Some people named Sid Meier describe gameplay as a series of interesting decisions. This is by no means a hard and fast rule, but I can't help but wonder why the developers of Heavy Rain and Deadly Premonition so willfully ignore this maxim in the course of spinning out their respective serial killer yarns. Both games are crammed with mundane stuff of no consequence. In Heavy Rain, I have to open the car door (push the stick to the right) to get in. At which point I have to put on my seatbelt (push the stick to the left) before I drive out of the scene. A movie edits around this stuff and no one minds. Later, during a dramatic driving sequence, I will have to choose whether to dodge an oncoming car to the left or the right. In Deadly Premonition, I have windshield wipers (up on the d-pad), turn-signals (left and right on the d-pad), and headlights (Y button). Now I'm in front of the diner at shortly before 7am, waiting for it to open so I can get something to eat. My character is hungry.
I get sixteen dollars for peering into the window, which confirms that, yep, there's no one in there. I smoke a cigarette to pass the time. A cigarette fast-forwards the Deadly Premonition clock. I stop it at a little after 7am. Still no one comes along to open the diner. I have another cigarette. At 8am, the diner is still closed. What the heck kind of diner isn't open for breakfast at 8am? Greenvale's diner, I guess. Finally, after a third cigarette, I discover that the diner has opened at 9am. I eat roast turkey, macaroni salad, and onion rings, which pretty much fills my hunger bar all the way. It's like The Sims.
In the beginning of Heavy Rain, I peed and took a shower. That's also like The Sims. But it's not really a recurring thing in Heavy Rain. It was just character exposition. It was showing me how mundane this character's life was before a certain event, although it included the shocking act of him brushing his teeth and shortly thereafter taking a swig from a carton of orange juice. The horror. It was also showing me his butt. Heavy Rain is front loaded with some serious dude butt. It comes within millimeters of showing penis. There will be chick butt later on. There will even be baby butt.
Look, games, I get what you're doing. The mundane must have its place, and that place is making the non-mundane stuff dramatic. I understand the narrative calculus. But both games seem unconcerned with the fact that they're games, which doesn't work unless you have the narrative chops, the writing, the imagery to rise above typical gamestuff. Take, for instance, The Path and Killer 7. Not a lot of gameplay, but plenty of food for thought. At least I have plenty of time to think in Deadly Premonition while I drive around looking for a gas station.
Tomorrow: Heavy Rain kind of delivers and Deadly Premonition kind of peters out
(Click here for the previous game diary entry.)
Heavy Rain vs. Deadly Premonition: Round Four
Some people named Sid Meier describe gameplay as a series of interesting decisions. This is by no means a hard and fast rule, but I can't help but wonder why the developers of Heavy Rain and Deadly Premonition so willfully ignore this maxim in the course of spinning out their respective serial killer yarns. Both games are crammed with mundane stuff of no consequence. In Heavy Rain, I have to open the car door (push the stick to the right) to get in. At which point I have to put on my seatbelt (push the stick to the left) before I drive out of the scene. A movie edits around this stuff and no one minds. Later, during a dramatic driving sequence, I will have to choose whether to dodge an oncoming car to the left or the right. In Deadly Premonition, I have windshield wipers (up on the d-pad), turn-signals (left and right on the d-pad), and headlights (Y button). Now I'm in front of the diner at shortly before 7am, waiting for it to open so I can get something to eat. My character is hungry.
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