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Heavy Rain reviews

Empty

Member
The game is getting better than expected review scores, which is nice, but i'm a little wary as Fahrenheit got similarly strong reviews at its launch.
 

GhaleonQ

Member
templeusox said:
Oh boy. Someone is butt-hurt.

? I don't get it.

On the other side, it's great to see Destructoid's review. The guy starts out criticizing high-falutin' David Cage for failing to be genuinely highbrow. Then, he writes, "...albeit with a little more Hollywood flare." Way to go, games writers!
 
GhaleonQ said:
? I don't get it.

On the other side, it's great to see Destructoid's review. The guy starts out criticizing high-falutin' David Cage for failing to be genuinely highbrow. Then, he writes, "...albeit with a little more Hollywood flare." Way to go, games writers!

I hope he really spelled it "flare."
 
Anyone post Kotaku's review?

Heavy Rain is a strong effort by Quantic Dream. It succeeds as a game that doesn't need the constant killing and chaos that so many video games depend on to be interesting. It may ultimately be a murder mystery and an exploration about the lengths to which players might push the characters they control. But Heavy Rain is, at its frequent best, a game about emotion and subtlety, a game that doesn't condemn choices as bad but instead allows them to be different, allows them to be meaningful and allows the player to feel. This is a game for grown-ups or anyone who wants to feel like one.
 

u_neek

Junior Member
I was expecting review scores to average around the 70-80's so all this (very) positive coverage is a pleasant surprise. I'm looking forward to this title more and more.
 
u_neek said:
I was expecting review scores to average around the 70-80's so all this positive coverage is a pleasant surprise. I'm looking forward to this title more and more.

It probably would've scored the way you originally thought it would (or lower) had Cage not listened to the criticisms that IP received. But he said from the start of HR's development that he was going to address those and from the reviews it appears that he has.
 
So MTV Multiplayer is the most negative review? They don't show up in Metacritic, but they did have this to say:

MTV Multiplayer said:
Innovation in video games can be a rare commodity. Every day we see titles pour onto store shelves which are derivative of successful franchises, attempting to copy what the last guy did while making it slightly better to justify another $60 purchase. "Heavy Rain" is not one of those games. While it has roots in classic adventure gaming, it's unlike anything I've ever played. It's also not very good.

http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2010/02/10/heavy-rain-review-innovation-can-only-get-you-so-far
 

wizword

Banned
"Woman with insomnia: "A hot shower! That'll create the magic of sleep!"
:lol
I agree with mtv review the most though at least so far from what I've seen.
 

Ploid 3.0

Member
GhaleonQ said:
Those 1-Up and Eurogamer ones are peculiar. I'm not sure that they justified the scores. "Everything works, and I liked the thriller story even if it's not exceptionally well-written." I'm glad that reviewers aren't getting rhapsodic, but such high scores should really drive home what makes the game amazing.

I think doing so would require them to spoil quite a bit of the game. Some reviewers felt that actually writing the review would be quite difficult with having to dance around spoilers.

Edit: I hope this starts a new thing with more of these types of games. Even if it's just from QD. I'd take a game about the behind the scenes of running for president over Man With Gun III (Dudebro II don't count. Dudebro is awesome).
 

N30RYU

Member
·Official PlayStation Magazine UK - 9
·gamingxp - 9.2
·GamesMaster - 9.1
·Video Vibes - 9.7
·Jeux Video Network - 9.5
·GameBlog - 10
·GamAlive - 10
·Eurogamer.fr - 9
·Jeuxvideo - 7.5
·PlayFrance - 9
·JeuxActu - 8
·tom's GAMES - 8.5
·Gamekult - 6
·PlayStation The Official Magazine USA - 10
·Pelaaja Magazine - 9
·Gamekyo - 8
·GameInfomer - 9.5
·Play3-Live - 9
·Consoleo - 9
·PSM3 Magazine - 8.8
·Famitsu - 9.3
·Dengeki Magazine - 8
·NextGen News - 9.9
·Micromania.fr - 10
·1UP - 9.1
·IGN - 9
·Boomtown - 10
·Everyeye.it - 9.7
·9lives - 9.1
·Cynamite - 9
·Spaziogames - 9
·Eurogamer.it - 9
·Eurogamer - 9
·Play.tm - 9
·Eurogamer Portugal - 9
·NZGamer - 9
·Telegraph - 8
·Computer and Videogames - 8
·Destructoid - 7
·Gamesradar - 7
·TVG - 10
·Examiner - 10
 

GhaleonQ

Member
Ploid 3.0 said:
I think doing so would require them to spoil quite a bit of the game. Some reviewers felt that actually writing the review would be quite difficult with having to dance around spoilers.

Good point. However, they could describe the game's pacing, though, and how adversely characters' deaths impact it. They could explicitly critique the structure, if not the substance. It looks like people are just writing, "It gets tense and I did/did not care about the characters." Then, there's the whole visual structure, too, which could be critiqued on filmmaking grounds with adjusted expectations. Again, people are commenting on the characters' faces instead. Since gameplay should take a paragraph (seriously, Eurogamer), I would have expended my word count on those things.

I do appreciate that they aren't advising purchases based on uniqueness, though. Like I said, it's pleasingly sober analysis, whatever the scores.
 

Torgo

Junior Member
In my opinion, reviews like those at Destructoid and MTV (for example) rely quite a bit on the fact that they don't seem to be getting what the developers were trying to do.

The quote from Kotaku "But Heavy Rain is, at its frequent best, a game about emotion and subtlety, a game that doesn't condemn choices as bad but instead allows them to be different, allows them to be meaningful and allows the player to feel. This is a game for grown-ups or anyone who wants to feel like one" is RIGHT on target. Sometimes when you're playing the game, you don't even realizing that an emotion is being evoked, or that you're getting pulled-in to what's happening. That's one of the biggest surprises that I took out of this game, because it truly was an "experience" to me. Also, I loved the story, so to discount the writing seems like a way of telling us that either the reviewer doesn't like a good mystery with interwoven storylines, or that the reviewer has never gotten past the pedestrian writing in an Archie comic.
 
u_neek said:
I was expecting review scores to average around the 70-80's so all this (very) positive coverage is a pleasant surprise.

same :) . of course, when demon's souls started getting lots of 9+ reviews, i was surprised, too, so maybe i'm just easily surprised...

really looking forward to this now...
 

Majine

Banned
skip said:
embargo got bumped up, everybody scrambles
Yeah, but it almost seems like QD told reviewers

"Take your time, really play it, think, then make your decision."
"....WORLD FIRST REVIEW!"
"Aw goddamnit."
 
Lowest score is a 7 so far, which is still good considering that most of the people I heard said the game is either love it or hate it. IGN's review made me notice a few things though. They pointed to low res static images in background which stand out.
heavyrainpreview6.jpg
 

skip

Member
Majine said:
Yeah, but it almost seems like QD told reviewers

"Take your time, really play it, think, then make your decision."
"....WORLD FIRST REVIEW!"
"Aw goddamnit."

to be fair, I think a lot of outlets have had the review code for a while and did play through (I did it fully twice). the surprise was "oh crap have to actually write the review now, I thought I had another week..."

that's how it was for me, anyway.
 

Torgo

Junior Member
Well, with the embargo ending earlier in EU, and the fact that it sounds like those reviews were better than what Sony expected, I'm pretty happy that the embargo got bumped. Everyone always says that if the embargo lifts like a day or two before the game hits, that it's a bad sign.

I was very glad to see that it got pushed-up myself, as I was shocked at how much I enjoyed the game, and I really wanted the chance to tell people about my experience.

A couple of outlets didn't seem to get the email with the new embargo date though, so you'll see some other reviews hit next week as well.
 

Ploid 3.0

Member
Wow, I guess QD is throwing a party after all these reviews. I can't wait to see what they do next. I hope they make a even deeper game next and bump up the quality all around. Like some people wanted professional writers, known actors, and other such things. Well what about a game that have a low amount of actors. A game that doesn't have much talking, almost a silent movie type game. Ico and SoTC for example, pretty much silent games, yet you see some story in it.

BUY QD Sony, add them to the fold lol.
 

Loudninja

Member
IGN UK Heavy Rain Review 9.0
10 Presentation
It looks and sounds absolutely stunning and it's polished within an inch of its life. Minor faults don't detracts from its near-unparalled presentation.
9.5 Graphics
Some character animation quibbles aside, it's a stunning achivement with one of the most cohesive, atmospheric and resolutely bleak game worlds ever devised.
9.0 Sound
Voice work is mostly sympathetic, if occassionally ill-fitting, but atmospheric effects and music are absolutely stunning.
8.0 Gameplay
There's no avoiding the limited - or at least inconsequential - interaction with the world but it's still an engaging, compelling experience.
8.0 Lasting Appeal
The story's so good you'll likely want to see it again. However, with significant choices mostly limited to the second half of the game, you'll likely exhaust story deviations relatively quickly.
http://ps3.ign.com/articles/106/1068165p1.html
 
RustyNails said:
Lowest score is a 7 so far, which is still good considering that most of the people I heard said the game is either love it or hate it. IGN's review made me notice a few things though. They pointed to low res static images in background which stand out.
heavyrainpreview6.jpg

I guess if you want to review a game that way, you'd notice. Me, I was too busy keeping my freaking hands up and
trying to talk an emotionally unstable robber into not shooting me.
I should have realized that the boxes filled with low resolution tomatoes looked that bad. Low res textures in 2010? What were they thinking?
 
I Push Fat Kids said:
Yay, there are still people that won't give this game a free pass. Shit story/dialogue in a game about story/dialogue = very important. Especially when there's minimal gameplay to back it up.
Can't help yourself can you
 
I Push Fat Kids said:
Yay, there are still people that won't give this game a free pass. Shit story/dialogue in a game about story/dialogue = very important. Especially when there's minimal gameplay to back it up.
This can't be a very enjoyable day for you.
 
I'm kind of blown away by the critical response. Was expecting more lows and not as high highs, but the reviews seem rather unanimous and overwhelmingly positive. Sweet.
 

Kevtones

Member
Nah, I just find it disappointing that people are lining behind this game to show it as some new benchmark in interactive storytelling when:

The central plot is little more than the Saw franchise blended with the visual style of Se7en, and there’s barely a single scene or story element that isn’t built around a hoary old crime movie cliché you can instantly relate to a million hoary old crime movies. The corrupt police chief. The world-weary but big-hearted private detective. The brilliant, ideosynchratic, but mistrusted FBI agent. The crazy, out of control son of the sinister millionaire. The ballsy reporter. The sleazy nightclub owner. They’re all here in force, but they’re just the tip of an iceberg which comes close to sinking the whole narrative ship.

There's dozens of other paragraphs in that review and others that affirms my standpoint. This game doesn't have a good story, and if people push it as having one, games are further from attaining literary respectability than I thought.

I would love to 'play' a well-written and interesting nine hour movie, unfortunately, Heavy Rain seems to be shallow and boring.
 
I Push Fat Kids said:
Nah, I just find it disappointing that people are lining behind this game to show it as some new benchmark in interactive storytelling when:
This game doesn't have a good story, and if people push it as having one, games are further from attaining literary respectability than I thought.

I would love to 'play' a well-written and interesting nine hour movie, unfortunately, Heavy Rain seems to be shallow and boring.

Have you completed Heavy Rain?
Because the 30 or so reviews and the 91 metascore disagree with you and that review.
But of course, they are all giving Heavy Rain a free pass!
 

GhaleonQ

Member
JCtheMC said:
Ghaleon, you might want to take the next few weeks off to if you want to thoroughly refute every great review.

500 took away my post.

The gist: Tom Bramwell gave Indigo Prophecy an 8. I like the guy's writing, but I don't think he's very imposing.

There's also not a lot to refute, since the reviews are very much making buyer's guide assertions (not that that's bad, just binary). The 2nd-wave examinations will be much more interesting, once people explain why lighting, pacing, setpieces, and such are good or bad. Stuff with which I can disagree: Dialogue, story, voice-acting, button pressing (a lot of people are mentioning the hill climbing or wire-escaping segment, which would be a very disappointing pinnacle of innovation). Reviews already confirm that it's not intellectual, nor does it try to promote an idea or have thematic resonance. So, my disappointment on that front's already set.

Also, are there any deals anywhere? I don't want to pay 60 dollars for this.
 

Kevtones

Member
GhaleonQ said:
500 took away my post.

The gist: Tom Bramwell gave Indigo Prophecy an 8. I like the guy's writing, but I don't think he's very imposing.

There's also not a lot to refute, since the reviews are very much making buyer's guide assertions (not that that's bad, just binary). The 2nd-wave examinations will be much more interesting, once people explain why lighting, pacing, setpieces, and such are good or bad. Stuff with which I can disagree: Dialogue, story, voice-acting, button pressing (a lot of people are mentioning the hill climbing or wire-escaping segment, which would be a very disappointing pinnacle of innovation). Reviews already confirm that it's not intellectual, nor does it try to promote an idea or have thematic resonance. So, my disappointment on that front's already set.

Also, are there any deals anywhere? I don't want to pay 60 dollars for this.


I'm looking forward to this as well. I'm curious when the internet backlash will lead the charge to make this 8-9ish score game to appear as a 5-6 game in the minds of game journalists/forum dwellers. It seems almost inevitable.
 
GhaleonQ said:
500 took away my post.

The gist: Tom Bramwell gave Indigo Prophecy an 8. I like the guy's writing, but I don't think he's very imposing.

There's also not a lot to refute, since the reviews are very much making buyer's guide assertions (not that that's bad, just binary). The 2nd-wave examinations will be much more interesting, once people explain why lighting, pacing, setpieces, and such are good or bad. Stuff with which I can disagree: Dialogue, story, voice-acting, button pressing (a lot of people are mentioning the hill climbing or wire-escaping segment, which would be a very disappointing pinnacle of innovation). Reviews already confirm that it's not intellectual, nor does it try to promote an idea or have thematic resonance. So, my disappointment on that front's already set.

Also, are there any deals anywhere? I don't want to pay 60 dollars for this.

Reviews don't want to give examples because many of the examples would be major spoilers. When it's out, played and spoiler tagged threads are up, then you can have your deconstruction.
 
I Push Fat Kids said:
I'm looking forward to this as well. I'm curious when the internet backlash will lead the charge to make this 8-9ish score game to appear as a 5-6 game in the minds of game journalists/forum dwellers. It seems almost inevitable.

This is hilarious. Does it really bother you this much that it's being reviewed well?
 
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