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StephenSharp on 28 February 2010
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Icyedge said:
StephenSharp said:
I thinkk people scoring it higher than an 8 havent' played all the way through, and people scoring it higher than a 7 haven't played it again. The game is a mess, and really could have used some more polish, a better script, and someone just to proof read it. I mean, there are three different years shown in game, while some things that happen specific time periods before the game starts are MAJOR plot points, and there's no consistency. It's jsut a mess, and the glitches and BS claims really hurt it. I'm about halfway through my second playthrough, experimenting with not picking up the controller at all unless I have to wlk to a certain area to cue the story to continue, just doing the bare minimum and ignoring the QTE sequences.... hasn't made a difference. Charcters will continue the conversation without you after a short delay, QTE's resolve themselves quicker without you participating (and, save for a few specific ones I haven't even gotten to yet, without any change to the outcome). It's a pretty big dissapointment, and it's fairly justifiable to give a low score to something so flawed.

It's an interactive movie that doesn't require much interactivity, your interactivity has minimal impact on the story, the scripting and the plot are very poor quality, and there are a ton of errors. Additionally, as a game, it's glitchy with very noticable graphics problems detracting from one of it's strongest points, which is its visual presentation.

4 is still harsh, but a 6 would be fair to generous on a ten point scale.

If 4 is too harsh and 6 too generous, than I guess you would give the game around 5, which I really respect. But I hope your as critic as this when reviewing other games. You should write a complete review tho, because in this paragraph, your only talking about negative things, so its really easy to justify a low score. I dont think theres only negative things to say about this game. The lack of interactivity is actually the most interactivity we can find in our current video-game library, I think that should be taken into account. For the glitch and graphics problems you were stating, are you sure your not exagerating? I finished the game already, in this console generation, it seems to me this game is far from being glitchy. I mean, I hardly remember 1 game this gen, that didnt have any kind of small bug. Also, I thought the presentation and attention to detail in the various environment was amazing.  But well, ill give you benefit of doubt that your always critic like that when reviewing game, so its alright . Its bound to make people talk tho, I just hope someone will not come here and say people are fanboy because they dont agree with you.

I actually wrote a full, spoiler laden review for the game for another forum I post on, and gave the game a 75 out of 100% (they are the type of site that considers 6 failing) after my first complete playthrough, pointing out the engrossing nature of the game, but balancing it against some of the distractions inherent within it.  I've since gone back and noted further flaws  and issues, and the actual lack of impact your decisions have after repeat playthroughs.  Several days removed from the initial review, as the presentation is still superb, but the game is heavily flawed, and calling it "more interactive" than any other game is a major stretch, as there just isn't even that much to do...  Uncharted 2, Assassins Creed, and other action/adventure games are FAR more interactive by their very nature, and as far as decisions effecting the game and the outcome (the other major selling point for this game), your decisions have far more impact in other recent titles like BioShock and Mass Effect 2 than here (both those games are actually far more interactive as well).  Compared to its peers, Heavy Rain's graphics aren't as nice as Uncharted 2, it's less interactive than any other game out right now, and your decisions have less impact than any non-linear RPG or many of the games with a morality system.  It's rather mediocre in the current pack of games out there.

Personally, I consider a 5 to be "average" on a ten point scale.  Heavy Rain does some stuff great and some stuff terrible, resulting in an  "average" overall.