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suckmy12inch) wrote2010-03-08 12:57 am
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I don't actually have the money for Heavy Rain at the moment, so I downloaded the demo today instead and had a quick go at that. I've been looking forward to this game from the moment it was announced, because the director (and writer and most everything I think? idk) made another game that I quite enjoyed. David Cage, the director, has a thing for wanting to make games that are more like an interactive movie, where your choices affect the outcome, really change it.
So this guy made a game a few years back for the PS2, called Fahrenheit or Indigo Prophecy. The latter title's the more appropriate one, I think, but it was called Fahrenheit over here. The basic plot is that there's been some odd murders, one of the playable characters is the suspect and you follow him, two detectives, and the suspect's brother as they all try to figure out what the heck is going on.
It's not a particularly well-known game and I don't think it ever got the hype that's surrounding Heavy Rain. And it tends to get a lot of flak from people who do know it because of its rather... odd endings. Also, that one stealth section. ...Two stealth sections, actually, that made me want to kill something. The plot, which holds up fairly well, does get a little screwy about... halfway through. But it's still a game I very much enjoy.
In Fahrenheit, at least, I liked the quite mundane touches. The character you play as (you can switch about a bit between the four I mentioned) has a stress metre, and you have to keep that relatively high. Well, you can keep it low, I guess, but now and then they'll get hit with something that severely harms said metre and then it's game over - the character'll commit suicide or just give up on the case. A lot of the time, you raise the metre (and reduce stress? That's sort of backwards, never mind.) by just doing things like drinking cups of coffee, playing with a yo-yo, and so on. One bit that I like is how you can either take tablets for a headache, or just drink - but if you do both, the game ends because you mixed alcohol and medication. Little touches of realism that are nice to see, even moreso because of how the ending falls out.
Gameplay's nice too. It does look like a movie a lot, thanks to the camera angles and such, although walking tends to prove a bit of a challenge. They never go where you want them to without a lot of coaxing. That's generally okay though because you don't usually have to run anywhere and if you do, it's not for long. That's usually done through little interactive scenes with QTEs that aren't quite 'push X to not die'. Instead, you push the analogue sticks in the right direction to not die. It's fairly simple, not too demanding, but kind of provides enough of a challenge that it's still a video game.
You also use the sticks for conversation trees. When talking to another character, you get a time limit to choose various responses or attitudes when replying which can affect what happens. The problem is, a lot of the time, there isn't... THAT much difference. There're three different endings, I think. The only proper choice or whatever that I thought was really good was whether or not you save your brother. His death doesn't break the game like the death of the others would but even so, whether he lives or not doesn't have much of an impact on the story.
Oh, and the music's lovely too. I'm always amused by how it makes simple actions all dramatic. And I like the radio in Lucas's (the suspect's) apartment, it plays stuff by Theory of a Dead Man.
So, that's Fahrenheit, a game I really like and the reason I wanted to play Heavy Rain. And now I've tried the demo, I can see so many similarities, and that makes me happy!
If you're a lucky person who has Heavy Rain, you might already be able to guess at what I mean. You perform the little mundane actions - opening the car door and so on, as you do in Fahrenheit. There's more QTE-like stuff, and the game's more obvious about it too. I'm thinking of a fistfight between Scott Shelby and some random idiot, where, yes, you press X and other buttons to not die, but the action's pretty intense even so. I like being able to listen to the character's thoughts, that's a nice new addition...
The dramatic music is still there, even MORE dramatic than before. I swear, I opened the car door and then SUDDEN OMINOUS ORCHESTRA. That always gets a giggle out of me. Conversation trees are there, though done a little differently, in a way that's only annoyed me so far. I can't see which button goes with which option all that easily.
Since I've only played the demo I can't say much about whether Cage managed to pull off the 'everything you do has a consequence'. I'm not even sure if that applies to the demo itself, I'll need to play that again maybe. And try to avoid persisting with Lauren, see how that goes. But I hope he has done it because I love things like that.
Oh, and the graphics? Are absolutely gorgeous. Certainly come a long way since Fahrenheit, which I always thought had pretty decent graphics, being particularly good at showing character expressions.
I also hope there's unlockable features like in Fahrenheit. Because I really loved the Ice Skating with the two detectives.
And... that's about it. Guess it's time I posted something of substance! Hopefully I'll get the actual game soon. If you ever get a chance to play Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy, I recommend you do so. It's not a bad little game at all.
So this guy made a game a few years back for the PS2, called Fahrenheit or Indigo Prophecy. The latter title's the more appropriate one, I think, but it was called Fahrenheit over here. The basic plot is that there's been some odd murders, one of the playable characters is the suspect and you follow him, two detectives, and the suspect's brother as they all try to figure out what the heck is going on.
It's not a particularly well-known game and I don't think it ever got the hype that's surrounding Heavy Rain. And it tends to get a lot of flak from people who do know it because of its rather... odd endings. Also, that one stealth section. ...Two stealth sections, actually, that made me want to kill something. The plot, which holds up fairly well, does get a little screwy about... halfway through. But it's still a game I very much enjoy.
In Fahrenheit, at least, I liked the quite mundane touches. The character you play as (you can switch about a bit between the four I mentioned) has a stress metre, and you have to keep that relatively high. Well, you can keep it low, I guess, but now and then they'll get hit with something that severely harms said metre and then it's game over - the character'll commit suicide or just give up on the case. A lot of the time, you raise the metre (and reduce stress? That's sort of backwards, never mind.) by just doing things like drinking cups of coffee, playing with a yo-yo, and so on. One bit that I like is how you can either take tablets for a headache, or just drink - but if you do both, the game ends because you mixed alcohol and medication. Little touches of realism that are nice to see, even moreso because of how the ending falls out.
Gameplay's nice too. It does look like a movie a lot, thanks to the camera angles and such, although walking tends to prove a bit of a challenge. They never go where you want them to without a lot of coaxing. That's generally okay though because you don't usually have to run anywhere and if you do, it's not for long. That's usually done through little interactive scenes with QTEs that aren't quite 'push X to not die'. Instead, you push the analogue sticks in the right direction to not die. It's fairly simple, not too demanding, but kind of provides enough of a challenge that it's still a video game.
You also use the sticks for conversation trees. When talking to another character, you get a time limit to choose various responses or attitudes when replying which can affect what happens. The problem is, a lot of the time, there isn't... THAT much difference. There're three different endings, I think. The only proper choice or whatever that I thought was really good was whether or not you save your brother. His death doesn't break the game like the death of the others would but even so, whether he lives or not doesn't have much of an impact on the story.
Oh, and the music's lovely too. I'm always amused by how it makes simple actions all dramatic. And I like the radio in Lucas's (the suspect's) apartment, it plays stuff by Theory of a Dead Man.
So, that's Fahrenheit, a game I really like and the reason I wanted to play Heavy Rain. And now I've tried the demo, I can see so many similarities, and that makes me happy!
If you're a lucky person who has Heavy Rain, you might already be able to guess at what I mean. You perform the little mundane actions - opening the car door and so on, as you do in Fahrenheit. There's more QTE-like stuff, and the game's more obvious about it too. I'm thinking of a fistfight between Scott Shelby and some random idiot, where, yes, you press X and other buttons to not die, but the action's pretty intense even so. I like being able to listen to the character's thoughts, that's a nice new addition...
The dramatic music is still there, even MORE dramatic than before. I swear, I opened the car door and then SUDDEN OMINOUS ORCHESTRA. That always gets a giggle out of me. Conversation trees are there, though done a little differently, in a way that's only annoyed me so far. I can't see which button goes with which option all that easily.
Since I've only played the demo I can't say much about whether Cage managed to pull off the 'everything you do has a consequence'. I'm not even sure if that applies to the demo itself, I'll need to play that again maybe. And try to avoid persisting with Lauren, see how that goes. But I hope he has done it because I love things like that.
Oh, and the graphics? Are absolutely gorgeous. Certainly come a long way since Fahrenheit, which I always thought had pretty decent graphics, being particularly good at showing character expressions.
I also hope there's unlockable features like in Fahrenheit. Because I really loved the Ice Skating with the two detectives.
And... that's about it. Guess it's time I posted something of substance! Hopefully I'll get the actual game soon. If you ever get a chance to play Fahrenheit/Indigo Prophecy, I recommend you do so. It's not a bad little game at all.