The demo is now available through www.precinct52.com/case1117_briefing but you won't be able to get it anymore, well.. until they fix the site. In the meantime, use this thread to talk about the demo. If you still don't have the demo, go to the other thread and find out how to get it
For me, I think this is one of those games I wouldn't want to spoil with a demo. I want to be a Heavy Rain virgin when I stick it in my drive hole. The wife will probably watch.
Copy/paste + a bit more detail from the review thread.
I loved the demo. I loved the fighting, I got sucker punched a lot, and felt like a old man for not having the reflex. But I turned things around and won. The fights + qte is done well, it makes me focus on important things that may be threats, or that I should be looking to. Before that the girl didn't give me any info because I kinda pissed her off (played out different for me than a trailer I saw).
The crime scene section was awesome as well.
I was about to just leave after examining the body but I chose to follow ARI's nose and it lead me to the point of entry for the killer. That hill was like a boss battle. I was smiling all the way through failures. Poor Jayden was all muddied up after I got done up there. Loved that.
The context sensitive things, and the qte are very well done. It keeps me focused on the fight, and makes me feel like I'm a guardian angle helping the person win, or that I'm the person rather. Well done!
Oh also I love the controls. L2 to change camera angles, left analog to free look when you're not walking, and pretty much while walking too but you'd probably think it was just an auto camera changing to direct your view. I just wish I could look up, or go into a first person view while being still to look at the crazy detailed stuff, but it's understandable why I can't I guess (tricks to make things look so good). Maybe in the full game there are segments that have a first person view for looking. Maybe you'll be tied up somewhere and can only observe and think to yourself heh.
I think ARI is a great addition. It speeds up investigations, makes it easier to find clues so you won't have to look at broken twigs, or strain your eyes at deformed mud. Also we'll get to do this kind of cool stuff later.
Think of the easter eggs that could be hidden in that baby. Bring up a old scene from Indigo Prophecy. Load the cafe for no reason at all. I doubt it will include IP scenes but that would be awesome. I'm sure they did tests for the tech in the IP world. Would be cool.
When you're not walking moving your head (L analog) makes you look around with the camera. I like the R2 to move, L analog to change direction. Maybe later in the game we'll drive, and run.
Like I mentioned, it's useful for more than camera changes. Also you can change the camera angles yourself with L1.
Edit: Something I don't like is when you're selecting something to say it don't register until you release the button. For some reason I was holding it down thinking it was unresponsive until it crossed in front of his body. I would sometimes wait until it went in front of him to press it.
I wonder if you unlock things to ask if you use the think to yourself stuff.
The controls are logical and intuitive, and bring variety to playing.
It's encouraged to take the time and "live" in the game world.
It isn't the usual type of approach to a serial killer story. The game doesn't concentrate on looking for clues and collecting stuff, nor listening to every dialogue line. Instead it concentrates on the characters and how life treats them throughout the game.
The story stays mostly in the grey and mundane reality, there are no supernatural twists like in Fahrenheit.
Mature atmosphere, which doesn't translate to blood & tits, although they're not absent either.
For once, there's a proper theme music in a game. The game uses the music really well, the themes can express sadness and threat.
There's at least two times' worth of replayability. The player can first try to strive towards happiness, and then dive into sorrow and despair.
It's an exceptionally mature and touching game, where even the supporting characters are more memorable than the main characters in most games. Maybe an interactive movie isn't a curse word after all.
Another reviewer's opinion: It's truly a milestone in game storytelling. It dares to handle hard and painful subjects in a mature way.
Cons
In some scenes the player can die easily, whereas in others he can survive even if he screws up.
The animation does sometimes feel stiff and awkward, especially after Uncharted 2. Sometimes it breaks the illusion, and makes the characters into lifeless digital puppets, but it's commendable the illusion births in the first place.
The worst thing? The game tries to trick the player by presenting false clues and theories.
The reviewer foresees, that at least half of the readers won't like the game.
The game is basically an interactive movie in both good and bad sense. Sometimes the player might not know whether he's a player or a watcher.
EDIT:
Forgot one thing, which depending on a person can be a pro or a con;
The game is apparently slow-paced, the atmosphere is crafted gradually and slowly with mundane things. The reviewer thinks the game won't go well with younger players. Not only due to the pace, but also due to themes, like paternity, that younger people perhaps can't identify themselves with.
Beautifully atmospheric but the controls are really not gelling well with me at all, I can't help feeling that this would be a master piece if the controls were more intuitive, anyway I'm going to persevere as apart from the controls I thought it was stunning, I'll just have to practice a bit more and hopefully they'll end up clicking.
Someone knows if in the final version of the game, tearing will be so "ugly"? When you use scott shelby and you're in lauren's apartment, near the door, when the face of shelby is much close to the camera, the tearing is orrible....Please someone tell me that this is a old build...
Someone knows if in the final version of the game, tearing will be so "ugly"? When you use scott shelby and you're in lauren's apartment, near the door, when the face of shelby is much close to the camera, the tearing is orrible....Please someone tell me that this is a old build...
It feels like a next gen point and click game in a way, i love the look of it damn amazing. The story and charcters seem great its everything i wanted it to be launch hype up to mega levels for me.
Liking the demo. The atmosphere is spot on, and the graphics are amazing (despite some FPS drops and tearing; at least there isn't a better-performing version on another platform, so my OCD isn't bothered :lol ). The voice acting is average, but it didn't bother me as much as I thought it would. I actually like the controls, holding down R2 and walking around works very well. Wish the character moved a little bit faster though.
Dunno if I'll replay the demo to check the various outcomes, might save it for the full game.
I posted this in the other thread, but as this is the intended location, I'll post it here too.
Played the demo, I really loved it. There's some spotty dialogue, and poor acting, the guy who visits the whore for example is terrible. And some technical issues with screen tear, but as a whole visually absolutely stunning, I had been on and off in terms of how it looks so far, some stuff looked great, other bits pretty rough, I played an earlier demo and it wasn't that impressive really, but this new demo is pretty incredible graphically from start to finish. And gameplay wise I really enjoyed it, looks like it's shaping up to be pretty much exactly what I wanted. Nice work Mr Cage.
I've actually watched two friends play it through since then, it's not been so radically different at all, although we've certainly got different information, so maybe in the long run it would be.
I just finished the demo for the 3rd time, I love it. The crime scene part reminded me of police quest for some reason. The graphics are incredible and I love the mood and the soundtrack. It sounds like it came str8 from Seven. I cant wait till this comes out, I wish I didnt see the most recent trailer or the mall sequence. This seems like a game that works best when you know absolutely nothing about it.
I hope more stories are made by QD if this is successful. Heck I don't care if it is, sony should hook them up with a you can do whatever as long as it's for PS3 clause. They can't be like Team ICO since they are 3rd party though. I want to see them do different things with this story telling game thing, it might only be good for drama mystery type of stories.
For those of you that were looking forward to this title, do you have any regret after playing the demo? Did it spoil anything for you; be it plot or just the originality of it?
its a shame you cant enjoy the game just because of tearing, I mean when I played it I didnt notice it at all, and as long as it doesnt break the gameplay i dont see how that could possibly be a deal breaker for anyone. I mean what happened to just playing a game?
its a shame you cant enjoy the game just because of tearing, I mean when I played it I didnt notice it at all, and as long as it doesnt break the gameplay i dont see how that could possibly be a deal breaker for anyone. I mean what happened to just playing a game?
I didn't notice either. Frame rate or tearing. I'm about to play it again and look for them. I didn't do any face closeups and corner stuff though. I just played it normally.
And to the poster above that. I have no regrets of playing the demo. There's not much story plot in it other than looking at a dead body and asking a lady about her son.
The qte's (i know they aren't qte but I don't know what to call them) are done better in this game than any before.
Climbing the slippery slope was amazing and had me smiling when I messed up, even more fun coming back down.
I thought the voice acting was really good, I was lead to expect really bad b movie quality.
And screen tearing? I can't see any but a little flicker here and there in the fight scene, maybe I'm less sensitive to it.
For those of you that were looking forward to this title, do you have any regret after playing the demo? Did it spoil anything for you; be it plot or just the originality of it?
It certainly didn't for me. The only thing it does is gives you a much better chance of finding everything in one single investigation scene, however it's far from subtle anyway, you just follow massive, very clear pollen tracks through the air.
Play it without fear.
One thing though, if you select to play the whole demo the second gameplay section will be followed by a trailer containing what some people might consider significant spoilers. You can avoid seeing this by selecting sections individually on the main menu though.
wow sucks to be you. Mass Effect had lots of tech problems...still was a great game. if you let little things bother you, you may need to just stop gaming.
