A Few Thoughts Had While Anticipating Heavy Rain

One of the freshest games to be released this generation is Heavy Rain.  Many say that Heavy Rain is a sort of 'next step' in interactive storytelling.  This is countered by my former roommate.  He gave up on the thing after one or two gameplay sessions.  A seasoned veteran had met his match.  I have no doubt that he could have completed the game, but not without something he hasn't had to deal with in a long time - not knowing what to expect.  The beginning of the game didn't grab him, but that happens all of the time.  Here though, Heavy Rain is at a distinct disadvantage.  If you've played an FPS you can pretty well gauge how the campaign will progress.  How can anyone, even a seasoned gamer, predict how Heavy Rain will progress?

Even though Heavy Rain is seen as a high-water mark of this generation, it too is part of the problem.  Many don't remember Indigo Prophecy, (or Fahrenheit, as it was known outside of North America)  but my brother was an avid fan.  I played much of the game, but didn't finish.  Still, it was a truly unique game.  The gameplay mechanics weren't always the most enjoyable, but they were also new.  There wasn't a game that Indigo Prophecy played like.  It was on its own.  This isn't true of Heavy Rain.  Heavy Rain plays like Indigo Prophecy, albeit a far improved Indigo Prophecy.  Heavy Rain has a lot more going for it, but as soon as I played a demo, I knew it was by the team behind Indigo Prophecy.  The controls aren't actually carried over from Indigo Prophecy, but the feeling is almost identical.  It's based heavily in narrative-progression sequences, the controls are explained to you in-game as you need to use them, and maybe most importantly - being good at other games has almost no bearing on your ability to complete either Indigo Prophecy or Heavy Rain.  Comically they even share the weather elements.

Jeez this Quantic Dream really loves their precipitation. 

Word is that developer Quantic Dream is not going to work on any sequel to Heavy Rain.  This seems appropriate, as they now have an image as visionaries to uphold.  My worry is that the next Quantic Dream game will fall into the same patterns as the two aforementioned games, even though it's said not to be another murder mystery.  Heavy Rain saw financial success despite its seeming lack of mainstream appeal.  The challenge for truly visionary development teams is to continually release products that beat the odds the way Heavy Rain did.