One reason why Gray Matter is particularly promising is that the development team included Jane Jensen, the person responsible for the popular point-and-click Gabriel Knight series from the 90s. With this experience and heritage under its belt, will Gray Matter bring the genre refreshingly up to date, or will it be too stuck in the past?

A tale where not everything is black and white
Arguably a point-and-click adventure is nothing without an interesting storyline, and thankfully Gray Matter delivers this in abundance. Taking the role of quirky alternative girl Sam, your motorbike breaks down, forcing you to seek refuge at the creepy house of Dread Hill, owned by the mysterious Dr Styles. So far, so generic. Thankfully however, the plot develops in a much more fascinating way than the intro could lead you to believe. Sam ends up working as Dr. Styles’ assistant, gathering subjects from the nearby Oxford colleges for his experiments, and uncovering mysterious paranormal mysteries that beg to be solved.

Hmm... homely.

The storyline is often communicated through animated cut-scenes, which do the job but are a bit basic, with characters and objects just literally sliding around rather than being properly animated, akin to an amateur Flash movie. Okay, I’ve probably made them sound worse than they actually are, but the bottom line is that they can sometimes look a little clumsy and awkward, like trying to create a romantic lovemaking scene with hand puppets.

This certainly doesn’t take away from the compelling narrative that unfolds, however. You discover that Dr. Styles tragically lost the love of his life several years ago, and his life has been disrupted and solitary ever since, always living in the past and refusing to move on. When Sam first arrives at the house you have the chance to explore, and listen to her comment on all of the bizarre furnishings and knickknacks to be found. Several chapters in though, and you take control of Dr. Styles himself, who then guides you through the house from a much more personal perspective. His recollections of how beautiful his deceased wife Laura looked in the dress that still hangs in his closet, and how she brushed her hair in her vanity mirror every day are resonant with emotion and really tug at the heart-strings.

Clicking finger at the ready…
Gray Matter gameplay-wise is a classic, old-school point-and-click adventure game through and through. Little has changed of the basic mechanics through the years, although there are just a few concessions to the modern audience, like detailed progress meters displaying how far you are from solving a mission, and the map highlighting locations of importance and greying (or should I say graying) out places that you can’t do anything more in for now, saving you from pointlessly wandering around in irrelevant areas like a muppet.

This game certainly still requires patience, however, with puzzles ranging from insultingly easy to exasperatingly difficult. Some of the solutions are staring you right in the face, but others are truly a little obscure and need to be solved with brute force trial-and-error… or a quick Alt-Tab out into Google…

This game is no walk in the par... oh wait

The puzzles are usually well-crafted and rewarding on the whole, at least. An interesting twist is that Sam is an amateur magician, and beguiling others into giving you what you want often involves performing a magic trick. These are listed in a pocket-book that she carries around, and you will need to pick the right trick for the situation, and plan out all of the steps in advance. It’s a shame that you often feel detached because of this pre-planned method, with no real direct interaction. Games of this genre by nature rarely involve true real-time interaction though, usually letting you take as much time as you need to solve a puzzle… or do they?

Heavy Rain is essentially a point and click adventure game that has been properly updated to the 21st century, and features a lot of ‘Simon-Says’ style button mashing that directly affects the outcome depending on your performance, even possibly killing off your character. Whichever style you prefer is down to personal preference, although I feel both are equally as valid, even though Gray Matter’s gameplay is essentially about twenty years old.

There are some other flaws in the design, however. For instance, Sam at times has the amazing foresight to know exactly which magic props she needs to buy from the local magic shop ready to solve puzzles that she hasn’t even encountered yet. Spooky future-predicting magic, or just sloppy game construction?

Now that I think about it, I could do with a nap... and a brain dissection

The interface and controls at times are also terribly clunky, with characters sometimes getting confused and walking around in circles when you’re trying to tell them where to go, and the magic book mystifyingly taking a frustrating amount of time to navigate. I’m sure my Amiga could have handled the page turns faster. Some trigger points are also a bit too well hidden in the levels, and can be awkwardly all grouped too close together, leading to you end up pressing the wrong object.

It’s all too easy to forgive the majority of Gray Matter’s shortcomings however, as by and large it’s a captivating game drenched in atmosphere, and driven on by an engaging story. Solving its many puzzles will make you feel like a detective genius, and there’s always the option of a cheeky peek at a walkthrough if you get hopelessly stuck; life is too short, after all.

Brains AND beauty?
The visuals of Gray Matter are a mixed bag, as the cut-scenes are massively underwhelming, and character models are adequate, though not overly impressive considering the amount of potential graphics processing power that could be available, thanks to the majority of the game being rendered in 2D. Its saving grace are that these 2D backdrops are at least beautifully drawn, with a real painterly feel and gorgeous little details embellished on to avoid them looking too static, like puffs of smoke from chimneys.

Gray Matter... in jars?

The presentation overall is a little lacking, though, with in-game menus and interfaces like the magic book, trick setup menu and computer screens looking a bit naff. This is a lower budget title however, and it can’t be disputed that Gray Matter certainly looks more up-to-date than its ancestors.

Music that Matters
The sound of the game is actually surprisingly well done. First and foremost, the major relief is that the voice acting is pretty competent. Point-and-click adventure games involve a lot of your character talking to you and others, so shoddy voice acting would have made it a nightmare. Some of the lesser characters are perhaps a little more amateurish in performance, but on the whole the voice-overs are fitting to their roles and a joy to listen to.

Furthermore, the music is perhaps an even bigger achievement, with a folk theme tune that ties in with the storyline (think modern folk music, not lutes and pipes), and a score that is very effective at evoking atmosphere throughout the game’s numerous settings.

Puzzled over the verdict? Not at all
Gray Matter has not left me disappointed. In fact, I was pleasantly surprised to find one of the most engaging storylines in a video-game that I have seen in a long time. The gameplay provides some rewarding brain teasers, and the practically faultless audio is the icing on the cake that really helps bring it all together.

A woman walks into a bar, and asks for a double entendre. So the barman gave her one. *grabs coat*

I know I said that Heavy Rain feels more modern in its gameplay, and it is certainly the more visually attractive of the two, but having played both I have come to the shocking conclusion that I actually enjoyed Gray Matter more. It’s not just a compelling game, but also an enthralling work of fiction. If you don’t have the patience for this genre, then steer clear (although you’re missing out), but for anyone who’s willing to happily get absorbed into a thought-provoking and charming narrative, then point your cursor over to your favourite online retailer, and click the ‘Buy’ button.

There are some surprisingly big titles mentioned in the following article, so make sure you let us know what you make of it all in the comments!

Normal service will resume next Tuesday!

Well, this was pretty easy in the end, as to be fair, before I played my choice this weekend just gone I was struggling to think of three games that I was really disappointed with. Hell, even a game as revered as Mass Effect 2 nearly made the shortlist, as while I enjoyed it thoroughly, I was disappointed by the absence of the brilliant RPG elements that Bioware made so enjoyable in the first. Instead it’s a recent acquisition that started off so promising, but quickly ended up being such a massive disappointment that I just can’t bring myself to finish it. Step forward Undead Nightmare.

Anyone who knows anything about me knows that I love zombies. If I also mention that I was a huge fan of Rockstar’s DLC strategy for GTA IV then this should have been a forgone conclusion for a positive experience, surely? Sadly, for Undead Nightmare, I also loved the main Red Dead Redemption campaign (it was nearly listed in my runners-up for GOTY in fact) but where that had great mission structure, variety and lots to do; this just doesn’t. The characters are still brilliant, the b-movie vibe is fantastic, but this expansion is happy to stick with two samey mission types throughout, and that gets old, real fast. Throw in the fact that it won’t offer up the final mission until I’ve endured enough of the boring, repetitive bullshit it wants me to chore through before it gives me the green light, you have one unfinished game and 800 wasted Microsoft Points.

Runners up: Alpha Protocol, Heavy Rain.

My gaming disappointment of the year was a tough call to make. There were several that didn’t really live up to my expectations, but there was one game that I wasn’t expecting great things from as soon as previews started to crop up, and my doubts weren’t completely unjustified.

Final Fantasy has always been a franchise I have adored. Final Fantasy VII was my very first gaming experience so it’s extremely special to me. After being bitterly disappointed in all Final Fantasy games after X, I was really hoping that XIII would go back to basics and I could finally re-declare my love for the series.

Why on earth Square Enix thought it was a good idea to get rid of all towns, NPC interaction and physical shops I will never know. All my favourite things about this stunning series had been stripped away and replaced with bitter simplicity, a button bashing battle system and a plot that was like riding a train in a straight line to its final and disappointing destination.

There is no doubt that FFXIII is a visually stunning game, but give me sprites and good game mechanics over 3D rendered CGI animation any day.

Runners up: Fable III, Red Dead Redemption.

My biggest disappointment of 2010 is unquestionably PES 2011. Now I know what you’re going to say, “PES has been poor for three years” and you’d be right but stupidly this year I fell for the Seabass charm. I played the demo, a lot, and honestly felt the game had genuine promise this time around. So much so that I went and bought the game on release day at the expense of the latest FIFA title.

Now don’t get me wrong here, there is a genuine improvement in this years addition of PES and as I stated in my review, I did get some enjoyment from the game (not least with the Master League Online mode) but overall I was disappointed that it didn’t reach the level that the demo and Seabass had promised. The biggest issue I have with the game is the fundamentals are all wrong; the basics of the game are missing. The inability to force your team mates to run ahead of the ball is, in my opinion the biggest single flaw of any video game because it continuously leads to a lack of flow and rhythm to the game which any football fan will tell you is probably the key feature of the sport.

Suffice to say have learnt my lesson and regardless of the claims of the developers I will not be fooled again next year!

Runners up: Crazy Taxi, Ninety Nine Nights II.

Over the Years the FIFA franchise has had a roller-coaster ride of highs and lows. It started off as a must have game when was first released, I remember FIFA 96 was pretty awesome back in the day. Just like in the real game, dominance is hard to maintain and that is exactly what happened as the dark days came in the form of ISS (or PES as it is now known), which became the must play soccer simulation. EA’s franchise was relegated to a bit of a joke such was its fall from grace, with hardcore console football fans laughing at its ridiculous fast pace, stupidly unrealistic gameplay and cricket like score-lines. The slump lasted until 2007, when FIFA had a major overhaul, and with PES struggling to impress (particularly on the Xbox 360), EA’s soccer franchise unleashed a wicked tackle on Konami’s genre leader and found itself back in the game. The rise has continued over the last few years and FIFA has turned the game on its head to go in front of its rival in almost every area on the pitch.

Sadly, though, last years FIFA game may have been EA’s last stroke of tactical genius, as this years edition seems to have pulled up with a severe looking injury. The problem with FIFA 11 is that it is far to similar to last years instalment and there is no obvious improvement one year on. They’ve added the ability to play as the goalkeeper in the “Be A Pro” mode and added a “Create Your Own Team” option (only if you do so on a PC and then port it your game though), as well as the tidying of a few glitches and issues. For me, though, it just isn’t enough to warrant the tag of a brand new title, and I hate having to pay another £40 for a game I seemingly already brought last year.

I have found FIFA 11 boring and so similar to 10 that I have had no enthusiasm to play it, and that’s really sad when you consider how much I loved last years version. EA need to go back to the drawing board and make that game changing substitution, otherwise they may well find PES drawing level or even going ahead once more.

Runners up: Smackdown vs. Raw 2011, A lot of Arcade titles.

There have been a lot of hyped-up titles this year, and to be fair, many have delivered. One game was really hyped up for one reason though, a number in fact: 256. This year’s biggest disappointment for me is MAG, an online shooter that promised a lot of things; to be a true MMOFPS with kickass tactical gameplay, and most of all to support 256 players at once. What’s more, this was to take place not on the PC but on the Playstation 3, and was in fact one of the main titles I was looking forward to trying out when buying the console as a late-adopter.

Well, they managed to make 256 players work at once, which is undeniably an achievement. The amount of work that they probably put into this was arguably to the detriment of everything else, however. The visuals are muddy and plain, controls and physics are clunky and the maps and weapons are appallingly unbalanced at times. To the developer’s credit, they continue to support the game with patches, new content and even Move compatibility, but to be honest I can’t see any amount of polish helping what is fundamentally frustrating, dull and flawed.

Runners up: Final Fantasy XIII, Bloodbowl: Legendary Edition.

Unfortunately, Deadly Premonition creates a lot more questions than it answers. Developed by Access Games, I think I can quite honestly say I have never, in my many years of gaming, come across anything remotely like it. Available for a mere £15-20 at release, this astonishing piece of… I don’t know… has been in the making for a long time, originally intended as a budget title on PS2. I’m guessing they just had far too much fun making it to be bothered about releasing it any time sooner, so who knows how many years down the line, here it finally is, on the Xbox 360.

Previously during the investigation…
The storyline is loosely based on the plot of a 1990’s TV show called Twin Peaks, and by loosely based on I mean completely carbon-copied. You play FBI Agent Francis York Morgan, a completely socially inept narcissist with multiple personality disorder, severe nicotine addiction and a belief that his coffee can predict the future. The game sends you out on a case to Greenvale Town, after a young girl is murdered and strung up on a tree. Technically, there are two playable characters: Agent York himself, and his invisible friend Zach, who he talks to on a regular basis.

Well, would you look at that Zach? A mini person

As soon as you arrive at the town, you crash your car and are faced with hordes of oddly flexible zombies wanting to stick their appendages in your mouth, and the game only gets weirder from there. The storyline is quite hefty, involving investigating around the bizarre town and its even more bizarre residents: all sorts of eccentric characters await, such as Sigourney the pot lady (she luuurves her cooking pot).

The whole storyline and atmosphere of the game feels distinctly like a B-movie or TV show, but in a good way; there is even a ‘previously during the investigation’ recap, each time you boot it up. Not to mention, it’ll probably last you somewhere between twenty-to-forty hours, depending on your enthusiasm to tackle the fifty possible side-quests. These days when titles like Call of Duty and Halo, with millions and millions of dollars poured into them, end up with campaigns that you can complete in your lunch break, this isn’t to be sniffed at.

Furthermore, the game’s story is communicated to you by an impressive amount of cut-scenes. If Metal Gear Solid does your head in with its ‘movies within a game’, then so will this, which can have little button presses to make for up to half an hour at a time. If you’re quite happy to put up with these though, the huge amount of side-quests and cut-scenes really develop the characters and story of Deadly Premonition, both of which are some of the most uniquely crafted I have ever seen in a video game.

Resident awful
Off to a good start, then. Onto the gameplay. Deadly Premonition plays like a mixture between Grand Theft Auto and Resident Evil. “Awesome!” I hear you cry. “Not so!” I cry, in return. ‘Flawed’ is an adjective that describes this game through and through. The controls feel very reminiscent of Resident Evil, and I mean before Capcom realised they were rubbish, and made them competent. Shooting requires standing still on the spot, and flailing the laser sight round until you get an ‘x marks the spot’ on a zombie’s head. Which by this time, is probably already just centimetres away, mouth agape and getting undead spittle all over your nice suit.

The consequence of too much Yogalates

The shooting mechanics aren’t the worse part of the game, however. These feel sublime in comparison to the driving elements. Not only does the game suck any possible fun out of it by restricting you to police vehicles and to driving at the speed limit, but the handling and physics are abysmal. Cars are unhappy to do anything other than go in a straight line, and joyfully bounce off anything you ram in to, including the giant zombie dogs that inexplicably spawn on the roads late at night.

Deadly Premonition also feels determined to get in your way and make things difficult. Not necessarily the combat, which isn’t too challenging save for a few exceptions later on, but in fact everything that shouldn’t be difficult: trying to pick an item up when you have a full inventory for example (an easy mistake), makes you stand on the spot and read through the painstakingly slow text, completely vulnerable to any bendy zombies nearby wanting to hump your face.

Perhaps chief among the bad design decisions of the game is navigating the map, a scarier experience than all the game’s zombies put together. For starters, once it has finally loaded, it is zoomed in too far, and doesn’t let you actually get a full view of the map no matter how much you plead with it. There is also no way to jump to your position, set waypoints, or in fact anything remotely useful. This is appalling in a title that is so heavily based around travelling from mission to mission, and exploring the town.

It’s a shame that it’s so hard to find your way around, as there’s a lot to find when you have a good look. The residents of the town all live out their lives realistically, and will often tell you different pieces of information and give you different side quests depending on where they are, and the time of day. A lot of these are mundane fetch quests, but they’re worth it for the extra tidbits of back story and the items you can get; weapons with unlimited ammo, and a radio that enables fast travel for example.

Take the children, just spare me!

There are also mini-games on offer, although these are best left well enough alone. A driving mini-game sees you pointlessly driving around the town through checkpoints to background music that sounds oddly reminiscent of Green Day’s ‘American Idiot’. This lasts far too long, and to be honest anything that requires you to drive any more than is already necessary, is a foul, torturous creation.

Another delightfully joyous option is a fishing mini-game, something that might have been good fun if it just relied on timing when the fish bites like Animal Crossing, but instead stupidly works on a frustrating slots-like system that relies mostly on luck and often just leaves you with nothing, and steals your bait.

How well-made are the main missions though? Technically, not much better. Agent York ‘investigates’ by killing zombies and finding clues, each one playing a short film over and over, every time revealing a bit more about how the killer operated. An interesting idea, but it’s a bit dull watching the same scene several times. Zombie encounters are also very repetitive; zombie comes out of wall, groans, you enter a whole clip of ammo into it, it groans again, and keels over, wailing what sounds like “I don’t want to diiieeee…” rinse and repeat. Wall crawlers are one exception but no less repetitive, requiring just running backwards and forwards down a corridor, and firing away into its bullet sponge of a body in the short timeframe it is actually vulnerable.

Isn't this all a bit soon? I prefer to at least have dinner first

Every so often the ‘Raincoat Killer’ comes along too (the murderer), necessitating hiding in a cupboard and twiddling your thumbs whilst he slowly scours the room, or performing a surprisingly harsh quick-time button event. He then, for some unfathomable reason, waggles his finger in a “naughty, naughty” manner and buggers off in a huff. I wish I was making this up. There are so many ridiculous happenings in this game, you’re constantly left wondering what’s going to happen next. Warning: next paragraph is a mild spoiler.

Example: After fighting some zombies, York’s investigative buddies turn up (most of the time you get the impression the zombies are all in his head: no one else ever sees them) and they find a woman hanging from a rope above a rather large, pointy sculpture. Efforts to get her down fail, and York has to heroically jump to save her, in mid-air. The woman is madly deluded and goes on a sexual rant about how she wishes to be penetrated by the arousing sculpture, and then the sculpture falls on top of her, squishing her into a bloody mess. After this extremely bizarre and dramatic situation, the music abruptly changes into an upbeat tune, and then what can only be described as a detective dog enters the scene, and happily leads you through the blood-stained building as if nothing has happened, to find someone locked in a cellar. What the fu…

So much of Deadly Premonition is simply beyond comprehension. I don’t know if it’s a bug or on purpose, but lollipops respawn infinitely, for instance. Another thing is that for some reason, this game has a basic life-simulator built-in. York needs to eat and sleep on a regular basis, and must even shave to avoid growing a beard, and change his clothes otherwise they become dirty and smelly, attracting flies. This is yet another charming, yet baffling and utterly useless aspect of the game.

Cigarettes help you advance time, and coffee tells the future. What do harder drugs do? Influenced the development of the game, no doubt

This doesn’t look so good, Zach
When considering the graphical quality of Deadly Premonition, several phrases come to mind; “it’s what’s on the inside that counts”, “looks not even a Mother could love”, and “holy shit, blood is physically seeping from my eyes”. This is such a despicably ugly game that will make you want to weep, boot up some Crysis on maximum graphics settings and purify your dirty, contaminated soul.

Often the game has an unexplainable magenta hue, and is rather lacking in contrast, resulting in appearing a bit washed out. This is the least of its worries though, with woefully blurry textures, starkly plain scenery, animations that degrade to a couple of frames a second when any character or monster is a few metres away, and object models that range from almost-this-gen, to N64 quality (trees are constructed of a few 2D sprites interlocked to produce the effect of 3D, remember when games used to do that?)

To be honest, after playing for a while your eyes adjust to the visual disgrace, especially considering all of the other crazy stuff that’s going on. The graphics are quite appropriate really, considering how terrible most of the rest of the game is.

I think it's f***ed, Zach

Like a massacre to your ears
You’d be forgiven for thinking that after hearing what the graphics and gameplay are like, that the sound in Deadly Premonition is probably also dreadfully implemented, and that’s because you’d be right. In concept, some of the tunes are quite appropriate for the game, and some are even quite catchy, like a certain one I can’t stop whistling. Other music includes a freakishly bizarre jazz piece and the aforementioned Green Day tribute, and whereas these are arguably deplorable, they fit with the absurd style of the game pretty well.

The problem is, from a technical stand point, the sound is awfully done. Sometimes the music blares out during a cut-scene and completely drowns out a character’s dialogue, which makes you thankful for the subtitles enabled by default. The choices at times are also absolutely mystifying, jarringly playing a chirpy little number when there’s some real serious business going on, about as tastefully done as playing Queen’s ‘Another One Bites The Dust’ at a funeral.

The dialogue is also ridiculously cheesy, over-acted and just downright abysmal, and hilariously so. Conversations you participate in are fascinatingly wacky, letting you learn all of the eccentric townsfolk’s life stories, and sharing anecdotes over dinner about past brutal murder cases, of killers slaughtering women and using their skulls to urinate in and drink out of (something York cannot abide, for its bad hygiene practices). As an added bonus to keep you busy on the otherwise tormenting dull driving trips, York will regularly talk to Zach about all sorts of daft topics, like past murder cases, movies and punk rock concerts ‘they’ve’ experienced.

Well, after an extensive autopsy examination, I can conclude that the victim is indeed dead.

What do you think, Zach?
In conclusion, Deadly Premonition is bad, really bad. In many ways, it’s built so poorly it would have still been shameful back in the PS2 days. The driving controls are cringe-worthy, the combat is pathetic, the implementation of the background music is about as successful as the launch of the Titanic, and I’ve probably not seen a game this generation look quite so foul. On top of this, the game regularly makes absolutely no sense whatsoever. In fact, I could go on all day about the dire features of this game, but then I would be missing the point.

Deadly Premonition, by either ingenious development, or much more likely, an absolute miracle, is somehow too hard to properly dislike. It emulates cult B-movies perfectly, and if I’m honest, it was its unparalleled, ludicrously brilliant awfulness which kept me playing the game. The outlandish story, characters and atmosphere are just too genuinely likeable to pass up, and quite often I had to literally hold back tears of laughter.

I have no doubt as to which award to give Deadly Premonition: and that is a ‘Try it’ rating, because absolutely every gamer owes it to themselves to experience it at least once. I mean it.

As someone who loves a good story with his interactive entertainment, I could see that this new control scheme definitely had potential, only it would take nearly five years for Quantic Dream to return with their much-hyped ‘whodunit’, Heavy Rain. This game has seemingly become a title that Sony is banking a great deal on for 2010 considering the financial clout that they’ve backed it with, and for a game that could hold limited mass market appeal, that decision could seem to be a bit of a gamble. So how has it turned out? Well, it’s quite hard to say.

Why does it always rain on me?
Fear not dear readers, as someone who’s not a big fan of spoilers, I will not be releasing too much information about the plot here past the basic setup, as the story is that important to the experience. Over the course of Heavy Rain, you’ll be taking the role of four different characters, each with their own vested interest in unravelling the mystery of the Origami Killer. The serial killer in question has a long history of kidnapping young boys, drowning them in rain water, then leaving their corpses in an abandoned area with an Origami animal and an Orchid. His latest victim, Shaun Mars, will have a drastic effect on the lives of our four protagonists.

The story here is really the main focus of the entire game, and while studio boss David Cage might make comments of pretence about the game being more of a Hollywood project, the plot is far more TV Movie than Hollywood. Don’t get me wrong, as far as story-based games go it’s pretty ably written, and has a great impact; it’s the driving force that will make you want to play the game over and over to see what happens in different scenarios, but let’s be honest, there won’t be any Oscars heading in Quantic Dream’s direction. This is made worse when you realise that certain choices you might make can very well create plot holes. I can’t really go into great detail without spoiling major parts of the plot, but these will become more apparent once you’ve have had a number of playthroughs, and these things mostly come into play in dialogue. Fahrenheit fans and detractors alike will be pleased to know that Heavy Rain avoids the sharp downward spiral of farcical plot devices that the former is famous for. The plot here is more believable, consistent and the experience is much better for it.

What the story does very well is pretty smart characterisation that successfully allows you to bond a little with the characters. This starts as soon as you pick up the pad. Opening as doting father and family man Ethan Mars, you are teased with the perfect life, a real slice of the American dream. In this early portion you are encouraged to get used to the controls by performing some mundane chores such as cleaning your teeth, getting dressed and working your way around the house.

This may sound dull, but it’s these little moments of humanisation that helps create the empathetic bond with Ethan, and makes his future struggles seem much more important to you rather than leaving you as a distant puppeteer. Each of the main characters has their own inner demons and weaknesses that make them appear believable, and this is deeply important if you’re going to get any enjoyment out of the game. That’s not to say that the game hits the target of ‘emotional rollercoaster’ that Cage had been banking on, far from it, but the characters definitely have just about the right amount of padding to make you give a damn about their outcomes.

Heavy Rain, not Silent Hill.

Fahrenheit with waggle
One of the major things that has really annoyed me when I’ve read other reviews out there on the interwebs, is the designated writer referring to Heavy Rain as an ‘experiment’ or that it’s ‘unique’ as if born of habit rather than observation. If these terms were at all applicable to Heavy Rain, then it wouldn’t simply be the slight evolution on Fahrenheit that it is. If it really is an experiment, then it’s one that begun back in 2005.

Heavy Rain takes what Fahrenheit did well with its control scheme and incorporates it far more smoothly both visually and effectively into the gameplay. The biggest difference here is navigating the various ‘sets’ you’ll encounter. Holding R2 will start your character walking, and then you steer them with the left analogue stick. As mentioned before here and here, this will initially seem very clunky and counter-intuitive, but after a short while of walking around like the T-1000, it will click and soon seem a very natural control method. At any point while you are in ‘free’ control of the character in this fashion you can hold L2 and see what thoughts are buzzing around the characters head, pressing the corresponding button will see that thought read out in the characters inner-monologue, in much the same way as conversations are handled.

Like with Fahrenheit, the general actions throughout the game are handled through context sensitive analogue stick movements and quick time events; basic actions such as picking up a cup might require a simple quarter circle motion, jumping in a certain area will require a simple up motion. There is some evolution in this system, some actions might require a gentle and slow approach, and are signalled by the on-screen directions displaying a broken border. Actions that require you to be quick are signalled by a timer appearing within the prompt. Motions that ask for a character’s strength or concentration are generally managed by constant button taps. There are also moments where you’ll need to hold more than one button at a time until one of the prompts has disappeared, and these moments are usually when someone needs a run-up or is climbing through something.

Yet again on a PS3 exclusive, I’m left pondering the use of the six-axis; I’m not entirely sure what I make of it. While still remaining context based, the waggle factor that plagues most Wii games seems completely out of place, even in a game that creates a great sense of pressure and panic throughout the storyline. With a game so story heavy, even one that puts you in moments where you have to think quickly on your feet, shaking the pad to strangle someone or struggle with a door consistently pulled me right out of any immersion the game had previously created.

What is totally different to Fahrenheit, is that you don’t have to manage your character’s mental health or morale, nor does it matter if you get caught by the cops. If any of your characters die, the story will simply evolve and end logically without them, although it obviously won’t be a very happy ending.

Yes, she DOES get them out. *Fist pump!*

The game runs at a pretty slow pace all round, so fans of fast-paced action should probably look away, however that doesn’t mean that the game can’t create a sense of urgency. It is undeniably those pressure cooker situations when the game is at its absolute best, forcing you to quickly make decisions that are genuinely uncomfortable to make. It is both interesting and satisfying to see where these choices take you in the branched story structure; however none of it changes all that drastically as the various scenes transpire until right at the end of the game. You might get different information, other characters might appear or be missing in certain situations or certain scenes might play out slightly differently, but the outcome of each will inevitably be the same with just a few possibilities. While the impact of your decisions will definitely be felt, especially at the end, it does take away that sense of freewill that was promised when the hype machine was rolling into town.

Another thing that strips away the sense of freedom is that there are certain objectives that you absolutely must achieve before the game will allow you to end a scene, and its here you realise just how restricted you actually are within that contained environment. What is true though, is that there is enough flexibility over the entirety of the game, that once you’ve completed the story and seen what sequence of events happened in your ending, you’ll think back to certain points throughout and wonder what might have been had you taken a different option, which gives Heavy Rain its replay value. In the past week alone I’ve played it three times, and there are still things I want to go back and find out.

I’m sad to say that there are potential technical issues to be found, there have been reports by others about crashing scenes and music stoppages, however my experience thus far has been entirely flawless… when playing the game in a natural manner that is. In my second playthrough I discovered that on a few of the scenes I was able to effectively break the game on purpose. I stumbled upon these moments by accident, and won’t disclose how I achieved them, however it would lead to the main character flickering, getting stuck in an object or disappearing altogether for the remainder of the scene. Aside from that, I personally had no other issues, but just be aware that your initial experience might not be as flawless as mine.

This week on 24: Jack Bauer lets himself go...

Water, water everywhere, but not a drop to drink
It is true, Heavy Rain will probably be one of the best looking games you will play this year, but then admittedly it’s doing a lot less than most other titles do at any one time. Character models are absolutely outstanding (in spite of some pretty disturbing teeth work in some cases), and exhibit pretty believable flaws and mannerisms. It’s also fair to say that when looking at a character’s face it’s not often you are left in any doubt about what the character is feeling, much to the testament of Quantic Dreams character work here. What I did notice, having just watched the Hitman movie, is that I recognised a couple of the peripheral actors from somewhere. They were in Heavy Rain… That’s right, a lot of the characters are actually modelled on their voice-actor counterparts (thanks IMDB), and the likenesses must have been modelled masterfully for me to instantly recognise them when seeing them in another medium.

The environments and sets are also beautifully rendered, featuring some amazingly atmospheric effects, however a lot of the objects in the world are at noticeably lower resolutions to everything else; not enough to do significant damage to the visual experience, but noticeable nonetheless.

Splish-splash I was taking a bath
Heavy Rain features what is easily one of my favourite original video game soundtracks since Bioshock hit two years ago. Dark, dramatic and powerful; it nails everything you’d want to accompany a thriller, even slowing to a mournful and thoughtful pace when required. It’s a score that instantly creates atmosphere, and with this type of experience that’s all you can ask.

As well as the general story is written, some of the dialogue really isn’t delivered in a manner that compliments the rest of the game’s presentation. One of the characters that typifies this is drug addled Federal Agent, Norman Jayden. Norman is voiced by British actor Leon Ockenden, and his poor American accent really stands out against some of the better deliveries in the game. I’m not against British actors taking on US roles, it can work; see the performances from the cast of the tremendous Band of Brothers series for proof of that. Hell, some of the other Brits in the game provide some brilliant voice work, but some of it is hit and miss. The dialogue is mostly enjoyable and conversations flow naturally enough, but none of the voice artists are helped by some standout moments of clichéd (and possibly lazy) scripting.

Time for us to dry off
Even when considered warts and all, most will find that Heavy Rain is a suitably compelling experience, but I can’t help but feel that over time it’ll prove to be something of an acquired taste. Fellow fans of Fahrenheit will probably be instantly right at home here and will derive much joy from unravelling an intriguing story, but I fear that a lot of those sucked in by the hype may feel a little short-changed or underwhelmed with what they find. That, however, shouldn’t stop people from giving this a try, but with its slower pace I can’t promise that it’ll be the type of thing everyone will enjoy.

The demo takes you through a short tutorial and two gameplay scenes. The tutorial is essential as the controls seem somewhat alien; to me, anyway. The tutorial takes you through a dark and dank alleyway, and, unsurprisingly situations arise that mean you have to try out the techniques. For example, a dumpster blocks your path, and you are required to squeeze by. Press a button, watch an animation? No, no, not with these guys! You have to time button presses, or else your man (Scott Shelby) gives up. Sounds easy, doesn’t it? Well, actually it is not. Give it a go, and you’ll see what I mean. The two full scenes that you get to sample are quite different; in the first you question a victim/witness and get into a fight. The second sees you (now a different (and hunkier (yes, I notice these things)) man named Norman Jayden) investigating a crime scene.

As I have hinted, the controls are quite strange, but not in a bad way. They take some getting used to, but I consider them to be innovative, rather than being different for the sake of being different. The fight scene is case in point. It would be easy for Quantic Dream (the developers) to require you to simply reapeatedly press button (X) to punch your adversary to the ground. Instead you take out the bad guy by, yes, timing button presses with the screen prompts. I don’t think I am doing this much justice, but it is harder and more immersive than it sounds. Unless I am mistaken, the sequence of buttons needed is random, and therefore throws you off a bit. Kind of like being in a fight… hold on. Do you think that’s why they did it? Well, it works.

The second odd-but-good controls section that I will mention is demonstrated in the second scene. You are investigating a crime scene; a body has been found, and you need to find clues. I won’t spoil this, but you will find yourself, at some point, traversing tricky terrain. This is when if you didn’t take my advice and skipped the tutorial you will really notice it. Timing, patience and skill are all required. Unfortunately I am not blessed with much of any of these, but I did triumph, and felt some acheivement. This isn’t traditional platforming in the sense that you hurl yourself from one ledge to the next, but the principle is the same. It feels so different, though. You have to think about what you are doing and I really enjoyed it.

That's a lot of water!

I think you can see from this screenshot (which admittedly wasn’t taken from the demo) that the graphics look superb. I can not imagine how hard water is to represent graphically, and as the game title suggests, there is a lot of water. Thankfully the developers did a great job, and the pouring rain, which adds to the dark atmosphere, is so realistic you don’t really notice it. Facial animations seem believable, too. The ‘out of the ordinary’ actions, in my view, best show off the skill and effort put in by the developers. Shelby clearly has an asthma problem, and as someone who has spent many of her former years drawing on an inhaler, I could empathise with his suffering. Similarly, when you are pounding the bad guy’s face in the first scene, you are treated to many animations and movements that make the brawl look and feel more realistic than other games I have played.

If you are anything like me, sequences like this will make you feel like you are controlling an actor, rather than a game avatar. The difference, however, between this game and more traditional ‘punch people until they die’ games is that you are playing through, I believe, set sequences rather than fighting in your own style. This is not a criticism, though, in fact this does not bother me at all, as it still works.

Add to the quality visuals some sublime sound effects and voice acting, and we have a very promising game. I mentioned that this feels quite movie-esque (a very dark, slow-paced movie), well, I think you can guess where this is going. The exceptional sound does nothing to lessen this vibe. You get to choose, to a certain extent, what you say to whom at certain times. Games that employ this methodology can suffer; they can sound quite disjointed, and lack flow. Heavy Rain seems to somehow avoid this. Rather than merely repeating the last line spoken by an NPC, or waiting patiently while you decide what to say or ask about next, the game mechanics recognise that you are dallying, and the NPC provides a legitimate prompt, or assumes you have finished talking.

All in all this game looks and feels great. It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea though. It is slow moving and careful and feels feels very immersive, requiring you to think about your actions and consider your next move. While it does not look like it will raise adrenalin levels through bullet dodging, I do think it will succeed in its attempt at thrilling you. It plays out like an old style point-and-click adventure, but with updated mechanics and techniques. I think that if you like those types of games, you are going to love this… and then some.

The matter of sex. Sex in games. In-game sex. In-game nudity. Penises. Penii?! Well that is a perennial debate so I will shy away like so many chaste maidens from that particular issue.  More accurately, the portrayal of sex in games and why it’s so controversial when it is portrayed, despite the utter saturation of it in other mediums.

The Lost and Damned, whilst developed by an (aptly-named) studio who already have a good pedigree in controversy, managed to shock, delight, confuse many with its cock-sure depiction of a male member (of congress, no less). With The Ballad Of Gay Tony, the closing chapter of the GTA 4 saga dealing in part with another aspect of sexuality, Rockstar are certainly one of the few developers not afraid of raising a few issues about sex and sexuality, and it’s these I’m interested in.

For one, if we, as a community of gamers wish to be granted ever-more respect by the mainstream media, we must, as a rule, respond to issues of sex and nudity in a mature fashion. I don’t wish to imply that people are not, just that it is an important foundation to lay. We must be able to enter into a dialogue about sex in games in the same way as developers must be able to depict it in such a way as to facilitate mature discussion. Now, Japanese developers have a vivid history of sex games, but cultural differences abound; I’m talking about the way forward for a western audience and industry. What have we learnt from Hot Coffee, J. Thompson, blue aliens and japanese dating sims?

"Let's get it oooon..."

Mass Effect spawned an absolutely hilarious reaction in the media upon its release (if you somehow haven’t seen it before, it’s absolutely hilarious how ignorant some people were about it…)

Aside from being laughably under-researched (my favourite line is ‘the ability of players to engage in graphic sex’) the feature linked above highlights all that is wrong with the interaction between the mainstream and video games. Especially surrounding the issue of what is, ultimately, no matter how many different religious groups believe otherwise, a perfectly natural act. Again, fun as it would be, I’m not offering a diatribe against either Fox (Megan or the TV company), the media, religion, your mum, or Bioware (the twisted, predatory corrupting influence that they are). This video is timeless, but seems especially relevant once again as Bioware are set to release Dragon Age: Origins, a game that we’re told (or perhaps warned) has a good deal of on screen hanky panky.

Yeah, this looks like fun...

Let’s cut to the chase: I propose that the only way we are going to make progress in the matter, is for more games to have sex featured in them. The problem is how to present it. The power of suggestion is as powerful as ever, and to my mind the sex scene in Mass Effect is both tasteful and effective. ‘Sleeping’ with hookers in Grand Theft Auto is not tasteful but it’s certainly not offensive or gratuitous. So far so good. Let’s take a look at a few more examples.

Sex in Fallout 3 is possible but inconsequential, unrewarding, and ultimately pointless from a gameplay or narrative perspective. A non-committal depiction shall we say. Fable 2 takes another interesting approach by letting you only hear the act of coitus. If you’ve played Fable you’ll also know that having a child is amusing but again, ultimately a gimmick; I call this a morally neutral stance. Both are fine, but one is sincerely lacking in ambition to drive the matter forward, understandable after the fiasco that the ratings boards conjured over the naming of in-game drugs

Where is the sex that adds to the drama? Think about the potential of sex scenes in films and literature to really evoke emotions, to create powerful drama and motivations between characters. How games developers, backed into a corner by ratings boards and neurotic censorship endorsed by a morally perplexed billboard society continue to shy away from a responsible yet vivid depiction of all things sexual baffles me.

"That is one massive penis".

I’m hoping that Heavy Rain, the TIMJ hands-on preview of which you can read here, with its ostensibly ‘life-life’ portrayal of a believable scenario will feature a real, bar-setting sexual event or relationship. If games are ever going to cross over the threshold from entertainment to art-form, from wasted artistic potential to responsible medium of expression, we all need to get virtually laid a little more.

The first Scenario I played was as Scott Shelby, a private-eye hired (but also motivated for personal reasons it seems) to investigate the murders of the ‘Origami killer’. In this sequence he enters a store owned by Hassan, the father of one of the murderer’s recent victims, to ask for some more information. This is the first sample of how the game will play when it comes to dialogue. Hassan is reluctant to give you any information stating that he had already told the police all he knew. When the time comes for Shelby’s responses you are offered different types of approaches, represented by the required responses mapped to the face buttons floating around Shelby’s head.

Taking a different approach to what I’d usually try (meaning generally being a bit of an abrasive tit), I tried to reason with the store owner, which after a couple of attempts turned into a totally thankless task. Control is then taken from me as Shelby asks whether the store sells inhalers, so that his trip wasn’t totally a waste of time. Here I was able to control Shelby freely, sort of; it’s initially a clunky system. To walk around the store you hold the right trigger and the direction you want. When you reach the required section, you are offered a context sensitive prompt to perform an action. In this situation it was to press down. If you have played Fahrenheit previously, much of this will seem very familiar to you. When retrieving his medicinal aid, a young man comes in and attempts to holds up the store. I was given control again. I walked down an aisle in an attempt to sneak up on our young criminal, only to discover that he has spotted me in his peripheral vision. Pointing his gun he told me to put my hands in the air, which I did using L1 and R1.

Time for more talk, and this time I opted for a more aggressive approach. This was deeply unsuccessful and led to a scuffle, played out through what can only be described as quick-time events. I missed a few of my cues, and took a graze to the arm as shots were fired, and the attacker made a run for it. Thankful for my intervention, Hassan decides to give up a box containing an origami model, and some possible leads. Shelby takes the box and exits the store.

What I noticed during this very short segment was that there was very little in terms of actual gameplay, however there are some things worth noting. I could have tried a variety of different tactics to get through this, including different temperaments and different actions. Even walking down a different aisle to reach the robber could have had a different effect on how this scenario panned out. Also what I enjoyed immensely were the visuals. Quantic dream have clearly put a lot of effort into making their characters more humanistic, and it shows. Everything from facial expressions to the general animation is of such an unprecedented quality that I have to admit I found it hard to find fault.

Scott Selby. Private Dick.

The second scenario follows FBI agent Norman Jayden, who is looking for clues at a scrap yard. After exiting his car (again after using context based analogue stick movements) and snooping around a scrap yard, he is confronted by a muscle-bound employee. After an ‘up-close and personal’ discussion where I chose the path of questioning, I was free to investigate a garage. I was given an option immediately floating next to Jayden’s head. By moving the analogue stick from right to up in a quarter circle motion, he put on some sunglasses. These are no ordinary sunglasses, when pressing R1, a wave of the hand scans a circle around him and highlights any evidence, such as fingerprints or tyre tracks; think futuristic CSI. To take a closer look at these clues, again the player is required to perform context sensitive motions. After investigating all that I could, when trying to leave I was confronted again by a clearly agitated and self-admittedly guilty employee at gun point and led into the back. Here I shamefully missed every QTE event to get out of the situation and was eventually executed gangland stylee, and thus ended my demo. Again, watching other folk on their play had entirely different scenario’s so the replay value will come from seeing what you could have done.

So, is it the big game Sony wants it to be? I’m not convinced. The use of quick-time events gets a hefty slating unless used uniquely in every other game, and I’m not sure how the growing number of folks against that as a gameplay mechanic will handle a title packed full of it. The game also goes at an incredibly slow pace and plays a little clumsily. In all honesty it handles like a point and click game or an interactive movie, just like Fahrenheit before it. Myself? I’m still intrigued; the story seems amazing, visually even at this stage the game looks stunning, and the characterisation looks as if it could be like nothing else we’ve seen before. That said, my anticipation for this game has now been downgraded from pant-wetting excitement to cautious optimism.