Another recent title with a similar philosophy to Heavy Rain is Silent Hill: Shattered Memories, but it's also console exclusive (Wii, PS2/PSP). The game builds a psychological profile of you, the player, by analyzing your in-game actions and adjusts itself accordingly. While it's very story-driven and there's no combat, there are chase sequences in which you flee and hide from enemies.

Back to Heavy Rain:

Thanks!

Getting into specific spoilers, now:

It seems I have lost some information - how does Madison know about the existence of the Doc and an apartment in Marble St.?

She mentions that Mendez is the guy who rented the apartment, also - I have to be careful, he may be the killer.

I don't remember anything happening before the Doc chapter that would make her aware of that.

It's explained briefly at the beginning of the chapter; her buddy/contact, Sam, did some digging into the apartments for her and located the owner, the good doctor. They're discussing it as she's riding her motorcycle. "Mad? It's Sam, I got your information..."

The apartment in question is the one she followed Ethan to, where he faced his third trial, The Lizard (you know - chop-chop! ::wince:: ).

Thanks Feeb88, yes, I heard that but somehow I had forgotten about it.

The Lizard ouch!

I just saw the title of the game & related it to being one being released as a similar game to Indigo Prophecy/Fahrenheit. I've read through all of the posts - it seems to be a game that has only been released on PS3? - is that right? If so, I am just lucky enough to have one by default!

Anyway, more importantly! what I would like to know is how does it compare to IP/Fahrenheit? - i.e. If I liked that game (which I did because it had a compelling story but found controls very difficult!) how would I find Heavy Rain?

chrissie, it compares very much to Indigo Prophesy, unfortunately. IMO the controls are not as bad, however I find them extremely frustrating. There are sequences when I feel I need a third hand to be able to press all the buttons at once, particularly because one does not know in which order they will appear.

There is a Demo in PS3, very short though, when I played it I thought about Indigo Prophesy but I didn't know it was from the same people. In this Demo one cannot appreciate neither the good things the game offers nor the full complication of the controls but it gives an idea.

The main difference with IP is that you don't have to pass the most difficult sequences to "advance" in the game but this is at a cost - letting one of the characters down or even get him/her killed because of ones own "clumsiness".

All in all a very good game, very absorbing, but with some nasty scenes and IMO awful controls.

Yep, there's no mistaking Heavy Rain for anything other than a Quantic/David Cage game; it's essentially a refined and streamlined spiritual successor to IP. In other words, exactly what I was expecting.

The story is greatly improved, I thought; it isn't perfect, but they didn't needlessly tack on the mystical elements (or the crazy superhero hijinks) that nearly ruined Indigo Prophecy's. This is much more of a pure psychological thriller, though a few of the set pieces tread into action-movie territory.

The controls weren't terrible to me, but they're certainly anything but standard. The stick motions, as previously mentioned, are back in full force, but rather than the Simon minigame, HR utilizes the face and shoulder buttons of the controller; the prompts are cleverly placed into the scene, now, and they're fully animated, adapting to character movements and camera angles as needed. So if, for example, a character throws a punch, the "X" button might appear on the fist, and follow the arc of the swing. It's all very slick and you're never taken out of the action as you were in IP. Some sequences do involve holding down a number of buttons at a time, but these are supposed to be tricky and frustrating; they certainly are for the characters! The unpredictability of it all added to the tension, for me, though there is a weird sort of logic to every button press. I haven't tried anything other than the default difficulty, but I'd assume Easy mode has less prompts and/or you're given more time to complete them.

Thank you mcc & also Feeb88 for the very informative feedback! I'm very tempted now to buy the game but I will almost certainly be playing on 'Easy'!

I finished the game yesterday. My all impression is the same I had

I would no recommend the game though to particularly sensitive people since it is very depressing.

I could not complete the driving at all, I am used to driving vehicles in games including against time but it is always as in this world stirring the car but not having to worry about pressing other buttons. I realized that since I was too far from reaching the goal I wouldn't be able to make it even if I "cheated" and restarted the chapter. Even when I knew the game would carry on no matter how I did in the trials I almost gave up playing it. I had heard it was a game of choices but if couldn't do what I wanted to do it meant I was not really making choices but my fingers did

I decided to give it one more chance and I am glad I did. That trial was far worse for me than the rest of the game. Later on I pressed the wrong buttons and one character died, but even when I left it this way I knew I could make it if I decided to replay the game for a different ending.

To be able to be ready for the sequences I had to miss a lot of the action itself though , but I managed to save all the other characters and reach a "good" ending.

The game freezed more than once but I could go from the same point even when having to quit and go out sometimes.

I found also some inconsistencies but to point them it would be too big spoiler. Maybe someone opens a BIG SPOILER post where there could be open discussions about the endings.

MCC, feel free to start one--just put Big Spoilers in the title so folks don't learn more than they want to know

I noted the dark tone, too, in an earlier post, but I wouldn't want people to think it's all dreary and dismal. It's designed to provoke a whole range of responses from you; there are some moments of happy relief, too, when things actually go well. But, yes, definitely, anyone who doesn't enjoy having their emotions tested by their games should steer clear!

You know, it's funny. I had no problems with Heavy Rain's controls, but there's a similar quick time event sequence in the new Resident Evil 5 DLC where you have to play the piano - don't ask - which annoyed me to no end at first - and it required only two possible buttons! Talk about irony.

There are a few genuine plot holes, unfortunately, mostly minor; but others do have plausible explanations, they just aren't explicitly mentioned in the game.

I had problems for a while, when I bought the PS3 a year ago, with the right stick of the controller with the cursor flying all over the place , fortunately this didn't last.

Many games require pressing buttons in a quick response, but in this one at times I though I would need an extra hand

I played Resident Evil 5 and loved it. Do you download the DLC from the PS3? I haven't played it.

PlayStation has been my console of choice for as long as they've been around, so I don't know what it was about that sequence. In HR the quick time events felt appropriate, though I can't say why; but lazy developers clumsily tossing them into their games left and right, for the sake of it, is getting old.

I miss the old style of survival horror - evade, conserve, survive! - but as an action game RE5 is great.

Yep, it's all done from the console. I'll shoot you a PM as I fear I've gotten us a tad off-topic.