Heavy Rain - PS3 (1 Viewer)

I picked this up last Tuesday from GameStop (note to self: don't preorder games from GS if there is a preorder bonus since you might not actually get the bonus) and finished it last night. The graphics are incredible, the animations are mostly great, the voice work is good (not perfect), and the story was compelling. It's also one of the few times when I was able to play through a game and genuinely feel an emotional reaction to what was happening or what "I" did. The ending is neat because you can tell that it changes based on what you do throughout the game and the whole story wraps up accordingly.

Anyone else get/play it? Thoughts?

I'm in the middle of my second play though right now. Amazing game, really I felt for the characters, and some scenes were very intense and difficult to do (in the emotional sense). Brilliant game. I'm taking different paths this time.

What happened with the pre-order bonus.

I watched a sample video of this on GameSpot yesterday. It looked incredible! Maybe the best human character graphics I've ever seen in a game. I'm glad I didn't try to download the demo last night, though.

The demo doesn't spoil much. If anything, it just makes replaying those couple chapters (which are pretty early in the game, anyway) annoying since you have to redo them.

I had a preorder but they only got a limited number of the cards with the DLC code on them. When I picked my game up, they had run out. If it's something like the BioShock 2 DLC bonus (2 multiplayer characters) then I don't care, but in the case of Heavy Rain it's a $5 DLC episode. Sure, it's only $5 and I'll get it anyway, but I only preordered the game for that particular bonus and would have gone elsewhere if I had known that I might not get it from GameStop. I have a FF13 preorder in but I'll be getting God of War 3 elsewhere.

That is really lame. If that had happened to me I would've given them a hard time and maybe demanded a $5 gift card.

What I meant was that I'm glad I didn't turn on my machine to download the demo and thus get whacked by the date bug.

I played the demo for this game yesterday, and immediately went out and bought it. Easily one of the greatest stories of any video game, ever. We're possibily seeing a genre-defining game here; the future of adventure gaming.

Originally Posted by Josh Dial /forum/thread/298528/heavy-rain-ps3#post_3666550
I played the demo for this game yesterday, and immediately went out and bought it. Easily one of the greatest stories of any video game, ever. We're possibily seeing a genre-defining game here; the future of adventure gaming.

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Why would you post something like this? Honestly.
GOW3 and Uncharted 2 are already making me want a PS3, and now you go and say all of this. I've got a 360 and a Wii, and I remember when the PS3 was an underperformer in the market. It's starting to look like the dark horse.

In the words of the immortal Wesley Snipes:
Always bet on black!

I played the demo for this and my first instinct was that the controls were awful but the production-value (narrative, graphics, sound, gameplay) was incredible. After much debate with myself, I picked this up on Friday and I'm happy to say that I think it is amazing.

The controls take some getting used to but can be quite immersive. My biggest issue with the controls is that I find it unnecessary to have to push two buttons to do a simple task like walking. I'd have preferred to just have to use the analog stick to walk, but like the rest of the controls I've gotten used to it and have it mastered.

The thing which I love so far is how the game is evolving based on your decisions and there are multiple endings pending on your decisions. I also love how emotionally gripping the game is and I too have found myself cringing at some of the things that you must do.

Outstanding and highly recommended.

The reason for the goofy walking controls, I think, has to do with the camera angle changes. If you point your character in the right direction and walk without holding the joystick, then they won't change directions when the camera angle changes (which sometimes will happen if you hold the joystick while walking).

Rented this over the weekend and played through it. My wife was watching me play it most of the time which is a testament to how good the game is in terms of a sort of digital-movie-game hybrid. I made some "mistakes" while playing and I really choked at the end which led to a less than satisfying ending.

The FBI character died, the dad got gunned down by police, the mom who was helping the P.I. died in the car, the killer walked free...that is a bad ending!
So, I was happy to see I could replay the last chapter and get a "happier" ending.

Killer was killed, FBI guy lived, the dad lived and hooked up with the reporter (whatever happened to his wife? She just disappeared).
I would be really interested in hearing about the other results/endings to this game. I just rented it so I wont be playing it again.

I spent the last week or so playing the game, and finished out all the trophies for it yesterday, including the "all endings" trophy. There are basically 7 endings, and 21 (going from memory, so I could be wrong at the exact number) epilogues that you can see, depending on how you play. Here are some highlights:

- If Shaun dies but Ethan lives, Ethan kills himself. If he doesn't get with Madison, he shoots himself in the head in his apartment. If he is with Madison, he shoots himself in front of her, at Shaun's grave. If he was in jail when Shaun died, he hangs himself in his cell.

- If Norman is alive, but gives up on the case, he retires from the FBI, to go back to the "real world." He leaves ARI behind.

- If everyone but Madison dies, and Madison saves Shaun, she has to battle Shelby in an extended and thrilling fight above the docks. She eventually does the talk show circuit and writes her book, in which she meets a mysterious "fan," who says she deserves a better villain for her next case--then disappears.

- If everyone is alive, and Madison accompanies Ethan and Shaun out, they start a new life together. Norman seemingly gives up ARI, opting for the old fashioned method of police work, only to find he now hallucinates the virtual world in the *real* world. Shelby dies at Norman's hands (well, actually a giant machine shredder), and Norman does the talk show circuit. If Lauren is alive, she visits Shelby's grave and spits on it.

- You can also do the perfect crime, where Shelby covers his tracks the whole time (Hassan the store owner dies, you wipe all the fingerprints down in the antique store, et cetera), and all the other characters die. Shaun is never saved, and you see Shelby walking down the street, looking for his next father/son combo.

Thanks Josh! That is what I was looking for. Again, a very fun, interactive game. Not one that I would want to buy, but I sure enjoyed the heck out of renting it. I can really see something like this progressing and becoming a VERY popular form of entertainment. Movies that the viewer can control! The possibilities are amazing! Who wouldnt love to see their favorite movie play out a bit different? Who didnt have the silly thought when watching "Titanic" that maybe this time the ship wont sink? With something like this, you could play that ending out!

I beat this last night and:


I'm absolutely floored by the quality of this game and concur with others who feel it is genre-defining. Further to that, I'm absolutely stunned by the amount of different scenarios and endings. The really great thing is that unlike other games, the decisions you make really do have an effect on the game and it seamlessly impacts the game and can make it a totally different experience each time you play, rather than a linear experience that just repeats itself.

I really really like this game.

Careful -- when you put a spoiler near the top of your post, the text appears in the preview on the Video Games forum page that lists all the threads.

/img/vbsmilies/htf/blush.gif sorry about that, didn't realize it does that. My apologies everyone.
Replaying now, to see how the game experience changes for me.

This game really puts Mars into some unsavory situations.

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The finger cutting trial is nasty. I've played a lot of video games where by the end of the game you have shot, sliced, chainsawed or just plain beat your way to high body counts with nary a problem, but having to choose to self-mutilate a character actually left me with a feeling of being in a moral quandry. I know its dumb (after all it's just a video game) but it took quite a while to decide to go through with slicing off a character's finger to advance the story. It may seem lame but, damn, this video game is the first one where I didn't watch while I was hacking off that finger. I have to admit I'm not big on self-mutilation in order to reach a goal, even in a video game.

I don't have anything useful to add but I had to say this game is incredible. I rented it on Gamefly and watched my 17yo son play it for about 30 minutes last night and actually found it deep, compelling and chock full of atmosphere. I've never ever felt this way while watching or playing any game.

Shawn, that's basically the point. The developers set out to create a new genre of "interactive drama" and I think they've succeeded. Heavy Rain hits some hiccups, but just as much as any other game in any other genre. The fact that it does something that is pretty new (at least, the extent that it dedicates itself to this core concept and it's execution) is definitely impressive, especially considering the fact that it's enjoyable.

This was a pretty good game.. but now that i've played through it once and know who the killer is... i don't see myself wanting to play through it again... or enjoying it as much as that first play through..(i avioded all on-line spoilers/forums/discussions on the game while playing)

Heck i haven't even downloaded the resure bonus content..