I can now confirm that all the shutterings, mini freezes that occur in this game are different from person to person.
I installed the game played the first section & I noticed some framerate hitches at the mall portion..but when I came home & played that portion again on my PS3 I never noticed a shuttering at that part BUT I did however noticed a series of mini freezes when Ethan walks downstairs, during the very start.
Leads me to believe there is something fishy with the install.
I haven't noticed any freezes or stuttering, only a little slow down during pan and scan shots. Maybe it is all to do with how fast your HD is for caching stuff? I replaced the one in my Slim as soon as I got it with a 500Gb model.
I am surprised and pleased. What seems a niche title on paper has actually garnered interest. This bodes well for the future with developers daring to push boundries once again.
Having shot straight to number one in the ELSPA GfK Chart-Track All Formats Top 40 this week, Sony has revealed that landmark PS3 release Heavy Rain is suffering shortages on the UK High Street.
“Whilst it isn't out of stock we are aware that supplies are running low. There is still supply in the chain, but I'm afraid if you're hunting for a copy it may require a little extra footwork. There will be more stock arriving next week.
I am looking forward to play this game with my wife watching. She wouldn't touch the controller when I offered her, but she was keen to follow the development. I wonder if it's a stick or gesture-based, she'd be more encouraged to try.
I haven't noticed any freezes or stuttering, only a little slow down during pan and scan shots. Maybe it is all to do with how fast your HD is for caching stuff? I replaced the one in my Slim as soon as I got it with a 500Gb model.
Mine is a stock 120gb slim, no background downloads and an empty hdd. I'll just tolerate it I guess, it was happening a lot in the first segment with the dad, but it's happening less on the later segments so far.
BadTB25 said:
The demo didn't convince me to purchase this game though as I found the controls not to my liking. I may pick it up used or play it via a rental though.
If you like point and click adventure games like Monkey Island, etc, then it's worth giving this game a try. It's basically the same kind of game but taken to the next level. The voice acting is the main weak point in the game I'd say, but the controls while they bugged me a bit in the demo I find aren't bugging me now after I've played the game for a while. The demo also disconnects you a bit from the game, they had to because they couldn't have the demo reveal spoilers, but when you play the actual game in the correct order of events it all just feels better compared to the demo.
What a wonderfully different kind of game. I fully applaud QD for making an interactive movie that works on a media that has a notorious history of failure.
I had a couple of sound glitches during the very first scene as well (and maybe some minor stuttering here and there later), but past the first chapter it was all good. Apparently the patch causes a lot of confusion. Some say the game runs better without it, others claim the oppposite.
However one really weird thing happened to me yesterday. When I tried to exit The Heavy Rain Chronicles - The Taxidermist dlc, the game didn't go the the main menu, but to the installation screen instead, and it apparently really did install the game once more.
Asked at the local gamestation and they said they had 50 copies of which only 3 were preorders, the rest were sold within 3 hours of release. Is 50 a low amount of stock for a new game?
I think the game advertises really well, last week i was around my brothers house with a bunch of mates none of them hardcore gamers and never heard of heavy rain. Advert came on tv while we were playing poker, i only caught the end of it myself but once it finished everyone turned and looked at me in silence then the questions came in from everyone, i knew in that moment the game would be a success.
Disclaimer: I bought the game even though my PS3 died late last year and I haven't yet either had it repaired or bought a new machine, so I've only put a couple of hours into the game on a friends PS3.
Maybe the problem is that the last 3 games I've played in any great depth (well, there's 4 including Forza 3, but that doesn't really count for the point I want to make ) are Uncharted 2, Assassins Creed 2 and Mass Effect 2. Those are all 3rd person Action Adventure type games where the main focus is on the shooting, running, platforming, fighting, etc. However, all of them have great voice acting as well as excellent in-game and/or in-engine cinematic cutscenes that really immerse you in the story. And of those, probably the very best acting is in Mass Effect 2, even with its thousands of lines of dialogue, the miriad characters and branching conversation trees, leading often to different outcomes. But with all of them, those cutscenes are there to support the core gameplay, rather than being the main focus.
Heavy Rain, on the other hand, has the cinematics as the very centre of the experience. It's everything. And yet, the acting is so inconsistent, going from bad to "not too bad"... and so far (for me) noting approaching "great". Some of the mo-capped animation has been really good, but again it's spotty, with some being embarassing. This goes for the facial animations too. And animations outside of the mo-capped stuff, things like the basic walking animations, can be just plain bad. It's almost like they haven't moved on from those of the 2D point and clickers such as Monkey Island of which you spoke.
Again, I must reiterate that I haven't put more than a couple of hours into it and therefore haven't had the chance to get caught up in the story yet. But my initial impressions on the presentation of Heavy Rain is that, for a game that has attempted to tie itself so closely to being a cinematic experience, it compares badly in acting terms to actual cinema and, worse, to those recent games where the cinematics are "icing on the cake" in an overall gaming experience.
I think the walking animations are pretty good actually. They are also blended with a ton of other animation depending on the circumstances. For example, when you get to play Madison for the first time she's just woken up and yawns and stretches her arms while you walk around. Jayden tries to warm himself by rubbing his arms against his chest or his hands together in the rain. He also sneezes every now and then. Madison starts to shiver in fear when the situation calls for it. Depending on the situation, characters may also jog, run or sneak. I especially liked the jogging animations because it's not just one constantly repeating cycle. Other nice touches are when you take a 90° turn while you are walking for example: the character sometimes takes a step to the side first and aligns his body later (not always). There's really quite a bit of variety there.
The only problem is that the controls sometimes lead to awkward situations where you struggle to align your characters correctly. Most of the times it helps to simply push the accelerator button and to let go of the analog stick. The characters take most corners on their own if you just walk.
I agree on the inconsistent facial animations however. I think it's usually fine with most of the protagonists and some of the npcs (Hassan, the owner of the grocery store looks fantastic and sells his emotions better than anybody else in the game I think) On the other hand you have the news reporter guy. He appears at the very end of the story and he looks like some creepy hand puppet, with his range of facial animations roughly on par with the Canadians in South Park. Jayden looks a little weird as well. Kinda like a rubber mask hastily glued to prothetic head. His mouth sort of looks like it's not connected to his jaw. It's just a wobbling hole.
Odd story, but I was just on the phone with tech support from Dell working out a replacement for my monitor, and at the end of the call they asked me if I had a Playstation 3 to tried to sell me Heavy Rain. I'd told them I had an Xbox and a computer hooked up to my monitor, and they asked if I wanted to order any games through Dell. Then the "tech" specifically asked if I had a PS3 because "Heavy Rain is a very good game."
If you like point and click adventure games like Monkey Island, etc, then it's worth giving this game a try. It's basically the same kind of game but taken to the next level. The voice acting is the main weak point in the game I'd say, but the controls while they bugged me a bit in the demo I find aren't bugging me now after I've played the game for a while. The demo also disconnects you a bit from the game, they had to because they couldn't have the demo reveal spoilers, but when you play the actual game in the correct order of events it all just feels better compared to the demo.
I have to say this game was a mixed bag. I really liked the game mechanics, graphics and especially audio track. On the other hand plot was full of cliches and felt partly like copy/paste from some great recent movies
saw comes to mind first but some other movies also
. My grade from 4-10 would be a solid 8+, if the plot had been more original I would have rated this game higher. I have great hopes for sequel which was kind of hinted at the end. I was greatly annoyed by the wiiiwuuu sound effect stolen from dexter.
Pacing of the heavy rain was really good, boring start and what a ride in the end! I definitely need to play some scenes again to reach the alternative conclusions. Also I like the fact that on subsequent playthroughs I can skip the boring parts in the beginning of the game.
Did I miss something as I didn't understand
was the reason for ethan's blackouts and visions of kids drowning ever explained more properly than random things due to concussion. Did the origami killer drug ethan or was it just a coincidence that he passed out while his son was kidnapped?
I would have liked to seen:
It would have been great alternative ending if ethan and origami killer had been in the killing business together. Shame it didn't happen i.e. ethan, madison and killer in the end, madison kills killer and ethan kill's madison, perfect crime
. The demo did this too once, but on a different part. Glad this was just after a save point.
The game is really a mixed bag graphically, most of the time the modelling and animation is amazing, but on occasions it looks like a different game altogether. For example the
interrogation scene in the police station with the FBI guy, the police office and the main character (can't remember his name, Nathan?) looked pretty bad.
. At first I thought the game uses low detail models and animation when more than two characters are on screen at the same time
this scene has very basic environment, the interrogation room has little furniture and detail
, but other scenes with even more characters and more complex environments look much better. Maybe it's the lighting, as in that scene the lighting was very flat
being in a brightly lit office
.
The characters, especially the
FBI agent
sometimes looks like inflatable sex toys don't know, maybe it's the mouth...
But that's not just HR's fault, many 3D games characters get the mouth wrong.
I managed to kill the FBI agent in the car junkyard scene, I'm kinda glad he died, as the whole character felt like he was put there afterwards. He's modelling is much worse than other characters, and usually the scenes where he's in look generally worse. I think his scenes were originally written for the private eye guy, but someone at QD thought the game needed those gadgets that the FBI bloke has. Well, he's not spoiling the game though, at least for me any more
Can't say a final word about the plot yet as I haven't finished it: For a game the plot has kept me glued, not sure if it would hold as a movie...
Heavy Rain is a refreshing game, exciting yet not stressful or frustrating.
It really is more an interactive movie than a game. I think it's wrong to
judge it as a game as it is as a movie, but it's great entertainment.
Someone said it brought to mind the old Blade Runner adventure, and I agree. There's something old school adventure game in it.
I'm not totally warmed up on the controls though. They do successfully create some tension where it's needed, but at some places it feels like a siimple button press would have been enough to perform an action (like opening doors). I can totally see where the comments regarding Natal and Heavy rain come from, the game would benefit immensely by full body motion sensing, though it might get tiring to play any more than half an hour at a time.
Am I only one who is wondering how brilliant the sequel might be with 3d graphics and the sony motion controller? 3D might be really insane in game like this(interactive movie) where all the camera angles and environments are strictly controlled by the artists.
