Six Games That Won't Be Worth The Hype

Today's hyperbole, tomorrow's 7/10? Kikizo runs a cynical eye over some of the biggest upcoming console releases.

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Heavy Rain: The Origami Killer
PS3

What they've said about it:

"Maybe it's arrogant to say, but we hope to convince people that games change, and that yes, there are games where you shoot and drive and kill, but slowly, we see appearing a new generation of games where you do different things." - David Cage, Quantic Dream Co-Founder (Gamasutra interview)

"If I had to summarise my motivation for Heavy Rain, it was to create an emotional simulator, use all means to make the player feel something, making an experience rather than just another video game." - David Cage (D+Pad Issue 10 interview)

"Well, at least now we know the game will suck. Slow pace, timed button presses while all the action is automated." - Kikizo forum member immortaldanmx on the first real-time footage

Of all the titles to make this illustrious list, Heavy Rain is by far the most intriguing. Sprung from the perfumed loins of the unabashed games-are-art polemicists at Quantic Dream, it's a deliciously made-up dark thriller in the tradition of The Silence of the Lambs and Se7en, a game that purports to do away with the notion of player death, its branching narrative switching seamlessly to another thread should the character under your control snuff it. Ambition certainly isn't a weak point.

Or is it? This could be that bold next step the adventure genre has been waiting for, but the problem with bold next steps is that they can be wobbly on the landing. The breadth of Quantic Dream's vision could be its downfall: weaving a convincing story whilst allowing for the possible death of every single playable character is a fascinating idea, but the reality may lie beyond the developer's grasp. We're expecting at least one, mildly silly "UFO" finale when Cage's 2,000 page script leaves the launch pad later this year.

Then there's the reliably controversial matter of Quick Time Events. Cage has claimed (see the D+Pad interview quoted above) that QTEs play a "minor" role in Heavy Rain, but given their prominence in some of the trailers, we're not entirely able to take him at his word.

In a game which claims to reach new heights of emotional participation, the appearance of loud, arbitrary, unpleasantly virtual floating button prompts could be a serious buzz-killer - but not an insurmountable one. The QTE-laden Ninja Blade, for instance, gets round this problem by making its prompts correspond loosely to the default combat controls - A is always jump, X and Y are always attack - which allows for something approaching a transparent relationship between an input and the associated action.

If Quantic Dream wants to put any kind of weight on those sequences, it needs to manage this relationship very well - or else confirm the endlessly rehearsed but nonetheless valid hardcore disaffection for such mechanics. There's some evidence that the developer is integrating the prompts plausibly with the situation - e.g. by asking the player to hold an awkward button combination in order to squeeze into a hiding place - but not (as yet) enough.

Mention of Sixaxis support is slightly dispiriting given lacklustre implementation of that technology in the past, though with Flower's example to hand we're keeping an open mind.

Probable appalling reviewer's quip: "Heavy LAME!"

Likely score: 42 branching story paths out of 60

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