Episode 111 - The Pizza Choice - Heavy Rain

If you’re looking for rain, dead bodies and podcasts, you came to
the right place. Welcome to Mystery May! This time we’re starting
with an arguably pretty contentious (or at the very least
pretentious) title in Heavy Rain, a game developed by Quantic
Dream. Heavy Rain is essentially an adventure game that is loaded
to the brim with quick time events and branching narrative paths.
Say what you will about the core engagement present here, but a lot
of the story elements are pretty intelligently designed with paths
branching and reconvening convincingly around a mystery that
actually pulls off its twist elegantly. Other elements of the game
don’t age quite as well, with stiff animations and a voice cast
that fluctuates wildly between solid performances and laughably
inconsistent ones. For these reasons mostly, this is a game we
recommend enjoying (responsibly) with a few beers by your side or
at least a couple of friends. We’re going to be talking about what
the game gains by treating one of its characters mostly as a
mechanical punching bag, how QTEs play out as the primary
mechanical interaction and when it feels appropriate, and we debate
the appropriate time to describe something as “in shambles.” I
realize this is the second episode we released this month, but just
bear with me. Or pretend that Dragon Age is more mysterious than it
probably actually is. Either way, thank you for joining us for our
most unlikely of continuing traditions. Did the mystery land with
you in this game? Were you able to look past the gameplay itself to
find something enjoyable underneath like we did, or does David
Cage’s name equate itself to poison in your mind? Let us know in
the comments or over on Discord! And if you thought QTEs were a
dated mechanic, we invite you to brace yourself, because next time
we’re going to be talk about the most classic of point and click
adventure games: Grim Fandango! We hope you’ll dust out your A
drives and plug in the PS/2 connector of your IBM Model M keyboards
for it.