Epic design director and industry cool guy Cliff Bleszinski recently commented on Quantic Dream’s ‘interactive drama’ Heavy Rain, the much-debated PS3 exclusive that released this February. The Unreal Tournament and Gears of War aficionado stated that he’s very much a fan of Heavy Rain, which in his mind has ‘birthed its own genre.’
From my own perspective, I absolutely see where he’s coming from with this statement. Despite most of Heavy Rain’s premise revolving around sombre storytelling and continuous quick time events, it’s certainly unlike a lot of other games on the market these days. Like any novel or film, it’s an experience that is wholly dependent on the player’s involvement within the narrative; and the unprecedented graphical detail of its world and characters is, for the most part, an entirely unique staple to uphold in modern games.
This ‘new’ genre Mr. Bleszinski is referring to is the same one that I used as a descriptor for the game in the first paragraph – ‘interactive drama.’ It’s become a widespread and accepted term for describing Heavy Rain, something which the developers clearly wanted to make viral. So much so that the very first trophy to be unlocked after starting a new game commends the player for ‘supporting interactive drama’ once they’ve completed the opening prologue.
Even though it may seem like I’m facing opposites with this notion, I’m really not. I support the idea and it makes sense to me since actually playing Heavy Rain for myself about a month ago. However, for me, the rub comes compounded with this entire theory of ‘interactive drama’ and just how monotonous I found Heavy Rain to be. Where I tend to agree with Bleskinski’s comments, however, lies in how aptly he chose describe his statement. It really is the ‘birth’ of a genre; and to that tend, if Heavy Rain is the first real attempt at an ‘interactive drama’ on consoles, then it is surely baby steps.
That’s not to say that story-specific adventures were non-existent before Quantic Dream head David Cage arrived on the scene, but there are arguably few comparative titles of the same ilk that have been subject to such development expenditure, intensive marketing and sheer anticipation ahead of its release.
To draw some sort of parallel, consider a series like Monkey Island, or many other similar traditional adventure games that enjoyed a period of popularity and renown back in their day. In regards to the common persona of many others adventure games, the Monkey Island games were (and are) often stylised in an animated and distinctly cartoon-like fashion; cleverly playing on the weaknesses of its era’s technological deficits, as well as successfully complimenting the comical tone of its narrative.
Heavy Rain is blatant antithesis to Monkey Island’s design approach, instead striving towards photo-realism and well-rendered environment detail. Its heavy-handed narrative lives and dies by this conceptual intention, as did the contextual puzzles in Monkey Island.
But, whilst these ambitions are lofty and now more achievable than ever, it was a resentful combination of both its most coveted bullet points that essentially failed to grip me in the way Cage so evidently wanted me to. I’m not lambasting the quality of its graphics, though – far form it. Heavy Rain is a truly beautiful game that really pushes the technical boundaries of the PlayStation 3.
My real point of contention in the graphical department comes in the presence of the expected – and equally disjointing – ‘uncanny valley’. It’s a term that plagues many modern games that try to simulate real-world detail, and in Heavy Rain it rears its head to causes noticeable eyebrow-raising moments from the game’s characters above all else.
As a result,I found the forceful emotional scenes falling from reach time and time again, as my personal investment in Heavy Rain’s inhabitants continued to plummet with every blank expression and instance of mis-matched lip syncing. To be fair, it is important to note that issues like poor lip syncing is a ubiquitous trend in many games, but its insufficiencies seem doubly as reproachable in Heavy Rain, as its sole purpose is to hook the player in with expressive character emotes and realistic dialogue interactions.
Since I’m on that topic, it’s worth clarifying my opinions of the voice acting: it’s bloody awful. Listening to the French accent slip through the cracks of supposedly American characters in the game is just as flinch-worthy as hearing the rest of the B-list voice actors ham their way through the story’s events. Detective Scott Shelby was probably the only character in the entire Heavy Rain universe that I actually gravitating towards in some meaningful way, but even he is a re-tread of an existing character from a barely decent thriller flick.
Optional Side Ramble: Perhaps unsurprisingly, I also wasn’t a big fan of Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy. I loved the demo – the introductory scenario felt like a breath of fresh air and was genuinely involving. Be that as it may, further progession into the game failed to sustain my intrigue, as the story went to an incorrigible place; and the problems with player input became far beyond that of Heavy Rain’s. Plus, I found the characters to be crude and unlikeable. Playing guitar was mildly fun, though.
Despite my general dislike for Heavy Rain’s attempts at emulating cinematic flourish and twisting it into game form, complaints surrounding the tank-style control of characters didn’t actually bother me that much. Sure, it looks robotic and weird, but at that point I understand that I’m actually playing a game, so I expect some degree of mechnical flaw. By contrast, I just don’t have the same expectations for the cutscenes when the experience I’m playing is touted as ‘like a movie in videogame form.’ To that, I say this: it’s not like a movie in videogame form. If anything, it’s akin to any third rate novel available in the used section of a local library.
If the visions of creator David Cage consists of blurring the lines between narrative interactivity in games and conventional movie viewing, then it’s only fair to judge his game alongside that same medium which primarily focuses on storytelling as its main draw. In that regard, Heavy Rain falls flat on its face. That’s not to say I don’t appreciate its existence, however. The hitches with the uncanny valley will undoubtedly become less of an issue as time and technology advances; and it would be folly to suggest that Heavy Rain doesn’t raise the bar in graphical prowess. That said, I just don’t believe Quantic Dream is the studio that is capable of undertakng the task and coming out with outstanding results – specifically in the field of storyteling.
My pick? Rockstar.
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