Unlock Heavy Rain Demo!

[Croyles]

EDIT: Demo is out now, no need for puzzle solving!

Its 1.5 gb i think.

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About the demo:

Just finished the demo and loved it.
Now I know this game isn't going to be for everyone, but I recommend at least trying the demo to see.

Ive never been bothered by any games controls (maybe apart from Monster Hunter psp) so controls have never been an issue with me. I can see why they chose R2 for 'acceleration' etc.
QTEs are very evolved and definitely not your usual 'press button in time to not die' kind of thing. Wrong and correct button presses branch out into different scenarios. If you miss too often though it's possible to die and the game just carries on without that character (not in the demo though I don't think).
Atmosphere is really immersive. I also felt my heart beating at the fight scene.
The Norman section showed me the different paces the game has (its definitely slower but works) and further convinced me that it will be great.

Some voices were very good and others were ok, but I wasn't bothered at all by the less impressive ones (some people thought some of the voice acting was awful, but man, i've seen a LOT worse in good games).

Also, I saw my friend play the same demo and he did a lot of things differently, the reactions of the woman ended up completely different and she told him a lot more than me.

What are your impressions?

[JKTrix]

I tried to get into this when I heard about it, but the whole process was being extremely slow.

For anyone else who might try to do this but have problems, it might be worth it to wait until Thursday when everyone will be able to get it.

[Croyles]

I tried to get into this when I heard about it, but the whole process was being extremely slow.

For anyone else who might try to do this but have problems, it might be worth it to wait until Thursday when everyone will be able to get it.

Lol I didnt know it would be available on Thursday. But it worked fine for me when I did it btw, which was a few hours ago.

[I Don't Need A Name]

I really enjoyed that! Its better than I thought it would be!

[Bolivar]

tryin to get this right now...

edit: just played through it twice w/ my significant other, first her then me. Wow. In gaming today, everyone is so jaded/emo, that we even have Larry David emoticons in some forums (telling people to "Curb Your Enthusiasm" in case you don't get it). People don't get excited for much. At the same time, we get excited for superficial games that really don't have a lot to them.

But I'm pretty excited for this game, and I think it's a really exciting time to be a part of video games. This game is going to do something. What exactly, I don't know!!! But anyone doubting whether this game was really well done or not can put those fears to rest. Everything is just so perfectly put together, it makes a lot of the times we use the words "ambiance" in a game feel like a joke.

I really can't wait, I'm so glad it's February.

[Croyles]

tryin to get this right now...

edit: just played through it twice w/ my significant other, first her then me. Wow. In gaming today, everyone is so jaded/emo, that we even have Larry David emoticons in some forums (telling people to "Curb Your Enthusiasm" in case you don't get it). People don't get excited for much. At the same time, we get excited for superficial games that really don't have a lot to them.

But I'm pretty excited for this game, and I think it's a really exciting time to be a part of video games. This game is going to do something. What exactly, I don't know!!! But anyone doubting whether this game was really well done or not can put those fears to rest. Everything is just so perfectly put together, it makes a lot of the times we use the words "ambiance" in a game feel like a joke.

I really can't wait, I'm so glad it's February.

Did you like the fight scene?? :)

Also, I will be changing the thread on thursday when the demo comes out for everybody.

[I Don't Need A Name]

I played the fight scene twice, just to see the outcome of not reacting at all. Really does add another level to the game.

Glad I've got the special edition on preorder, so I get the soundtrack as well!

[JKTrix]

It's a shame this came out after Mass Effect 2, but I guess PS3-only folks haven't played that either. I can deal with the controls, but the acting (both voice and face model) really falls flat when I have Mass Effect 2 still fresh in my mind. The two games felt surprisingly similar to me, which is kind of hard to explain. I don't feel as bad about not being able to buy it day 1, though I still do want to play through it.

I played through the demo multiple times. The first time I did the crime scene, I left without climbing that hill. I scanned everything with those glasses before I even talked to Blake, so after I finished talking to him and put the glasses back on I didn't see anything new, and just walked back to the car and left. The 2nd time I decided to talk to Blake first, and then look around for clue and there seemed to be more stuff.

I kind of wish the game gave you some kind of hint as to what your motions would do when you did it (when not in a combat situation). Like with the lady in the first part of the demo, you get a prompt that puts money on the table (which she tells you to do), then when you leave you get the same prompt at the table. I expected to pick up the money, but he did something else. The 2nd time I didn't put the money down in the first place.

[Croyles]

Ugh, Mass Effect. Thats going to be the game everything is compared to now :p

[Bolivar]

The fight scene was incredibly intense. What separates it from the cheesiness usually accompanying quick time events is that the pressure is really on - you don't start from a check point if you miss one step in the sequence, every act decides how the next will go.

The IGN guys said that the entire game is essentially an incessant chain of decisions, and they're really starting to wonder how many different endings there are. I think from a design perspective this is an incredible thing.


It's a shame this came out after Mass Effect 2, but I guess PS3-only folks haven't played that either. I can deal with the controls, but the acting (both voice and face model) really falls flat when I have Mass Effect 2 still fresh in my mind. The two games felt surprisingly similar to me, which is kind of hard to explain. I don't feel as bad about not being able to buy it day 1, though I still do want to play through it.

Sorry, dude, but I think you need to qualify your statements if you're going to say something like that. I've been playing Uncharted 2 recently which is universally recognized for its great writing and superb voice acting, and Heavy Rain seems fine to me. I've watched a lot of videos and friends play Mass Effect 2 and the alien squad members seem atrociously performed and the rest seem mediocre, while the facial expressions make it look like a cast of mannequins. I'm not doubting Mass Effect 2's quality, but unless it interspersed hidden sections of academy-award quality acting that I don't see when my friends play, or the 360 version has a completely different vocal track, I'd like to know more about what you actually mean.

[Slothy]

I kind of wish the game gave you some kind of hint as to what your motions would do when you did it (when not in a combat situation). Like with the lady in the first part of the demo, you get a prompt that puts money on the table (which she tells you to do), then when you leave you get the same prompt at the table. I expected to pick up the money, but he did something else. The 2nd time I didn't put the money down in the first place.

I sort of thought that at first, but then I realized that it's not that big a deal. This will be a game that really requires multiple play throughs to get the most out of the experience. Seeing how making different choices alters it will be a big part so not knowing what something does isn't as big a deal. Most actions in the demo seemed pretty obvious in their results to me, and for the ones that aren't, you can always try something else the next time through the game. One of the things the IGN review mentioned was that because you can't really fail the game, you'll sometimes make choices that seem like the right ones in the heat of the moment, but turns out they may not have been when you see how they play out. In that sense, even if you have some idea of what the action you're performing is the outcome could be completely unexpected.


The fight scene was incredibly intense. What separates it from the cheesiness usually accompanying quick time events is that the pressure is really on - you don't start from a check point if you miss one step in the sequence, every act decides how the next will go.

The IGN guys said that the entire game is essentially an incessant chain of decisions, and they're really starting to wonder how many different endings there are. I think from a design perspective this is an incredible thing.

Agreed on all counts. I've only had the chance to play through the demo once so far, but I'm really excited to try it a few more times. I don't want to sound too optimistic up front, but I think from a perspective of giving players a choice in how the game plays out, this might be the game I've been waiting to see for years now.

[I Don't Need A Name]

It's a shame this came out after Mass Effect 2, but I guess PS3-only folks haven't played that either. I can deal with the controls, but the acting (both voice and face model) really falls flat when I have Mass Effect 2 still fresh in my mind. The two games felt surprisingly similar to me, which is kind of hard to explain. I don't feel as bad about not being able to buy it day 1, though I still do want to play through it.

Sorry, dude, but I think you need to qualify your statements if you're going to say something like that. I've been playing Uncharted 2 recently which is universally recognized for its great writing and superb voice acting, and Heavy Rain seems fine to me. I've watched a lot of videos and friends play Mass Effect 2 and the alien squad members seem atrociously performed and the rest seem mediocre, while the facial expressions make it look like a cast of mannequins. I'm not doubting Mass Effect 2's quality, but unless it interspersed hidden sections of academy-award quality acting that I don't see when my friends play, or the 360 version has a completely different vocal track, I'd like to know more about what you actually mean.

I've watched a guy in my apartment play Mass Effect 2 (and is obsessed with it).

Personally, I found the game absolutely terrible, with bad facial expressions (I had to stop myself from pissing myself when I watched an animation of someone talking) and even more dull gameplay (No way on par with the likes of KotOR). Comparing Heavy Rain's interesting and intense feel to that game is an insult :jess:

[Croyles]

It's a shame this came out after Mass Effect 2, but I guess PS3-only folks haven't played that either. I can deal with the controls, but the acting (both voice and face model) really falls flat when I have Mass Effect 2 still fresh in my mind. The two games felt surprisingly similar to me, which is kind of hard to explain. I don't feel as bad about not being able to buy it day 1, though I still do want to play through it.

Sorry, dude, but I think you need to qualify your statements if you're going to say something like that. I've been playing Uncharted 2 recently which is universally recognized for its great writing and superb voice acting, and Heavy Rain seems fine to me. I've watched a lot of videos and friends play Mass Effect 2 and the alien squad members seem atrociously performed and the rest seem mediocre, while the facial expressions make it look like a cast of mannequins. I'm not doubting Mass Effect 2's quality, but unless it interspersed hidden sections of academy-award quality acting that I don't see when my friends play, or the 360 version has a completely different vocal track, I'd like to know more about what you actually mean.

I've watched a guy in my apartment play Mass Effect 2 (and is obsessed with it).

Personally, I found the game absolutely terrible, with bad facial expressions (I had to stop myself from pissing myself when I watched an animation of someone talking) and even more dull gameplay (No way on par with the likes of KotOR). Comparing Heavy Rain's interesting and intense feel to that game is an insult :jess:

I thought the female Shephard had a good voice actor, but other than that it was nothing spectacular (but not bad either), but I just really disliked Mass Effect 1 and despite how good ME2 may be I just can't bring myself to play it (also cause I feel as if I have to complete the first one before starting 2).

I can't wait for Heavy Rain!

[JKTrix]

Sorry, as you can probably tell I don't check here very frequently (main reason I stay out of EoEO).

Comparing ME to HR head-to-head is kind of unfair in many instances, but the strongest disqualifier is that I only played this 20 minute section of HR. The demo was enough for me to have a good idea of what the differences in their 'cinematic' focus is. ME's focus was on the scripted face-to-face conversations, while HR is about being active and the overall atmosphere. One game also has aliens and magic, which also changes the tone considerably.

In Heavy Rain, I actually really liked Shelby's performance, but I did not like the hooker's performance at all. Felt like she was clumsily stumbling through her lines. Jayden was entirely wooden. Both of them had weird intonations in their voices. Blake was fine. I understand that the setting is pretty bleak and realistic, so they may have just spoken 'normally', but it was just uninteresting to me.

It's hard to find 1:1 comparisons between the two games, largely because of the whole alien/tone thing. Like I could show you this conversation with one of the ME's aliens (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FRDs48Z9sNo), but there isn't anything to really compare it to. With the exception of the two (admittedly lame) stock Human squad mates, all the human characters in the game are created from the game's character generator. There is a little difference in 'facial performance' between those and a fixed model that the designers have complete control over. So two humans talking to each other (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m6RcPCDSZ7E) wouldn't have the same level of controlled facial animation detail as one of the aliens.

It's also difficult to compare the performance because of the tone of the thing. These are 'characters', being characters. You might notice that Shepard is kind of dry. Main characters in games tend to not have a set personality so that you can define that personality yourself, either through choices in the game or through your own imagination. So, with Heavy Rain, if all of your characters are these normal, dry people without a 'character' personality, it's hard to compare it to a major NPC who already has a defined personality. In any case, even if the acting isn't 'good', it's more interesting than the sometims monotonous, awkward performances from the characters in HR.

Still, I'll accept differing opinions on ME's acting. People naturally have different tastes and perspectives. Yes, there is far worse acting in other major games, but there are few games where dialogue is as important to the core experience as it is with HR.

Try playing the demo again, switching through the spoken languages. Particularly French, the native language of the developer, where the game director would assure that the performances were 'just right'. So I already understand that, the game being made by French people, there may be some odd things 'lost in translation' when it comes to English vocal performances and script.

Really, it's the only 'bad' thing I can validly say about the demo. I wanted to keep my impressions vague because it's really too early for any of this and my criticisms would seem too harsh. Maybe they get better later, or I'll just get used to it. My comparing it with Mass Effect was simply because I was immersed in ME's world and thought its performances were suitably effective, and I thought that most of HR's were not. It's probably something that I wouldn't have even bothered to nitpick if I had finished ME two or three weeks ago, but I had literally just turned that game off to play this.

[Slothy]

In Heavy Rain, I actually really liked Shelby's performance, but I did not like the hooker's performance at all. Felt like she was clumsily stumbling through her lines. Jayden was entirely wooden. Both of them had weird intonations in their voices. Blake was fine. I understand that the setting is pretty bleak and realistic, so they may have just spoken 'normally', but it was just uninteresting to me.

You hit the nail on the head when you mentioned the native language of the developer being french later on, because the voice actors aren't American and are trying to hide their accents most of the time. The ones who are doing the worst job in the demo are the Hooker and Jayden which is a lot of the reason why I thought their performances sound a little off: their accents were constantly creeping through. That said, at it's worst Heavy Rain's voice acting didn't seem as bad as a lot of other titles out there in the last ten years. They got their lines out and despite some awkward delivery managed to mostly capture the right tone I think so I can live with it, especially when the dialogue itself feels really natural and well written.

[Depression Moon]

Really the big issue I have here is with the controls. I don't see why you couldn't just simply walk with the left analog stick and have to hold R2 down with it. Took me a while to get one of those curved motions for R3. Jayden does sound funny and boring, his part was ultimately boring. It also felt a little strange to me to be using an inhaler in a video game.

[JKTrix]

It is really awkward, but they did it that way for a reason. In Indigo Prophecy/Fahrenheit, their last game, they had a more normal movement control. However, when the camera angle changed, it was often disorienting since the direction you were pressing on the stick might have been a different direction than the one you were traveling in after the change.

So their solution was to have R2 make you 'walk forward', which would be 'walk forward' no matter how many camera changes there are. Kind of like a racing game, except really really slow. As far as fixing that particular issue from Indigo Prophecy, I prefer it in Heavy Rain. So yes, it is not optimal or intuitive, but it's better than what they had before.

The right stick motions is also something that I've been exposed to a lot in games. Indigo Prophecy did it some, but I've used it more extensively in EA's sports games. Fight Night, Fifa, Skate (not a sport, but definitely complex right-stick motions).

As far as boringness, well, this game I imagine will require some patience in spots. A lot of the game I'm sure is going to be about information gathering and revealing the story through clues you find. For the demo, I imagine they didn't want to give away too much, so they gave us something that might not be crucially important to the plot. More as a kind of demonstration of their sci-fi goggles than a representation of the game as a whole.

[Croyles]

Same reason why the old Resident evil games had the same controls. Its really not a bother if you played more than 5 minutes.

I didnt find it boring at all, but its obviously not for everyone and I respect that.

[Crop]

I thought I'd really like it, but I found the controls a little annoying and it seemed very slow.
I did start to enjoy it during the fight scene though, but it was just too much: Press O, Press >, tilt controller. I can see that getting annoying.

I can't help but think it would have been an awsome movie.
I'd say it's more of an interactive story than a game, like Shadow of Memories (which I loved).

I wouldn't buy it, but lucky for me, my friend is. I'll just borrow it off her when she's done with it.