• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

LTTP: HEAVY RAIN (2010, PS3) (PS Summer Sale PS5, 2016 Remake for PS4)

EverydayBeast

thinks Halo Infinite is a new graphical benchmark
007cab554f24f1d6f1decc14e1ccb05e.jpg


With Heavy Rain Quantic Dream figured out the 3rd person interactive active drama genre way back in 2010/2011 releases. I'm very happy to have revisited this game and for less than $20 thanks to SONY's Playstation summer sale.

The game offers plenty of thrill, acting (through four characters: Ethan Mars, Scott Shelby, Norman Jayden and Madison Paige) in trying to discover who the kidnapper or "Origami Killer" is.

7a599f999fde185d33e68e127ec11a5f7913fd49.gifv


Great detail, only loss is it still uses dark colors obviously.

The story like Beyond: Two Souls is also a slow burn, we're introduced to characters, understand their situations, study their behaviors and ultimately make choices for them. The game sits at a respectable 78 on Metacritic with favorable user reviews (Anything 75 or above is considered good to great).
BogusWarmGull.webp


Norman's equipment (Ari) is pretty cool, it's a mixture of VR reality and drugs. You take off the glasses, glove and the world you see above isn't their anymore. There's a lot of speculation around the technology. Norma himself is a FBI operative and is essentially called in to catch a ghost. The story can get a little distracted when around Norman and the police department but he should be considered a main character.

The characters show they won't quit no matter what the killer does. I think it's a tremendous game and one of the best SONY has to offer and should be considered an all time achievement.

I went back to finish this game after years of not (a lot of that due to being a teenager), I think the game establishes itself with pace, letting you the player make choices and feel like we're due for a PS5 exclusive Quantic Dream game.



The story is a lot about discovering clues on who the killer is, lacks gunplay you'd see in an Uncharted, has the worst color palette going for it which was a problem from that era of games, lacks a dimensional open world, is a common real world kid napping issue involving police, fathers, nurses etc. things that make it not feel like a video game but everything I said as a negative gives the game it's identity and for that I keeps me excited for the future of Quantic Dream.

What does GAF think of Heavy Rain? Let me know in the comments below.
 

Tschumi

Member
I loved that game, the one time i played it 10ish years ago . . . Got the cop ending... The problem is while playing that game i had enough of their gameplay style and didn't get into beyond two souls.. didn't try any of the others
 
Last edited:

Huggers

Member
Heavy Rain is an overrated PS3 game with terrible controls and stupid plot (full of holes and with awful plot twist).

Sadly I agree with this. I recently played Detroit which was pretty fun if a bit daft. Heavy Rain has aged terribly. I bought it originally and was a little cold on it but liked it enough, it does not hold up at all now. I'd guess Fahrenheit is worse.
 

EverydayBeast

thinks Halo Infinite is a new graphical benchmark
Heavy Rain is an overrated PS3 game with terrible controls and stupid plot (full of holes and with awful plot twist).
It’s a bitch to get into it’s supposed to be like a 90 min movie but it’s 4-5 hours if not more hours and if your attention span is bad you’re fucked with this game. There’s so many slow parts.
 

bender

What time is it?
The twist ruins it or at least pushes the rest of the train wreck over the cliff. The intro to Indigo Prophecy is the best thing that Cage has ever done and everything that has followed just shows is lack of writing and directing chops.
 

elliot5

Member
never played beyond two souls, but at the time I enjoyed Heavy Rain (as a high school freshman or so?). Some of those scenarios were pretty intense. Enjoyed Detroit on PS4, too.

these games are pretty schlocky but nonetheless entertaining.
 

Merkades

Member
I tried this for an hour or two, but I was not enjoying it and moved on. I still want to try again, it may just not have clicked yet, and I did reasonably like Until Dawn. No clue if I will though, so many games in my backlog and coming out.
 

Miles708

Member
The entire "Jason!" scene is acted and animated so poorly it looks more like parody than drama.
The rest of the game though is pretty interesting, despite some plot holes. Interestingly, the most interesting part are the most "gameplay" ones, given the game saves everywhere like Dark Souls.
I got a fairly uninteresting ending but I always wanted to play it again.

Detroit: Become Human is heaps and bounds better than this though.
 

SkylineRKR

Member
This game is trash. Its sort of interesting to play because of the story but the game blatantly cheats and the killer has ridiculous plot armor (you can fail everything, it doesn't matter). Very incoherent. At times a complete mess.

Detroit though, I thought it was actually solid. I've enjoyed that one.
 

Drew1440

Member
I remember trying to remake Ethans house in the Sims 3. My game was going so well until
Madison crashed her bike and Ethan got shot, I've hated motion controls since them .Also what bugged me at the start was you could see Ethan with his back to the car at the start, yet Sean got killed
 
Last edited:

mcjmetroid

Member
Heavy Rain is an overrated PS3 game with terrible controls and stupid plot (full of holes and with awful plot twist).
There are far far better games in the same genre. All of the Telltale games are better,
Life is Strange is better, Even until Dawn is better.

The Quantum Dream games are trash honestly.
 

Putonahappyface

Gold Member
Heavy Rain was my first experience with Quantic Dreams and I played it through twice, first on the PS3 and then platinumed it on the ps4. I loved Beyond Two Souls and Detroit Become Human as well.
 
There are far far better games in the same genre. All of the Telltale games are better,
Life is Strange is better, Even until Dawn is better.

The Quantum Dream games are trash honestly.
Now that's a hot take! Shit talk David Cage's writing as much as you want, BUT the fact is his games are the only ones where choices ACTUALLY matter and change lots of things over the course of the game, case in point every character in Heavy Rain can get killed and written off the story and ending, none of your examples have drastically different endings at all in the grand scheme of things, especially not Telltale or Dontnode games.
 
Last edited:

Agent X

Member
Now that's a hot take! Shit talk David Cage's writing asuch as you want, BUT the fact is his games are the only ones where choices ACTUALLY matter and change lots of things over the course of the game, case in point every character in Heavy Rain can get killed and written off the story and ending, none of your examples have drastically different endings at all in the grand scheme of things, especially not Telltale or Dontnode games.

That's a good point.

As much as I've enjoyed many of Telltale's games, their branching storylines are ultimately only a temporary divergence. This can lead to some variety during the midgame, but the different paths eventually tend to converge on a common ending.

By comparison, Quantic Dreams' games tend to have great variation in their story branches. While a few minor branches might converge, there are also some major situations where your actions or decisions drastically alter the outcome of the game.
 

WoJ

Member
I enjoyed Heavy Rain. There are definitely plot holes throughout the game that are easy to spot once you know how the game plays out. But the first time through was super fun and enjoyable.
 
One of the games that convinced me to buy a PS3, I was blown away by the graphics and the story at the time. Maybe it hasn't aged THAT well, but I still think it's a great game. Quite different, and I love the impact some choices have on the story, and that some characters can die permanently etc.
 

NinjaBoiX

Member
I did enjoy it at the time, probably for the novelty factor more than much else.

But the story is absolute bollocks, there are crater sized holes in the plot that I can’t even believe were written down never mind pressed to disc.
 

Shmunter

Member
Loved it. Really meaty story, violent and unashamedly sexy. The game wouldn’t be made today.

Quantic Dreams has not been able to match this with Beyond Two Souls or Detroit. Although no idea how it would stand up today.
 
Last edited:

VulcanRaven

Member
Its not a remake. They just updated the textures. Its a good game but I liked Fahrenheit and Beyond Two Souls more.
 

ZywyPL

Banned
Loved it. Really meaty story, violent and unashamedly sexy. The game wouldn’t be made today.

Quantic Dreams has not been able to match this with Beyond Two Souls or Detroit. Although no idea how it would stand up today.

Detroit was good, it' had the right, complete setting, whereas B:TS was set in real world with psychic powers going on that felt out of place, it didn't clicked on me personally. But yeah, HR was easily the best of the three.
 

VulcanRaven

Member
I recommend playing Fahrenheit:


Its very similar to Heavy Rain and its available on PS4. They also made a remastered version on PC.
 
Last edited:

N30RYU

Member
I remember trying to remake Ethans house in the Sims 3. My game was going so well until
Madison crashed her bike and Ethan got shot, I've hated motion controls since them .Also what bugged me at the start was you could see Ethan with his back to the car at the start, yet Sean got killed
You know how kids work?... even in that position Jason could have snapped his neck with the collision.


I'm in the minotiry that love quanticdreams games...
For me rated from best to worst

Heavy Rain
Fahrenheit
Detroit
Beyond
Nomad Soul
 
Last edited:

skit_data

Member
Pretty cool game, but I liked the Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy better.

I accidentaly really made it make so much sense in terms of how the Origami Killer acted. Didn’t save the woman when the car was about to sink and so forth.
 

Alan Wake

Member
It was a cool experiment, but the controls drew me crazy. I liked it enough to buy Detroit: Become Human, though, and that game was so much better. One of the most memorable experiences last gen for me.
 

VulcanRaven

Member
It was a cool experiment, but the controls drew me crazy. I liked it enough to buy Detroit: Become Human, though, and that game was so much better. One of the most memorable experiences last gen for me.
I didn't like the controls either. You moved the character by pressing R2. You got used to it but it was still an odd decision. I hated the motion controls.
 
Last edited:

Mentaur

Neo Member
Played it through using the Playstation Move and really enjoyed it. The physical aspect of the interactions really had my heart pumping when it got tense. I remember I engineered a w/e on my own to finish it with the curtains drawn etc - and the PS3 failed on the Sat afternoon. Luckily found a place in S London which replaced the laser - and was back in business. It was when those Chilean miners were being rescued from their underground hell, as I remember watching that on a news channel whilst waiting for the PS3 to be fixed.
 

Alan Wake

Member
I didn't like the controls either. You moved the character by pressing R2. You got used to it but it was still an odd decision. I hated the motion controls.
I played it on PS4 and never used the motion controls, thankfully. But it was all very wonky, I died numerous times just because of it. Detroit was a big improvement and I really liked the characters in that game too, as well as the story.
 

GeekyDad

Member
Not my kind of game, but I got it for my wife when it came out. She has mostly praise for it, but she found it to be a very heavy experience. She was used to Phoenix Wright, Professor Layton and Lost in Blue -- some of her favorite adventure series -- so this one was a lot for her in terms of its dramatic darkness. But again, as a game, she thinks very highly of it.
 

IbizaPocholo

NeoGAFs Kent Brockman


We check back on Ethan as his search to find his missing son continues. He tries calling another local mall only to find himself struggling greatly recalling the details of Shaun's appearance.
 
Top Bottom