Now, you have no way of knowing if that will provide you with information later on. It’s just that you don’t notice them in the demo.įor example, in the Sleazy Room section you can leave a Contact Card in case the character you are visiting has any more information. Saying that, it doesn’t mean that what I had done wouldn’t impact later on in the game. The biggest change is if you win or lose the fight scene. Unfortunately, after three playthroughs I had basically exhausted all the options with very little difference in the outcome.
I had planned to go through this demo at least four times to try and explain how different actions create different outcomes. It turns in to a watery pool with whatever image you paused being distorted with raindrops. It just isn’t your standard freeze frame. If you get the demo, just pause the game once. The game is atmospheric and the music is perfectly played out in the background to create that all round film noir setting.Īn honourable mention must go to the pause screen. It is completely different to anything else out at the moment. Jerking the controller in a downward motion could mean a head butt and turning the right analogue stick slowly could mean applying a bandage. The control scheme is inventive and actually relates to what you are doing. It does go to show the amount of work that Quantic Dream has put in to the title. The characters are lifelike, react to outside stimuli and the lip synching is amazing. This game also has the best motion capture I have seen in a videogame. The detail on the character models and surroundings has to be seen to be believed. I was amazed at the graphics in Uncharted 2, but in Heavy Rain I was blown away. Obviously, the first thing that I noticed when playing through the demo is how beautiful this game is. After explaining to some cops that you are Norman Jaden, an FBI agent, you are granted access to a crime scene.Īfter another conversation with the detective on the case, you find out that the body in the crime scene was likely to have been killed by the origami killer. After a quick stick flick you exit the car. Once the fight scene ends, a few words are exchanged and you leave, allowing the demo to move on to the last section, The Crime Scene. It may sound like a lavish QTE section and that may be accurate, but a QTE has never made my heart pump faster and have me worry about missing a button press, because you never know what the consequences may be of a failed button press. It is brilliant to see how the fight turns out depending on what buttons you miss and also makes you wonder what would happen if you missed that button press, or if you made that button press. You effect the outcome by pressing the precise button combinations, but the prompts are fired at you in such a quick fashion that you are bound to miss some. The fight scene is fully choreographed and could be viewed as a cut scene. Do you leave the building or do you go and investigate? If you leave, then you leave the motel and the demo moves on to the next scene, but if you investigate, you enter into one of the best things about the demo, the fight scenes. Once you have dealt with the asthma attack, a man enters the apartment you just left. I may be wrong but this is the first time I have seen a control scheme so directly linked into the emotional state of your character, which it then passes on to you with increasingly difficult to execute prompts. Which inevitably results in panicking and failure. I have heard that these can become blurred or even upside down, depending on the situation. If it is an intense, stressful situation, then the prompts shake. If all is calm, then the prompts are static. This scene shows off another cool gimmick: the prompts react to different scenarios. After a few button presses you pull out your inhaler and have a quick puff. Upon heading to the stairs you are struck down by an asthma attack. This is a rather nice gimmick as it allows you to interact with different things whilst the conversation carries on, resulting in no boredom as you are not forced to watch the scene unfold in a static cut scene style.Įither way, you end up leaving the apartment. If you manage to do that, then the screen splits into two, with one focusing on you as you freely walk around the room, whilst the other focuses on the other character. You can either get kicked out and learn nothing of value or you can persuade them to open up and tell you the information you need to know. Depending on your approach, the conversation will vary as will what information you get.