I think the moment when I knew, without a doubt, that I could not take Heavy Rain seriously, was when the detective starts having an asthma attack and you have to quickly and methodically check all of his pockets to find his inhaler. Then, once you find it, you have to shake your controller to shake the inhaler prior to using it.
Similarly, the sequence in which you get into the car, buckle up, adjust your mirrors, turn the ignition, and do not get to actually drive the car. That one, to me, really exemplifies this title. You do all this mundane, fiddly stuff, but the things that could make a fun game are always dangled just out of your reach.
I wanted to like it. Really, I did. Our friend Jason considers it his favorite game of the year (thus far), but try as I might, I just can’t figure out why.
It gets better, since according to people who HAVE played through the whole thing, it seems the asthma thing is dropped entirely for the rest of the story after the early bits of game. With no reason ever given. Which just makes that bit more annoying and meaningless.
I think the moment when I knew, without a doubt, that I could not take Heavy Rain seriously, was when the detective starts having an asthma attack and you have to quickly and methodically check all of his pockets to find his inhaler. Then, once you find it, you have to shake your controller to shake the inhaler prior to using it.
Similarly, the sequence in which you get into the car, buckle up, adjust your mirrors, turn the ignition, and do not get to actually drive the car. That one, to me, really exemplifies this title. You do all this mundane, fiddly stuff, but the things that could make a fun game are always dangled just out of your reach.
I wanted to like it. Really, I did. Our friend Jason considers it his favorite game of the year (thus far), but try as I might, I just can’t figure out why.
It gets better, since according to people who HAVE played through the whole thing, it seems the asthma thing is dropped entirely for the rest of the story after the early bits of game. With no reason ever given. Which just makes that bit more annoying and meaningless.