Well, I'm going to buy it too. Need something first to play it on though lol.

The graphics are a mixed bag.  Close up shots of faces look good, overall character models are meh, and the environments (for the most part) look really good.  Sometimes the enviros can look near photo realistic, especially outside shots.

Crying looks horrible though.  I haven't seen a game that does it well.  ME2 has the same issue where it looks like some sort of translucent metallic gel is being secreted from a person's eyes rather than tears.

The graphics don't matter, gameplay does.
It's a fascinating story by the way.

I was thoroughly impressed. It seems like character models gain/lose detail based on how big the environment is or what's going on (you can see their pores, half the time). Still, it's easier to create a beautiful alien/fantasy world than it is to create a realistic world. HR creates an incredible, realistic world!

Oh, and MY 360 JUST SHOWED UP!!!! It's been gone for repairs since the 11th. She's home!!!!

I agree with you Naz. I liked the stuff outside whenever you investigating but overall, the game isn't that impressive. (graphically speaking, of course)

I agree, the graphics leave something to be desired, but then again I expected something like this:



And instead was treated to something like this:



You can see how much worse the character model looks from the target trailer. Still a good, enjoyable demo though.

Well I looked for the video but I couldn't find it, but I'm sure you've seen it where the lady has the gun and is doing a monologue.That looks significantly better than what I played in the demo.

Actually it doesn't look significantly better at all.. I saw the video in HD the other day right after I played the demo..

There are some really hinky things going on graphically in this game (finished it last night BTW and loved it!). The facial animations are second to none, most of the time, sometimes the models would hang their mouths open or snap them shut at weird intervals. You can really see their feelings in their faces though, which is amazing. Some environments were so detailed it was rediculous (the graveyard jumps to mind, and Ethan's house in the beginning) and some are jaggy and missing textures (thinking of some of the on the front porch of the house/trailer scenes). It was uneven and occasionally pulled me out of the game. Not a huge deal though. I would have much preferred they had pulled some of their graphical resources and hired some American voice actors and had classes on how to say "Origami".

I kind of agree - although that's based on the demo only. Hopefully (assuming I both get my new fat PS3 replacement tomorrow and I'm actually able to turn it on without fear of trouble) I will soon check out the retail game.

But based on the demo while the graphics are good overall they aren't full on wow in the way that, for example, Uncharted 2's were.

The overall impression was strong, but animation of movement seemed a little artificial and even stiff at times. Most of the time the facial animation was truly fantastic, particularly closeups, but there were some funny tics here and there.

Most of the textures, objects, etc. looked very good but again there were a few weak elements here and there - although I did think the rain looked good plus the effect of the FBI agent's glasses struck me as very nice.

Truth be told I wasn't expecting Heavy Rain to be the most amazing technical game ever visually, not based on Fahrenheit anyway, so what I saw looked good enough for me - although some of the stiff animation surprised me as that was the main area I was perhaps expecting QD to push the envelope a bit with motion capture. But currently I still find Uncharted 2 to have the most convincing human animation for walking, sitting, etc. Perhaps the full game will change my mind.

The most impressive element for me visually was how the animations during the 'big moments' like the fight really did blend wonderfully together no matter what you did. That was very good as I expected funny 'snaps' between animations depending upon whether you hit the QTE right or not but didn't see any despite repeated playthroughs where I deliberate altered what QTEs I got right and which I missed.

But yeah, if you thought that this was going to be the most visually amazing title yet on console in every department the unfortunately based on the demo it's not.