[Gonzosports]

It's really a special game, honestly, when it was over, it was bittersweet. Knowing the ending, too, was satisfying, but...bittersweet, the suspense had been so rich.

I know David Cage has said for their next game, they're going to move away from suspense/thrillers - for me, that's disappointing since I think the medium (like films and horror) is perfectly suited for thrillers. And I think the immersion with the plot works really well when heightening the tension.

I'd love to see another thriller. I'm not sure what they'll do.

[MoP]

On their website before the 'modernization', I recall both Heavy Rain and Omikron 2 being labeled as 'in production', so I'm hoping for that.

I was seriously enamored with The Nomad Soul at it's time... I keep meaning to replay it some day, at least to check on that semi-private Bowie concert again

[Burns11]

Their next game could very well be Omikron, but it's hard to say. Originally they announced Omikron 2 and Infraworld were in production, then they canceled Infraworld because it didn't garner any publisher interest and started working on Heavy Rain.

What Cage was saying about Omikron 2 was pretty interesting, to say the least, but it's really up in the air what they plan to do seeing as Omikron 2 was announced before Heavy Rain. Though, the evidence that Omikron 2 is coming is stacking up: Omikron was announced but never canceled, two years ago Fondaumiere said they were now thinking of doing two current generation games with two teams, now Cage is saying their next game might come sooner than you might expect.

[orient]

Intrepid, they had the same split-screen action in Fahrenheit, too and used it to brilliant effect at the beginning of the game, when you're trying to hide a body and the cops are slowly approaching.

As for Omikron, I played a few hours of the original on Dreamcast but it was very awkwardly presented, with muddy graphics, bad controls, and multiple game-play types that were hard to understand due to really convoluted interface design. It was interesting in concept, but I don't think the technology was there, or the design experience. I'd like to see them take a crack at it again, like a remake because I think it could be fantastic, but David Cage said something about Heavy Rain being the last in their trilogy of serial killer games. So who knows.

[MoP]

Hmm, I don't recall any of those issues (apart from the FPS portion being boring, but then again, I find about every FPS boring) ... guess they screwed up the Dreamcast port.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Cinematic split screen effect: Sisters (1973), directed by Brian de Palma.

Originally Posted by orient

Intrepid, they had the same split-screen action in Fahrenheit, too and used it to brilliant effect at the beginning of the game, when you're trying to hide a body and the cops are slowly approaching.

Yes, I know. I played Indigo Prophecy on the first XBox. David Cage works a lot with filmic styles and borrows liberally from past directors, including Hitchcock (Psycho, The Birds), Jonathan Demme (Silence Of The Lambs), and David Fincher (Se7en).

His split screen technique was most likely taken from Brian de Palma, who used it in Sisters (1973) to show simultaneous events on the same screen to effect psychological and emotional tension and suspense. Watch this clip to see it in action.

I think de Palma would be proud of Cage co-opting his cinematic style in a story and character driven drama game where your heart is racing as you try hard to prevent something nasty from happening.

[orient]

Yeah definitely. In Heavy Rain, the part where...(only read if you're near the end)

Spoiler:

...Madison and Ethan are trapped in the warehouse and the split-screen is showing Norman and the other cop approaching from across the street...

...was particularly successful. I was crapping my pants

Ha, I just remembered that Heavy Rain is the first game where I've had to use my tongue to push a button because I ran out of fingers

[Roper Klacks]

Overclocked also used the same split screen technic. Anyway, that style is so overused by now that i doubt anyone (especially de Palma) would be proud for a videogame to use it.

[Gonzosports]

Originally Posted by orient

Ha, I just remembered that Heavy Rain is the first game where I've had to use my tongue to push a button because I ran out of fingers

Ha Ha! I did the same exact thing, I had the controller practically upside down and my hands twisted around and my tongue...uh...out. Glad no one walked in.

[Intrepid Homoludens]

Originally Posted by Roper Klacks

Overclocked also used the same split screen technic. Anyway, that style is so overused by now that i doubt anyone (especially de Palma) would be proud for a videogame to use it.

What other games use it? I'm not sure that it's ubiquitous enough out there to be considered "overused". As with any other technique its efficacy depends on how creatively the director or developer uses it, so you could have a hundred games co-opting split screen mode, yet whereas some games will use it to further the story in a way that one screen can't, others will use it purely for gameplay purposes. As well there is the screen-within-a-screen technique, too, like in Splinter Cell: Conviction, where you monitor another part of the room via your sticky camera in order to gauge locations of enemies and important areas.

What I noticed while playing Heavy Rain and experiencing Cage's use of split screen as gameplay tool is that it sets up simultaneous spacial awareness in relation to where you are and what's going on, at once showing narrative and allowing for strategic gameplay - you see the area you are in by different angles and it's up to you use that to your advantage to navigate the space to avoid detection or gain the upper hand on someone or something, and you do that by recognition of certain details you just had contact with (a flight of stairs, a living room couch, a bed covered in an amber coloured blanket). The key gameplay elements here, however, directly involve the narrative and your emotional connection to the character and situation. Success or failure depends not only on your quickness, but also on whether you remain calm and cautious or anxious and panicky.

What I find so awesomely cool is that you are simultaneously "in" the game controlling your character, and out of the action as an omniscient witness experiencing the story and action. You're both involved and detached.

[SoccerDude28]

Game sells 1 million copies worldwide which makes me a very happy panda.

[Burns11]

I think what he meant was that it's so overused in film, that it's not impressive that it's used in a game. I find, however, that it's pretty moot how overused it is in movies. What's great here is how Cage used it not just a case of that technique being used in a video game.

[Thello]

Originally Posted by Burns11

I think what he meant was that it's so overused in film, that it's not impressive that it's used in a game. I find, however, that it's pretty moot how overused it is in movies. What's great here is how Cage used it not just a case of that technique being used in a video game.

Even so, it's not an overused film technique. It's a recognizable one, but overused? Save for some very particular genres, it's rare to actually see somebody use split-screen in a feature film.

[Ugignadl]

Yeah, I disagree that it is overused. It's certainly 'used' but not overly.

Although I wouldn't even call montage overused. So maybe I don't count.

[Roper Klacks]

Yes i meant in film. Well all you need to do is watch a season of 24. You will have so much of that you will get sick of it right away.

[Veovis]

Just stumbled across this article regarding the quality of writing in heavy Rain.

http://www.gamecritics.com/daniel-we...written-part-1

Again, I loved Heavy Rain, but still agree on many of the points made in the article regarding the lack of logic of the story itself and of the behaviour of the characters in the game. Needless to say, the article is shock full of spoilers, so beware.

I especially found this little segment funny:

Spoiler:

"Even more egregious, come to think of it, is something I didn't realize about Bodega Dad yesterday. He must have called the cops, right? To come and arrest the skel that Scott beat up? And how would that conversation have gone?


POLICE OFFICER
What happened then, Bodega Dad?


BODEGA DAD
Well, the private detective snuck up behind the robber
and knocked him out.

POLICE OFFICER
Private detective? What was he doing here?

BODEGA DAD
He was asking me questions about the Origami Killer.

POLICE OFFICER
Oh, and you said you didn't know anything, right?
Because that's what you told us.

BODEGA DAD
Actually, no. I gave him a shoebox full of clues to the
Origami Killer's identity that I've been keeping under
my counter all this time.

POLICE OFFICER
You gave him what?

BODEGA DAD
Just a gun, a digital camera, memory card, and five
pieces of Origami that are filled with clues that could
lead someone to the killer.

POLICE OFFICER
Why didn't you mention this to the police during the
fifteen interviews you had with them about your son's
death?

BODEGA DAD pauses and thinks for a moment, then-

BODEGA DAD
Because David Cage is a terrible writer.

POLICE OFFICER
You don't have to tell me. I played Indigo Prophecy."

[Sandman]

Finished the game couple of days. I had only 1 hr game left, don't know why I didn't play it through earlier. Anyways; not much has changed for me, the impression remains same more or less. Some of the changes I noticed between the start, the middle and the end.

i. The start is boring. The middle should have been exciting but failed to be. The end was very interesting and somewhat exciting as well.

ii. Unlike the start and the middle, the end was pretty fast - in a good way.

iii. The game suddenly jumped to the end from the middle of the game and fails fails to connect the two parts. There should have been some clues pointing to the killer - there too little dots to connect. You just suddenly find out who the killer is.

iv. Players should have had more control of the characters.

[Sandman]

Might I also add. The character of Ethan was sooooooooooooo boring, depressing, dull and pathetic that I didn't mind putting him through pain without even a 0.1% of sympathy.

[Gonzosports]

Originally Posted by Ugignadl

Yeah, I disagree that it is overused. It's certainly 'used' but not overly.

Although I wouldn't even call montage overused. So maybe I don't count.

The argument shouldn't really be, is it used too much? but, does it work in Heavy Rain. We could discuss wide angle pans, zooms, wipes, which are all used in films to certain effect, but we don't complain about a zoom unless it's jarring, out of place, or doesn't work.

Like all the others, it's a technique a filmmaker - or in this case, a video game designer - can use for different effect. In this case, it's to build tension.

So the question is, does it work, or is it a gimmick?

In certain parts of HR, there are gimmicks that didn't always work - the shaky handcam scenes that suggested to me someone was watching the characters. The split scenes, though, I thought were a total triumph especially the scene we've already mentioned. Really built tension and had my hands shaking a bit.

It really is a tremendous game. I wish it wasn't over.

[Gonzosports]

Two more things - it's not overused, if it was, we wouldn't even notice it (like a pan, zoom, wipe, etc...) but because it's used very selectively, it's why we do notice it.

Jayden and Shelby were my two favorite characters. I loved the interplay between Jayden and the sergeant, though I wish that had been resolved more.