blog.
A couple of things that become immediately apparent even after playing only a couple of minutes of the game are that Heavy Rain is one of the best looking games to date. Graphics wise this is the most realistic game I have ever seen, the character animations, although sometimes flawed are for the most part completely believable, and when played on high-def this game is really stunning. The dialogue in this game is also top notch. But where Heavy Rain really falls short is in game play.
Most of the story aspects of the game are told through cut-scenes, the majority of which are interactive. You are given multiple dialogue and action choices, the end result of which will ultimately determine how the game plays out. The amount of these cut scenes is pretty overwhelming, I soon found myself wondering when the actual game was going to start. However, once the actual game play did commence I was soon wishing for more cut-scenes as the main gameplay element in Heavy Rain is quick-time events.
Quite possibly the worst idea in video gaming history, quick-time events are used by developers to make a cinematic aspect of the game feel more interactive by forcing the player to quickly mash a series of buttons to play out the cinematic. As an element of game play, it is among the worst. When you’re not conversing with the richly deloped characters or taking in the aw-inspiring visuals of the world around you, you will be mashing buttons.
Now there are two ends of the spectrum as far as this argument is concerned. There are some that believe story is the most important aspect of video games, and should be put before all else. And there are others who believe that without inter-active, and entertaining game play a video game is more like an interactive movie. Now I started off this blog by saying im not entirely certain on what side of this debate I lie. I have never been able to enjoy games that have a poor story, however I would rather watch a well written movie than play a well written movie masquerading as a poorly designed video game.
Heavy Rain is like the video gaming’s Avatar. Except this time around they put all of the budget into the writing, and visual effects, and none into the action.
*B’s Note:
I wrote about this game a long time ago. Check out the link for images, videos and a few comparisons.
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