Heavy Rain: New Screenshots and development footage*

[Cornsnake]

Isn't that exactly like Heavy Rain? When the shop is getting robbed, you get to move the detective around. You control his speed (and stealth) and when you have options, they appear as control presses.

It's AFAICS the only way to do this game, and as you've described, the way it was done in Fahrenheit. Allow the player to move wherever they want, and make them aware of options as they become available.

Sure, but with time pressure, and having to do multiple things, it gets real easy to overlook something. And you'll have be close to a object for the button prompts to appear. If your not going there with the intention of using it, you can walk right past it without a button prompt appearing. In my example its better to leave the diner if you can't figure out how to do everything you want to do fast enough. You may never know how many options you truly had available to you.

 

[patsu]

Very informative. I think I understand the mechanism a little better now. Thanks Cornsnake.

 

[patsu]

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2009/12/pre-order-heavy-rain-and-get-the-heavy-rain-chronicles/

When you pre-order your copy of Heavy Rain at participating retailers, you will receive the first episode of The Heavy Rain Chronicles (valued at $4.99 each episode) titled, “Heavy Rain: Chronicle One – The Taxidermist,” which will be available (only to those who pre-order) when Heavy Rain hits store shelves. The Heavy Rain pre-order program begins TODAY!

It seems that Mr. Jefferson Dong has the tough job of selling such a different game to an "entrenched" audience. [size=-2]Be brave, Mr. Dong. Be brave. [/size]

 

[ShadowWolf64]

http://blog.us.playstation.com/2009/12/pre-order-heavy-rain-and-get-the-heavy-rain-chronicles/



It seems that Mr. Jefferson Dong has the tough job of selling such a different game to an "entrenched" audience. [size=-2]Be brave, Mr. Dong. Be brave. [/size]

Not sure that is going to sit well with people who are going to spend $60 bucks on the full retail game and if they wanna experience more HR.Must shell out $5 bucks per episode...How many hours of gameplay does each new episode have?Also, how many episodes are there in total?

 

[patsu]

Too early to tell now. Probably a different story arc.

 

[Antan]

http://tvgry.pl/

New trailer i believe and probably the best footage shown so far! Its not in English by the way.

**Contains possible spoilers and scenes of nudity**

 

[patsu]

Youtubed here:

I agree it's the best Heavy Rain trailer yet.

I also got the Heavy Rain dynamic theme from the US PS Store yesterday.

 

[ultragpu]

I totally love the score, makes everything so dramatic and emotional. Some nice lighting and water shader going on there too if I may add, Day one of course.

 

[Rotmm]

I really, really, really want this to be great.

I briefly playtested it at the EG Expo and wasn't impressed at all. Clunky, unintuitive and some of the animations were particularly bad, specifically "out of cutscene" animations.

However, I hope (and suspect) that it's entirely the wrong kind of experience to be judged in a brief snapshot of gameplay, but rather the game (are we actually allowed to call it a game now?) will take us on a journey where we are drawn into a world and all of those problems I had with the demo will become problems no more.

 

[obonicus]

I don't see any reason why we wouldn't call it a game.

 

[ShadowRunner]

According to the "games" creator, you should start calling it a "journey"

 

[obonicus]

Game creators say a lot of things.

 

[Cornsnake]

It's a shame really. I like games.

 

[patsu]

However, I hope (and suspect) that it's entirely the wrong kind of experience to be judged in a brief snapshot of gameplay

This is exactly the "selling" problem the game will face. The mundane daily activities, and uncanny valley will throw people off.

According to the previews, you may need to have the patience and willingness to overlook these factors to appreciate it. Then the game and story have a chance to work their magic. There is no way around the day-to-day actions because they build relationships; they make you feel like the character.

 

[joker454]

Maybe they need 'theatrical cut' and 'directors cut' versions, perhaps defaulting to the theatrical version. Have the 'theatrical version' be cut back a bit, remove some of the more mundane stuff and just keep the more relevant parts, more or less the equivalent of cutting out 30 minutes of footage from a movie before releasing it to theaters. But have an option to play the 'directors cut' where those that want the full deal can get to play those missing scenes. That way maybe it won't scare away players who think it might be a bit tedious to play, and it would add to re-playability by allowing people to play through the faster and more to the point theater version first, and play through it again with all the details in the directors cut.

 

[uumai]

I had the chance to play this at the EG expo also, but i was really impressed. I had already decided i'd buy it based on Farenheit before i got the chance though.

The game had me on the edge of my seat, so to speak (i was actually sitting on the floor ) Really loved it. Some of the control I think takes a bit of getting used to and I was a bit crap at some of the QTE's but I cannot wait for this game to come out.

I'll also echo other peoples comments ont he games music, it really is great.

I must also say i loved the audition video too, for all it's flaws I thought it was great.

 

[ShadowWolf64]

Youtubed here:

I agree it's the best Heavy Rain trailer yet.

I also got the Heavy Rain dynamic theme from the US PS Store yesterday.

Damn that was an awesome trailer and it is by far the best HR trailer yet...The music sounds pretty good....

 

[patsu]

Japanese game trailer:

CES gameplay trailer
[gt]60506[/gt]

We have seen a shorter version of the CES footage before. The fighting does looks a like QTE fest, but according to a previewer, he didn't die when he missed all the cues. He tried a few combos, but the story didn't make much differences at the end of the demo.

 

[green.pixel]

The fighting does looks a like QTE fest, but according to a previewer, he didn't die when he missed all the cues. He tried a few combos, but the story didn't make much differences at the end of the demo.

That doesn't sound good.

 

[tha_con]

That doesn't sound good.

Why? Because it's not insanely difficult and ridiculous? The end turnout of that particular section doesn't need to be different. At all. The QTE's are there to fill in the blanks of action between the beginning and end of the set piece.

I actually think that this is a BETTER way to do it. Don't punish me over and over because I got one button press wrong (and then make me do it all over again) just give me some on screen "negative feedback".

This is far from a bad thing, it's fantastic and how QTE's should ALWAYS be done.