1UP Previews Heavy Rain
1UP has a new preview today of the PS3 exclusive Heavy Rain. Check it out:
Read the rest of 1UP's preview of Heavy Rain here.
Gaming geezers have been eulogizing the venerated adventure genre ever since Tim Schafer's appropriately funereal Grim Fandango failed to set sales charts ablaze. Even though titles such as King's Quest, Maniac Mansion, and Myst were tremendous PC blockbusters way back in the day, publishers have largely abandoned story-heavy, action-deprived fare during the last decade in favor of shooters, RPGs, and racing games. Dedicated fans can still uncover a trickle of lower-profile indie offerings on the PC side, but console gamers seeking "interactive fiction" experiences are usually left with bitter, nostalgia-souring dregs (Leisure Suit Larry: Magna *** Laude, anyone?). But shockingly, an upcoming adventure game has emerged that even has the jaded console community taking notice: Quantic Dream's PS3 exclusive, Heavy Rain.
Although the previous two games to spawn from Paris-based Quantic Dream -- Omikron: The Nomad Soul (Dreamcast) and Indigo Prophecy (PS2/XB) -- were hardly mainstream hits, both pushed the routinely-overlooked adventure genre into daring new frontiers. Surprisingly, QD's third effort, a gritty, film-noir thriller titled Heavy Rain, has already amassed plenty of buzz thanks to a stunning 2006 teaser trailer known as "The Casting." Solely based on that clip's eerily realistic virtual starlet and her unabashedly emotional performance, many gamers who've rarely considered narrative-based gaming are already enraptured.
We recently had the opportunity to get a fleeting glimpse of the game's development in Paris and came away stunned...and confused by what we saw. The title's 100-person team has forged an unbelievably gorgeous graphical engine, yet it's tough to grasp the big picture because QD is keeping nearly every aspect of the game's story line and gameplay tightly under wraps. But hey, who really wants spoilers at this point, anyway?
Heavy Rain's eerily realistic visuals edge ever closer to that fabled "uncanny valley," and it's not simply because QD has thrown plenty of polygons around. In order to capture a believable performance, over 70 different actors have had their faces scanned, motion capture sessions captured, and voice work recorded. The developers believe that it's imperative for a complete performance to be captured from each individual actor, and QD has spent over 170 days creating all the crucial elements of Heavy Rain in its own in-house motion capture facility. Because the team knew that the project would be such a massive undertaking, it purposefully avoided casting big-name stars that would be unable to commit to such a massive, daunting project. Even the game's supporting cast sparkle with believability, as random passersby in Paris were invited to have their face scanned for inclusion in the game. Read More...
Although the previous two games to spawn from Paris-based Quantic Dream -- Omikron: The Nomad Soul (Dreamcast) and Indigo Prophecy (PS2/XB) -- were hardly mainstream hits, both pushed the routinely-overlooked adventure genre into daring new frontiers. Surprisingly, QD's third effort, a gritty, film-noir thriller titled Heavy Rain, has already amassed plenty of buzz thanks to a stunning 2006 teaser trailer known as "The Casting." Solely based on that clip's eerily realistic virtual starlet and her unabashedly emotional performance, many gamers who've rarely considered narrative-based gaming are already enraptured.
We recently had the opportunity to get a fleeting glimpse of the game's development in Paris and came away stunned...and confused by what we saw. The title's 100-person team has forged an unbelievably gorgeous graphical engine, yet it's tough to grasp the big picture because QD is keeping nearly every aspect of the game's story line and gameplay tightly under wraps. But hey, who really wants spoilers at this point, anyway?
Heavy Rain's eerily realistic visuals edge ever closer to that fabled "uncanny valley," and it's not simply because QD has thrown plenty of polygons around. In order to capture a believable performance, over 70 different actors have had their faces scanned, motion capture sessions captured, and voice work recorded. The developers believe that it's imperative for a complete performance to be captured from each individual actor, and QD has spent over 170 days creating all the crucial elements of Heavy Rain in its own in-house motion capture facility. Because the team knew that the project would be such a massive undertaking, it purposefully avoided casting big-name stars that would be unable to commit to such a massive, daunting project. Even the game's supporting cast sparkle with believability, as random passersby in Paris were invited to have their face scanned for inclusion in the game. Read More...
Read the rest of 1UP's preview of Heavy Rain here.