AntMurda said:
What are you evern comparing his writing to?
almost anything else. 2010 was a shitty year for video game stories. it was the year of bayonetta, vanquish, other m, and sin & punishment 2. and topping them all was heavy rain. not only because of the plot holes and unintentional cheesiness, but because the story was the main point to the game. the weird creepy robot demo thing he did this year was at least as bad, so i have no hopes of him ever improving in any considerable measure.
but let's start with him being a lazy thinker, because i feel this is the crux of his problem. and there's no better way to demonstrate this than comparing it to 999, which is the type of game david cage actually wanted to make.
david cage wanted to make an adventure game, and he would up using the ps3. because the ps3 could produce the best, most life-like graphics. there's also more elbow room when using a bluray disc. it's a pretty obvious solution to his problem.
the design of the game is so basic that it could have been on the ds, psp, gba, or what have you. you might even put it in book form and not lose a whole lot. i will say the one somewhat original element is how he plays with tension in a scene and how you make your choices (through hard to see text, or manipulating the ps3 controller in unique ways). you might not get the same out of a book, but i'll touch on that later.
mostly, choices are right or wrong responses like they are in most video games with choices, but some are aided by the tense situations. but the important thing is that it's not an original element. this isn't a bad thing, but david cage essentially went the safest route creatively overall: i want a game with choices, with high drama, and multiple endings, so i'll get the ps3 and then i can kinda do a sort of interactive movie thing.
at least with indigo prophecy, at the start, there was some promise of new thinking. you being the killer, hiding the body, and then becoming the people who hunt the killer (and uncover the clues that you inadvertently left behind) was a really smart move. it treated mundane choices like talking to certain people have some impact. the game unfortunately gets away from this later, but for a little while it's an exciting take on an old genre.
there's none of this in heavy rain.
now let's look at 999.
999 is a game that, at the time,
had to be designed on the ds. the key word here is designed. it was the only game with two screens, and while the choice seemed arbitrary at first, it turns out it was a crucial part of telling the story. when you make a choice, they're just numbers on a door, and it's not what you think is the right choice morally, but who you think would be best off with who. multiple endings are treated in a very unique way, tying into the overall story and encouraging mulitple playthroughs in a way few games do. it does three things david cage sought out to do with heavy rain (design it around a system, have multiple choices, have multiple endings), but the end result is a much fresher and more memorable experience. hell, 999 had a very similar plot twist, but the way it's done actually works.
now, 999 doesn't have the world's best writing. however, it at least makes sense within its own world, and it's just one high-tension situation that lasts over the duration of the game. almost every chapter in heavy rain is this huge event that demands buckets of adrenaline. women are written extremely poorly (as are men, but one of the main female characters is a prostitute and another strips because that's what female reporters do to get a story right? they strip?). the plot twist doesn't make any sense given the character it revolves around and the decisions they make. ethan blacks out and that doesn't make any sense, and is never explained because the actual explanation was that ethan had a psychic connection with somebody. a doctor refuses to admit to tell the fbi douche about ethan's condition, then the fbi douche gives him a great reason to sue, and
then reveals ethan's condition. madison acts surprised to hear the identity of a person she never met. everyone tries to murder madison. some kid dies despite ethan obviously taking the brunt of the car accident. ethan's ten year old acts like a four year old at the beginning.
characters don't make sense. the stuff that happens doesn't make sense. the plot twist doesn't make sense.
i know heavy rain cost a shitload of money to make, but it's one of the safest things as far as thinking goes. it doesn't try anything new, and it's almost a waste of money because when it doesn't do anything new, it's full of bad writing.
