Are you excited for Quantic Dream's Heavy Rain? It's difficult not to be -- the developer has been wowing gamers with the game's tech for years, with lifelike visuals that promise to bring out emotions of in-game characters like never before.
Judging Heavy Rain on its visual merits is one thing, but with Quantic Dream promising a mature and compelling experience like we've never seen in gaming, expectations are through the roof.
But is Heavy Rain even a "game" at all? Quantic Dream co-CEO David Cage isn't so sure, as he recently explained to me what makes Heavy Rain truly unique. When trying to describe my experience with the game to him, I used the words "interactive movie" for lack of a better term -- Heavy Rain's gameplay isn't typical. There aren't any set goals or challenges; Cage describes it as a "journey," and I tend to agree.
"Heavy Rain is about playing with a story almost in a physical sense, changing it, twisting it, discovering it, making it unique, making it yours," he explains.
"Using the term 'interactive movie' to describe Heavy Rain has been a tricky question from the beginning," he continues. "It is in many ways what Heavy Rain is -- a visually told story that the player can affect by his actions."
But he's quick to distance himself a bit from the term, mostly due to the negative connotation gamers might have. Early "interactive movies" would offer up a series of scenes for players, offering them mostly meaningless choices from time to time. Despite the fact that Heavy Rain offers a very different experience to those "interactive movies" of old, Quantic Dream still had to field negative comments from people ignorant to how to the game is actually experience. To many people, Cage says, there's simply no other way to tell a story but through cut-scenes.
"In Heavy Rain, the player is in control second to second," he explains, "he tells the story through his actions. All this is done in a very fluid, seamless way, with no cut scenes, no big flashing sign to make decisions, and this is what makes the game really unique."
But because the game is so unique and shies away from videogame design conventions, he's hesitant to call it a "videogame" at all.
"Heavy Rain is not a videogame anymore in my mind," he says, "because it breaks with most of the traditional paradigms, but it's fully interactive."
"If the format becomes successful," he suggests, "we will probably have to find a different name for this type of experience."
Based on what you've seen of Heavy Rain, what would you consider it? Check back in tomorrow for my full preview and impressions, with more insight on Heavy Rain from Cage himself.
Contest:
7:00 PM on 12.17.2009
| 
Hooray?
Hype your product as a "game" for years at a time, saying it's the "best game ever".
Before release, say it's not a game, so the movie-goers will buy it.
My swami prediction? This game will be critically acclaimed, yet it will tank.
What a dick.
depends how you look at interactivity. if you're talking about interacting with an interface, then yeah, but if you're talking about interacting with the game itself, most games feature super low levels of interactivity. most campaigns, like modern warfare 2 for example, only feature 2 possible outcomes, die or get to the end of the level. it's the formula that's been leaned on since pac-man and mario. games like KOTOR started messing with changing the reaction of NPCs to the player, changing the outcome of the story arc, etc. based on the player's actions throughout the game. hopefully heavy rain is looking to take what those games have touched on and throw it to the extreme. looks dope!
yeah we know it, the game is good... if you still want to call it like that
Except we don't since it's not out yet, and since it seems like unless you are totally immersed by the story you'll hate it since it's gameplay is nothing but QTE.
excited? uh, no, not in the slightest. 'optimistically curious', yes. it's pretty hard to get "excited" about something you know virtually nothing about.
uhmmmmmmmmm.
Still sounds kind of wanky though.
I'll certainly rent this, and I really hope it turns out good, but so far I get the feeling it will be a Mirror's Edge situation where it looks great on paper, but in practice will fail miserably.
Hell, I think Modern Warfare is an interactive movie.
I'm not sure I understand where the line is. Apparently this guy is the Jesus of video games or something though... or not... since this isn't a video game. I don't get it anymore.
We have a word for interactive movies. I believe they're called videogames.
It will be so good, we'll probably need to come up with a new name for it.
"Breadsnack"
That was my whole point, videogames means a lot of different things. Not all games are interactive movies, some are, etc. etc..
Maybe the dude had a stroke, suffered some memory loss and now is talking forgetting he's said that before, so people think it's new insight?
I don't know. Just thought it was weird, like he only just said this.
Also, considering they were the developers behind Indigo Prophecy, which was pretty much an unplayable storyline that really, *really* didn't want to be a video game, I have a hard time mustering anything above caring for this game.