Hands-on: Heavy Rain aims to redefine videogame storytelling

Posted on 31. Jul, 2009 by Mark Cullinane in Featured, Hands-on impressions, Interviews, PS3

The adventure game genre has seen something of a resurgence in recent years. Titles like Telltale’s downloadable, episodic forays into the worlds of Sam and Max, Wallace and Gromit, Strong Bad, and most recently Monkey Island have put one of gaming’s oldest genres back on the map. Nintendo’s stylus-friendly DS has played a big part in this comeback, with the system playing host to the likes of Hotel Dusk, Phoenix Wright, and the mainstream success of Professor Layton- all of which belong, somewhat loosely, to the genre. But with just a couple of notable exceptions, from a structural perspective the genre has stagnated, looking back more than forward, relegating itself to a footnote in today’s videogame landscape that is dominated by FPS and third-person action games.

So when I heard that Quantic Dream’s presentation to the Irish press was entitled ‘Heavy Rain- a new genre in gaming’, my interest was immediately piqued. Quantic, of course, were responsible for Fahrenheit (retitled Indigo Prophecy in the United States), one of the most daring and progressive narrative-driven titles of recent years. Like that game, Heavy Rain aims to push back the boundaries of videogame storytelling- this time, on the much more technically proficient PlayStation 3. Of course, this ‘new genre’ isn’t a new genre at all. Rather, it’s one that has been perpetually promised, but never realised. I speak, of course, of ‘interactive movies’- the holy grail, the mother of all mashups. Heavy Rain’s ambitious goal to merge the atmosphere of movies with the interactivity of videogames and make it work is a laudable one. But can they pull it off, or has the French developer’s reach exceeded their grasp?

Well, the presentational nous of Heavy Rain suggest that Quantic have mastery of this aspect at least.

These are what Sony’s Kaz Hirai might call ‘true generation quality’ visuals. Don’t you just love Engrish?

It was immediately evident from the first scene (no ‘levels’ for you, sir) that Quantic are taking full advantage of the PS3’s graphical horsepower. As one of the few studios with their own in-house motion capture studio, Quantic are really pushing the boat out with Heavy Rain, which uses real actors (who, according to Quantic Dream CEO and producer on the game, Guillaume de Fondaumiere, were all required to memorise their lines). Having gone hands-on with a demo of the game, I can confirm that Quantic’s promise of ‘acting, not animation’ is not just PR guff. It blurs the line between computer graphics and genuine acting far better than anything I’ve seen to date. Silky-smooth motions, naturalistic faces and even eye movements beautifully mirror their real-life counterparts, taking videogame characters ever further out of the uncanny valley.

Outside of the stunning character modelling and animation, Heavy Rain’s environments also look suitably gorgeous. While only two scenes were shown at the event, a rainy car salesman’s yard, and a bustling nightclub, it is evident that Quantic have some serious chops when it comes to graphic design. The nightclub was particularly impressive, with scores of people busting a move on the dancefloor, kissing, and doing whatever people in nightclubs do. It was all very impressive, and demonstrative of the intricate attention to detail Quantic are lavishing on Heavy Rain’s environments. Even collision detection is several notches above the norm- the way your character winds her way through the sea of revellers is quite remarkable to observe.

It was a touch disappointing, however, that the attention to detail failed to extend to the framerate, which, according to my admittedly unscientific naked eye analysis, was in the mid to high 20s, dipping occasionally when things get particular taxing for the processor. For a game that strives to emulate a filmic experience, adopting a low frame rate may seem appropriate (movies are typically displayed at 24fps) but in videogame form, it jars somewhat- with the occasional slow-down serving detract from the otherwise immersive presentation. C’mon, guys- If Retro Studios can do Metroid on Wii at 60 frames per second while looking better than any other title on the system, surely there’s scope for improvement on the HD consoles.

But I digress.

Aside from the beautiful visuals, de Fondaumiere told us that the team’s key aims with regard to the storytelling are to to create genuine, fully-fleshed out characters, eliciting emotional resonses from the player, and the ability to dynamically alter the progression of the story through the player’s decisions.

Indeed, Quantic are promising that the player has a lot of scope to experience Heavy Rain their way. Whilst the adventure genre is renowned for its linearity, the developers are promising that there are multiple paths, options, choices at every juncture. While he wouldn’t be drawn on the specific number of endings available to the player, de Fondaumiere suggested that of much greater import is the ability to naturistically experience the game as a player-driven narrative, rather than merely traversing through a series of predetermined waypoints, as is genre convention. He did admit, however that you won’t have the ability to radically the alter the storyline- but this was to be expected.

But for all Quantic’s bluster about “interactive storytelling”, “creating an emotional experience for the player” and other such lofty promises, what I was really interested in seeing was how successful the developer has been in meshing these aspects with gameplay. After all, there’s a very good reason why developers stopped talking about producing ‘interactive movies’ years ago-  nobody has figured out a good way of doing it yet. So, all the advances in motion capture tech and branching plotlines could easily come to nowt if Quantic don’t get the gameplay right. Simply put, the quandary is this: Give the player too much control over their character and creating a coherent storyline becomes impossible (even giving the player a gun would be dangerous- what if you had the ability to kill off characters at will?). Offer too little interactivity, too few player freedoms and you’re left with a linear, on-rails experience that is less game and more cut-scene.

Quantic’s novel approach to interface design suggests that de Fondaumiere and his team at Quantic are more than aware of the inherent incompatibilities of the movie and video game forms.

I told you the faces looked good.

Pleasingly, there’s no HUD to speak of, with only the occasional icon appearing on-screen to notify you of context-specific actions available. Indeed, apart from walking around, just about everything in Heavy Rain is context-sensitive. You can’t, for example, pull out a gun, or even crawl. Each of the game’s four player-controlled protagonists, however, has a signature ability. In the demo I played, FBI agent Norman Jayden has access to a pair of high-tech glasses, which enables what Quantic call the ‘Added Reality Interface’- essentially a sort of scanner which allows the player to see and identify concealed or curious objects.  Interestingly, de Fondaumiere noted that this is just about the game’s only technological flight of fancy, with the rest of the game remaining firmly rooted in the present day.

At any time you can call up your character’s ‘thoughts’ to get hints or, which manifest themselves as floating text rotating around the character. Intriguingly, the content, speed and shape of these thoughts are all affected by your character’s psychological state, which is in turn influenced by your choices and actions. It’s another example of Quantic’s ambitious efforts to involve and immerse the player in the tale- and another feature which is difficult to pass judgement on from a brief demo.

The game also utilises a pretty novel approach to how you use your controller to interact with your environments. Rather than pressing a button to open the door of a car for example, you ‘unwind’ the animation using the analogue stick. A small touch, to be sure, but it is an idea that extends itself throughout the game- rather than apply lipstick to your character, you ‘draw’ it on with the analogue stick.

However, for all of Quantic’s little innovations in gameplay, there were some jarring gameplay frustrations that quickly made their presence felt upon taking a Sixaxis in hand. Chief among them is the undeniably awkward control scheme. Controlling your character is uncomfortably tank-like, and bears comparison with Resident Evil’s universally-panned movement. Yes, it’s something I anticipate that most players will get used to, but as it stands, it is a barrier to the kind of immersion Quantic are so keen to create.

Of more fundamental concern is the game’s apparent reliance on- yes, you knew this was coming- quick time events, which seem to kick in with alarming regularity.

When I put it to de Fondaumiere that the gameplay seems to depend quite heavily on QTEs, he first replied, with a glint in his eye, that Quantic refers to these as ‘PARs’ or ‘physical action reactions’. While I initially chuckled, the difference is admittedly more than semantic- whilst QTE commands are, as their name implies, designed to be inputted rapidly, actions like opening doors in Heavy Rain do not require speed. Yet, there are plenty of instances- fights, particular, where these PARs play out identically to QTEs in games like Resident Evil 4. de Fondaumiere went on to say that the team have worked hard to make sure that the response time was good, and that

Additionally, the game’s focus on player decisions extends to PARs, too: in the garage fight scene I played, missing a PAR doesn’t necessarily result in death, but rather leads to a different path for how the fight will play out.

Whilst De Fondaumiere said that the physicality of the sixaxis control (which often involves shaking the controller) is meant to reflect the physicality of what’s happening on screen, I find it very hard to buy this argument. If years of waggling Wii Remotes and nunchuks have taught me anything, it’s that quick-time events- even motion-controlled ones- rarely contribute to immersion, and add little to gameplay.

Yet, in answering my question about the suitability of QTEs in games, de Fondaumiere makes the valid point that in narrative-driven games, there is no current better alternative in action scenes. It seems that like democracy, Quantic’s approach to the interactivity versus storyline coherency problem in the adventure genre seems to be the least worst solution, rather than an ideal one.

Indeed, whilst I have deep reservations about the pervasiveness of QTEs as a proxy for more conventional character control, at least Quantic are trying to make them engaging and responsive. And while recent (and admittedly very playable) adventure titles like Tales of Monkey Island or Another Code R hide behind the archaic conventions of their genre, Quantic Dream are genuinely grappling with the huge the challenge of preserving a consistent and engaging storyline with similarly engaged gameplay. While the jury remains out on whether they’ve managed to strike an appropriate balance, it does demonstrate that Quantic are asking the right questions- and in a genre and an industry that too often seems content to relive old glories, Heavy Rain is a bold and confident step into the future of videogames.

Personally, I don’t know if videogames should be chasing Hollywood’s tail, but there most certainly is a dire need for intelligent storytelling that can inspires emotional responses in the player. To what extent Heavy Rain will bridge the gap between games and movies is impossible to ascertain from a brief demo, but my gut feeling tells me that this should be a significant step towards a more perfect union.

Many thanks to Neil and Gráinne from SCEE who kindly arranged the hands-on playtest and interview.