Never before have my emotions been so divided inside my head over a video game. I find myself loving some aspects of Heavy Rain, and then the next moment questioning some design decisions. Some scenes have left me smiling without even realizing it until the event was over. Heck, in one particular scene I found myself leaning back in my chair contemplating my own future in relation to the events that just had transpired. No seriously! But certainly there have been moments where I was left holding my controller thinking "Hey wait a second, I want to be more involved here!"
When I played the game at E3 last year I thought it was an interesting concept but, frankly, didnt find it very much fun to play. Then I played the demo about a week ago which took place in a completely different section of the game and I found it much more engaging. The funny thing is, now that I'm playing the full release, I'm feeling a mixture of those two experiences.
First I want to start out saying that I love Quantric Dreams ambitious with this title. The adventure genre--one that I love--sure does need a good shot in the arm, and despite some of the issues I might have with the game I mostly find it's overall experience exciting and compelling. It's a huge step in the right direction and, overall, a fun game. I alwasy find myself looking forward to finding out what's around the corner.
I think most of us can agree that--its spirit--it's a game that harkens back to the older point & click adenture games. They've brilliantly crafted an experience for the (sadly) shrinking genre by luring you in with its contemporary interface. Gone are the points and the click click clicks and now we have gestures or Quick Time Events (QTEs).
The atmosphere in most sections--with a combination of Silence of The Lambs inspired scores and stunning David Fincher emboldened visuals---is frankly stunning. I find myself walking around starting at the..well items that I can't interact with unfortunately. But it all does its part in immediately drawing you in to its compelling narrative. A story that (for me so far) is chopped up into 4 different storys running parallel, a la Pulp fiction style, where I suspect will collide in some fashion.
But I do have an issue, that was immediately apparent to me within the first 10 minutes of the game, that consistantly bothers me--interaction. Yes the game has it, and uses a mostly interesting mechanic to do so, but I want to do more than hear 5 thoughts floating around in my head. I want to do more than interact 3 things in a room. In addition, I want to look and examine much more in the environment. These people I'm controlling do have interesting thoughts, feelings and opinions on things--I want to hear what they have to say, even if it's "It's just a old brown shirt my brother use to wear". It allows me to get closer to them. Know them. Establish more of a relationship. By not allowing the player to examine his surroundings beyond a few of those predetermined thoughts or actions it forces the experience to feel more contrived.
Even some of my first adventure games--like the Kings Quest series--seeminly allowed us to examine about the same amount of items in the environment. Why does it bother me? Frankly, I think it makes some of this "reality" that Heavy Rain is trying to establish feel like plastic. For a game that devotes an incredible amount of its resources into its detail (graphics, narrative and dialog) it just boggles my mind that we're left with a beautifully crafted world that (seemly) 75% is off limits.
I dont think I'm even 50% of the way through the game so my feelings could still go either way. This are just my thoughts and I have a feeling they're not going to be popular.
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