Arcade Berg aka. "Learning Game Design with Arcade Berg"

What am I doing?

Heavy Rain is doing really well in the reviews. I haven't actually read any of them, but Metacritic is my friend at times.

Nor have I played the entire game, only the demo but that's enough for me to discuss one thing.

The other day I was talking to a friend who'd just tried out the Heavy Rain demo on PSN and he said he really liked it. He said he liked that it seems like the game has a ton of story and that he really enjoyed the gameplay.

I agree about the story part, but the gameplay? Come on!?

During the entire demo, I rarely ever knew what I was doing untill afterwards, when it was already done.

Okay, I'm guessing and hoping this is something that has been discussed already in... Every review, but if it is, why is the game scoring so incredibly high? It's at 88/100 right now.

Let me explain. In the game, a bunch of different commands pop up on the screen. A normal situation in the game might offer you these options:

• Pull your right stick right.
• Pull your right stick in a semi circle counter clockwise.
• Press R1.

But the thing is; they don't tell you what each of the commands does. I don't know, maybe you're just supposed to "get it" naturally, but I sure didn't. They try and make them somewhat understandable since pulling the stick right will likely do something towards the right, like reaching out an arm, but I can't be sure.

So... If I press down I'll... Crouch? Go down on someone? Reach into my pocket?

For me, personally, that's completely crazy and I wouldn't dream of doing such a control scheme. However, that being said; I'm not saying it's a bad game. Everyone seems to love it, so maybe it's just me not getting it, and maybe it all becomes crystal clear if I get the entire game.

It's just that I can't let go of this weird design choice. Sure, maybe it's immersive for most, but for me it just breaks my suspension of disbelief.

When I told another friend about my frustration, he sent me a link to one of the comics over at Ctrl-Alt-Delete and really, they nailed it.

http://www.cad-comic.com/cad/20100212 (28/2/2010)

Despite all this, maybe it really is an amazing adventure to be had? I'm not saying it isn't.