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    Heavy Rain

    Game » consists of 12 releases. Released Jan 25, 2010

    An interactive thriller from the studio behind Indigo Prophecy, sporting a dark storyline involving the investigation of a mysterious serial killer.

    Heavy Rain: The Adventure Game’s Magnum Opus.

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    StaticFalconar

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    Edited By StaticFalconar

    Heavy Rain: The Adventure Game’s Magnum Opus.

    Welcome to another Perch of StaticFalconar. This is part of a series of blogs on gaming retrospective in 2010.

                Heavy Rain actually doesn’t do anything new. The whole interactive adventure game has been around since Dragons Lair and even before in stuff like choose your own adventure stories. Since the gameplay is mainly moral choices and precision of pressing buttons there is going to be much more work in putting together a good story over what the viewer will see. Unless the player actively tries to see every single outcome (and that point, some of the magic does rub off), there would be much work that the player will never experience.

                This is why the game took 5 years and why a very strong storyboard was needed. Yes its sad some stuff got cut out, but the work required of it is just so much. This is probably also the reason why most of these games are regulated down to click and point adventures with a very linear story telling instead of what is heavy rain.

                At this point I thought I had more to say about the topic, but apparently not. The reason why games like Heavy Rain will never have as big of a budget or dev cycle to be as grand as heavy rain is too apparent. Its just too bad, the GB staff thinks that the one and only hurrah this type of game is going to get in a very long time: “is just a nice concept that could be learned from, but not necessarily a great game in execution.”. Perhaps there wasn’t paranormal shit to explain the loop holes.

    Personally, the game had felt very complete to me as in the first play through I was very amazed and dazzled by all the smoke and mirrors. Loopholes and pace of the story aside, the game as a game was perfect. I wouldn’t be surprised if the director’s cut edition with Kinect support (jokes), isn’t already out that includes all the paranormal shit and fills in the loop holes. Of course, for most people that would be too little too late.

    Oh wells; Tomorrow, SC2. 

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    StaticFalconar

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    #1  Edited By StaticFalconar

    Heavy Rain: The Adventure Game’s Magnum Opus.

    Welcome to another Perch of StaticFalconar. This is part of a series of blogs on gaming retrospective in 2010.

                Heavy Rain actually doesn’t do anything new. The whole interactive adventure game has been around since Dragons Lair and even before in stuff like choose your own adventure stories. Since the gameplay is mainly moral choices and precision of pressing buttons there is going to be much more work in putting together a good story over what the viewer will see. Unless the player actively tries to see every single outcome (and that point, some of the magic does rub off), there would be much work that the player will never experience.

                This is why the game took 5 years and why a very strong storyboard was needed. Yes its sad some stuff got cut out, but the work required of it is just so much. This is probably also the reason why most of these games are regulated down to click and point adventures with a very linear story telling instead of what is heavy rain.

                At this point I thought I had more to say about the topic, but apparently not. The reason why games like Heavy Rain will never have as big of a budget or dev cycle to be as grand as heavy rain is too apparent. Its just too bad, the GB staff thinks that the one and only hurrah this type of game is going to get in a very long time: “is just a nice concept that could be learned from, but not necessarily a great game in execution.”. Perhaps there wasn’t paranormal shit to explain the loop holes.

    Personally, the game had felt very complete to me as in the first play through I was very amazed and dazzled by all the smoke and mirrors. Loopholes and pace of the story aside, the game as a game was perfect. I wouldn’t be surprised if the director’s cut edition with Kinect support (jokes), isn’t already out that includes all the paranormal shit and fills in the loop holes. Of course, for most people that would be too little too late.

    Oh wells; Tomorrow, SC2. 

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    Doctorchimp

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    #2  Edited By Doctorchimp

    Paranormal shit or not... 
     
    As it was Heavy Rain's biggest fault for me was its focus on the story...when the story wasn't very good to begin with. If the story was any better or not riddled with plot holes it might have actually been one of the best games I've ever pla-...er experienced. As it is though, I can't just excuse the story because of how it stacks up against other games which is where I think people start apologizing for its story or short comings (thinks about Brad). I watch a lot of movies and read a good amount of books so when a story is lacking, the story is lacking; regardless of medium.
     
    It's definitely not the last game of its kind though, I expect LA Noire to take more than a few cues from the sort of game Heavy Rain wanted to be.

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    Ghostiet

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    #3  Edited By Ghostiet

    Too bad the story was garbage. They had five years and they couldn't come up with something that doesn't have glaring plot holes. Seriously, the whole blacking out deal, Madison's reaction to the OK's identity and much more, that's stuff taken straight out of a B movie - only there it only adds up to the charm, in a serious crime thriller like HR it's only making the viewer aggressive.

    I admire the game deeply for its ambitions and execution, but it's hard to give a shit about what the gameplay tries to convey when it's clear the developers didn't.

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    zombie2011

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    #4  Edited By zombie2011

    For a game that completely depends on story and dialogue, they somehow managed to fuck up the two biggest aspects of this game.

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    Icemael

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    #5  Edited By Icemael

    Heavy Rain, for me, represents almost everything that's wrong with modern game design. It's extremely "streamlined" (read: dumbed down -- it's an adventure game without any puzzles and consists almost entirely of QTEs, for Christ's sake) and its main focus is a "compelling story" (read: wannabe-Hollywood trash).

    It's like a group of losers who had gone to film school realized they weren't anywhere near good enough to make it in the movie industry, and said to themselves: "Hey, let's make a video game! Gamers have absolutely no standards when it comes to things like stories and acting, so they'll probably love our shit!"

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    TheSeductiveMoose

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    #6  Edited By TheSeductiveMoose

    I felt violated after playing Heavy Rain ;(
     
    This is the Magnum Opus of adventure games:

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