JNES and ZSNES.
I've been playing Heavy Rain recently on the "hard" difficulty, and I must say, it is a phenomenal game. It offers a cinematic, emotional story that actually takes place in the real world, rather than the a zombie apocalypse or in a town with supernatural powers. The story really has me gripped, and I am scratching my head trying to figure out who the Origami Killer is, and while I have my suspicions (Lt. Blake for one, and also the creepy clown at the beginning), I am still unsure as to whom he or she is. (Please don't spoil the ending, as I am trying to play for story, and knowing the ending would just kill the suspense.) The game plays out like this:
SPOILER ALERT
The game begins in the footsteps of a normal dad, Ethan Mars, who enjoys playing with his kids and gawking at his beautiful (albeit somewhat bitchy) wife. The family goes to the mall to shop for new clothes for the kids, when one of the kids, Jason, spots a somewhat disturbing-looking clown selling balloons. The dad purchases a balloon for Jason for a dollar, and, as he is paying for the balloon, Jason suddenly disappears. Ethan spots Jason on the ground floor, and goes down after him. He finds him on the opposite street of the mall (how the fuck did he get there?), and runs over to his father. Unfortunately, as this happens, Jason is run over by some woman in a car. She looks shocked (imagine), as Jason's red balloon floats into the sky. Stupid slut. Anyway, there are three other playable characters whose lives tie into the same case, including a woman who enjoys getting naked in the shower as rapists are breaking into her house, a private investigator who is hired to track down the Origami Killer, and an FBI profiler who is trying to do the same (and is easily the least fun to play as).In the meantime, Ethan (now single) is focusing very hard on keeping his remaining son alive, who has become very depressed over his brother's death. Unfortunately, after a trip to the park, his son is kidnapped by the Origami Killer. Predictable, but nonetheless sad. However, Ethan obtains a shoebox from the sadistic killer, giving him the necessary tools to track him down and get his son back and/or lead Ethan into a trap. As you can see, the story is very compelling and interesting, better in almost every way than the Walking Dead's, with even more freedom of choice, a much more original plot,
The only game I can really compare this game to is the Walking Dead, and, like in the Walking Dead, I am making the choices that I feel I would make in the same situation, although the choices are laid out a little bit more of a confusing manner than the Walking Dead's, though they both use the action buttons. Also, to make the choices look and feel like the choices in your own mind, they swirl about the character's head. However, a side effect of this is that the choices are damn near impossible to see all at once, making you blindly pick a certain option when there is a better one available. And, yes, they are timed. With no visible timer. Walking Dead's choice system is far superior.
In terms of graphics, Heavy Rain has Walking Dead beat by a landslide. While Walking Dead had somewhat pretty-looking cel-shaded (albeit crude and poorly textured) character models, Heavy Rain has quite realistic and detailed character models, and even more realistic environments. Walking Dead cannot even compete with this game graphic-wise, though admittedly this is more a fault of Walking Dead's poor graphics and less an incredible graphical feat on Heavy Rain's part. And while we're critiquing Walking Dead's graphics, let's criticize them some more. The game really looks like it belongs on the PS2, rather than any current-gen console, and there are still PS2 games that surpass it graphic-wise, such as Silent Hill 3. You can actually see the 2D polygons on the characters' shoulders, showing the obvious crudity of the models, and each texture's resolution is quite low, drawing from the realism even more. The environments don't fare much better when viewed up close, if they are not prerendered of course. While they appear pretty from a distance, when viewed up close, you can often see the 2D polygons on their models, just like with the character models. It doesn't really look that bad to the eyes, but it is quite a sloppy job when you think about it. The animation can also be quite awkward, sometimes being jerky or distorted. Walking Dead suffers from some graphical glitches as well, such as poorly-done DOF effects, missing character shadows, and unpredictable framerates. However, Walking Dead does have the game beat in other aspects, so keep reading.
Only thing I would have to complain about are the controls. They are unnatural, sluggish, and truly impossible to like, as you have to use the RIGHT ANALOG STICK to interact with just about EVERYTHING, and it is quite difficult to move the analog stick "slowly" downward. You also need to press R2 to walk in the direction your character is facing, which really just doesn't make any sense at all, since most of the time you will just use the left analog stick to move your character whilst clenching R2, as your character only temporarily
glances in a certain direction if you use the left stick to make him face a certain way. Walking Dead improved on the control The game really seems like it was designed for the Move, which I own but really don't want to dig out. Well, perhaps it would be less of a pain if I did.
Overall, so far: 90/100
Walking Dead: 92/100
REASON: While Heavy Rain has the edge in story and graphics (you can literally see some of the polygons on the Walking Dead character models
), Walking Dead beats it by a smidge for its better choice system and pacing, as well as its vastly superior controls.
Again, please don't spoil the rest of the game, since I am trying to play for story, and spoiling the mystery would spoil the game to a certain extent.
