Heavy Rain Retrospective

So I just recently finished my first playthrough of Heavy Rain (review to be featured on The Daily Gamer sometime this week) and with the recent PS3 wordwide crash I thought I might take this downtime to reflect upon my experiences. Obviously there are spoilers ahead for anyone yet to finish the game, but I’m sure some will still read out of temptation and complain that I spoiled the game for them. Nothin I can do about those peoples aside from tell them to GTFO plz, kthxbai.

note: this isn't a proper review of the gameplay/presentation, just my own reflections of my story.

SPOILER ALERT!!!

In short, I’m disappointed with my experiences in Heavy Rain. This doesn’t mean that I’m displeased with the quality of the story or characterisation, but more that I am not happy with the outcome that my actions lead to. I may have succeed in saving Shaun Mars from the Origami Killer, but the final outcomes for the main cast left me with little emotional attachment.

Firstly, Ethan Mars SHOULD HAVE DIED! In my story, my choices lead him to be a father in search of redemption; a man willing to do anything to repair his relationship with Shaun. While the earlier challenges posed little more than ‘risk vs reward’ scenarios, I really had to reflect on if it was worth sentencing Ethan to a certain death for the sake of his son. Giving in and taking the poison was one of the more powerful moments in the game and the developers should be rewarded for creating such a set-up. And to only fail and select the wrong address in the end (a fault of my not noticing how obvious the real location was) felt like the ultimate punishment for a man who was destined to fail. Which is why I was ready to start writing death letters to the development team when the epilogue showed Ethan still alive and developing a stable relationship with his son. A can appreciate the final test being more psycological than fatal, but the way in which it was presented felt as if it should have ending with an actual death.

And speaking of actual deaths, Madison’s death at the hands of the Origami Killer was a fault on my part (and I am willing to accept it) but I can’t help but feel her involvement in my story felt tacked on. I wonder if I were to go back and have her not help Ethan when she first saw him at the hotel, would the story have just gone on withoutany of her scenes? I didn’t hate her investigations into the killer, on the contrary I actually found the chapter with the doctor to be the most thrilling of all, but since the parts of the mystery she revealed were never relayed to Norman/Ethan, her story continued to feel separate rather than connected. Prehaps if she had survived her encounter with Scott, she would have felt more important to the outcome of the story.

Instead that role fell to Norman, the FBI agent with a drug habit and Batman-like detective vision. Looking back, the complaints I have about Madison could just as easily be applied to Norman if he had died instead of her. But with her dead and Ethan MIA, he became the centre focus for the final chapter and the overall hero. The changes in character perspective in the overall game feel as if they are little more than to flesh out one main hero’s journey, but until the last chapter that hero for me was Ethan. The sudden change of having Norman come in and be the saviour was abrupt and would be somewhat confusing in a storytelling perspective in my opinion, but as I stated at the beginning, issues like these were the end result of the choices I made so I cannot hold the game responsible for its storytelling methods.

END SPOILERS!!!

I think my overall complaint with this method is that the game holds onto all its secrets right until the end. On the first playthrough, the player is doing little more than blindly fumbling through the story with no direction of what outcomes will be had from his actions (assuming hint guides and walkthroughs are not used). When every PS3 in the world stops dying and I go back to play through the game with different choices, I feel like this will be the story that should have been told the first time around, a directors cut, if you will. With the overall story arc now revealed to me, I can succeed in making the right choices that will lead to a conclusion that I will not lose sleep over. But maybe I’m complaining over nothing, maybe this is how Quantic Dream wanted me to experience the story; constantly making mistakes that will lead to an outcome that I do not fully expect, and to rectify my errors only when I have a full understanding of the story at hand.

Film review - Zombieland

I'll make a quick note to start things off: I find the term 'zombie' to be politically incorrect and offensive to those who have difficulties staying dead. So I shall try to get through this review without throwing the term around to the point that I will be sued by the corpse of Bill Murray, now let's start reviewing.

It's hard for me to enjoy movies about the non-living. Aside from the fact that we are already a bunch of brain-dead drones (as proven in Shaun of the Dead), the people in these movies all possess that irritating brain pattern of doing obviously stupid things leading to their immediate deaths. Z-land scores points right off the bat by having what are possibly the most intelligent people ever portrayed in an undead survival movie.

The 'rules' used by one of the main protagonists are pretty much what viewers have learned after years of watching people get caught off-guard and losing brains. Their continuous pop-ups during the movie put a smile on the viewers face, which will probably stay on there thanks to the constant humor.

Yes, Z-land is quite funny at times. While it is nowhere near the level of English wit features in Shaun of the Dead, Z-land relies on a more American type of humor – meaning in-your-face pop culture name drops a la Family Guy. If you can stomach these kind of laughs, then Z-land is one great roller coaster of fun.

If past movies in the genre have annoyed you, or you've grown tired of the same formula, Z-land is a must see. On your way to the cinema, be sure to remember rule #3 – wear seatbelts.

Nobody Miniviews - Afro Samurai

I can't say I was expecting a samurai-themed video game staring Samuel Jackson to hold back at any point, but like so many game adaptations something feels off the moment I start. Maybe its the overuse of in-game symbols in the loading screens alone – more teddy bears than I need to fill my bed. Or maybe its because even the lowly grunts of the video game world take more effort to bring down than Afro ever needed in the hand drawn world.

Even with the comical slapstick of another Samuel Jackson character (since he needs a minimum of two roles in any movie/game/book ever made) doesn't feel right. Maybe its because instead of my bizarre id, he has had to take up a second job as a checkpoint marker to the end of a level. I know the economy is tough all round, but taking it as far as stylised feudal Japan shows how bad it is.

Well if there aren't enough coins/headbands to go around in tough times, I could always thin out the numbers with my trusty pointy object. But for some reason grunts don't fall into a million pieces on the first swing like they used to. Obscene video game rule # 258 “all sharp weapons shall do motherfucking all when trying to cut artificial life”. Oh, I may have spoken too soon! It seems faceless bad guys can become confetti if you rip off The Matrix and slow the fuck down. Motherfucking Success!

Miniviewed by Steven Janjic

email @ nobodygaming@gmail.com

Nobody Miniviews - De Blob

It is amazing what developers are allowed to get away with in games that are labeled as 'kid friendly'. Mario is pardoned for mass genocide of a kingdom of turtles, not to mention his highly questionable fixation on shrooms. And here we have a 12 and under version of V For Vendetta. All these 'bad guys' wanted to do was create order and stop all those people distributing child pornography. Is that such as bad thing? Apparently so, because rebelling against authority is quite fun when you are a walking paint brush.

Rolling into town seems simple enough. Those janitors hired by the new regime seem to have done a good job in cleaning up this town, but now it seems kinda....boring. Wonder what they will say if I make a few trees red. Hmm, no one seems to be complaining – maybe a building next, or why not half a dozen buildings? Hey, now someone brought out the funky tunes in acknowledgement of me, and he knows how to play to my groove. Chillax time is a go!

But it seems the man doesn't quite want me chillaxing. For some completely stupid reason, there are time limits and high scores. However, since there are enough bonus time and points scattered around this totalitarian town, kinda seems that taxpayer dollars are going to waste with this scheme. And while I'm bitching about pointless ideas, whoever legislated that all jumping be regulated to swinging around wiimotes should be removed from office faster than Richard Nixon. But there is no time to complain, I seem to have earned a bajillion points and extras just by doing my own thing in town. Someone bring out the margaritas – the party is off the ball n chain!

Miniviewed by Steven Janjic

email @ nobodygaming@gmail.com

Nobody Miniviews - Assassin's Creed

The atmosphere in the 12th century holy land is as washed out as the colours of the city walls and people. The flicking of the screen and unknown voices really put me in Jerusel- wait, screen flickering?Who and what are these omnipotent beings talking out of sight? And why am I a human lab rat in the future instead of a crusaders era assassin? Alright alright, I'll bear this science-fiction reject stuff if it means I get back to 'ye olde thyme' faster. Yes yes sit in the machine, suffer through a pointless tutorial, can we get on with it please?

Alright I'm in, but something still doesn't feel right. This is a video game, but Atalir is strangely well-endowed for a prologue. After killing a few guards and starting to enjoy myself, I discover Atalir suffers from a Metroid complex – the process of teasing players with a fully powered figure only to rip it away from them instantly. How someone forgets to tackle or shrug off being grabbed I don't know, but Atalir has found a way. Seems if I want all the swag returned to me, I gotta be a good dog and do grandpas chores; eavesdropping on who people think will be voted off Idol this week, and occasionally putting sharp objects into these people. So when do I get to start running around 12th century rooftops?

Finally out of the assassins castle, but now where the hell am I? It's going to take at least a week to reach Damascus with every single guard chasing me unless I walk at the same pace as an old man. And just when you need it, you remember that Atalir still hasn't remembered how to fight against the medieval police. How exactly does someone forget how to parry? Oh well, maybe the sci-fi rejects can answer that?

Miniviewed by Steven Janjic

email @ nobodygaming@gmail.com

Broken Taboo + Nobody Miniviews

Yes I know the Platinum rerelease art is disgusting and ruins any style that boxart would otherwise posess, but for $15 it is hard to complain for something that will be this awesome. Of course I wont get much chance to play until after my rerun through Assassins Creed (for research purposes) but considering how long it will take to download all the new updates, I'll still be waiting for them to finish in 2011.

On the topic of reviews, since no one is calling shots on me at the moment and I've been looking for an alternative to just giving games random numbers out of 5 I will be introducing Miniviews starting this weekend.

One thing that I feel many reviewers overlook is the first impression that games give players. Like a publisher digging through a slush pile of writers, if a game fails to capture its audience early on, there is little incentive to pursue further. The idea is to avoid analysing gameplay mechanics and leaving a number at the end to rate my experience. And like a good piece of writing should, it wont go on for longer than it needs to (250-350 words is more than enough for this) This doesn't mean no more traditional reviews, but until I find a format that I feel suits my writing it is gonna be this kind of stuff instead.

Look forward to the experiment!

Cheers

Wii Sports Resort launch

Plenty of crowds to get through at EB tonight, but its all in the name of Nintendo so it wont matter too much that a few children get crushed in the sea of peoples.

Can't say I blame them either. Mx pretty much guaranteed some presence at the event by promising free copies of Wii Sports Resort to the first five people to arrive, which was pretty much gone by 6pm (not bad for a launch starting at 10). Things didn't get much better out in the cold when the pre orders were piling up at the last minute as you can see belows.

Now enough wasting time and get back to killing your 56k connections!

Too sleep deprived to add the usual witty/annoying comments, so take what you get and enjoy it! Now is my time for my passing out, Cheerzzzzzzz*sleeps*