I've watched videos on youtube and heard good and bad things about this game. I'd like to turn to everyone here in the forum whether I should play this game or not and if I have missed out on a great game.
I've watched videos on youtube and heard good and bad things about this game. I'd like to turn to everyone here in the forum whether I should play this game or not and if I have missed out on a great game.
It depends on what you like in a game. The story, writing, voice-acting (for the most part), music and visuals are all top notch and precisely why the game is worth playing. The gameplay itself is barebones and based almost entirely on quicktime events. So, if that type of game sounds appealing to you, you should play it.
I personally loved the game and thought it was one of the best of the last generation. And honestly, you can get it so cheap now that if it even sounds remotely interesting to you, it's worth picking up.
You're not really missing much. Gameplay mostly consists of some relatively simple puzzles and a lot of QTEs. There are a few investigation bits that require a little bit of detective work that are pretty cool, but they alone can't really elevate the game to any notable level. As for the story, it might seem like an intriguing mystery at first, but it's filled with a lot of sloppy writing (contrived coincidences, holes, dropped plotlines, etc.) and melodrama. To say nothing of the ridiculous romance and six scene that it tries to pull (but which is thankfully optional). It does admittedly pull some neat tricks; the game won't end if some player characters die for instance, but the result is that those characters just feel kind of pointless (the Madison character feels like she's just there for uncomfortable fanservice more than anything).
Really, the big reason to try out Heavy Rain is to experience the novelty of it, but even that's likely worn off at this point due to Telltale's efforts.
I thought it was a pretty cool game. I played it back when I had a GameFly account, so it was worth it to play it through once.
I felt it did do some interesting things with the design, and the gameplay segments sometimes play in quite nicely with the mechanics (don't want to get into spoilers though.) Sort of one of those games where your enjoyment probably comes down to how much you're willing to just go along for the ride. If you can invest yourself in the game then I'd say it's a lot of fun. There's some interesting twists and characters even if some things just don't make too much sense.
One suggestion though - this is a French game voice acted by mostly French actors. I'd recommend setting audio to French and playing with English subtitles - the voice acting is good, but not everyone was as successful with their American accents (particularly the children.) If you don't mind reading subtitles, I'd say listening to the audio in the actors' native language is the better experience.
Thank you everyone for helping me with this. I look forward to playing this game than. I have made my decision to get it and I like what I hear. I will go out and play it for sure.