hello again, haters. today we return to the colosseum with none other than quantic dream's golden (?) child, heavy rain. this seems to be the one everyone knows, the one everyone recommends, the one everyone totes as The Best ... and we're here to discuss: are these claims true?

my thought is that this game is the funniest, and by virtue of being funny, it's entertaining, and by virtue of being entertaining, people now believe it to be good. because it has all the rest of the flaws as the remaining QD titles ( sexism, racism, cop apologia, poorly telegraphed twists, nonsense storytelling, incomprehensible interface, etc etc ) yet people not only tolerate, but enjoy this game.

it's unintentional humor isn't all it's got going for it though, i'll admit it. i think the story has carrying power IN THEORY; its core is about a divorced dad who wants to do better for his kid. that's an oscar-worthy plot, you know? that's a grounded, realistic, emotional story. then you throw a serial killer into the mix & you've got an irresistible cocktail of immersive, interactive drama. or rather, you would, but as all QD endeavors end, the execution of these ideas fails to actually land any sort of genuine impact due to its mediocre voice acting & translation work, illogical & conflicting plot points, and ( most critically ) characters who are written like they aren't actually human, like they're acting rather than feeling, jumping to strange conclusions that you'd expect to happen, but within the context of a scene either shouldn't happen or shouldn't happen yet. it's a typical way that things play out in these games, so it shouldn't be surprising to hear that it remains a problem ... but i just feel like the more small-scale, relatable plot helps people ignore these issues more than they could in previous or following titles.

it feels like heavy rain is kind of the last bastion for true, unrefined crap from cage & co. the two games that came out after this one ( beyond: two souls, detroit: become human ) are MUCH tighter, smoother, less hammy experiences -- make no mistake, i still think they're both bullshit, but they seem like they're missing a peculiar edge that heavy rain has. this says to me that things like the "humor" in this game really are unintentional ... and that kind of paints it in a unique light, you know? you can really see the stinking, putrid fingerprints of its creators on its surface. so in this way, i do understand why it still gets the most lip service.

so ... my consensus is it's fine, i guess. it's not amazing. it sucks but in a tolerable & occasionally delightful way. i think detroit remains the most fun game to play to date ( despite having the worst plot ), but i do like heavy rain's story on paper. as an aside, i've learned since my first playthrough that it takes a lot of its individual plot points directly from movies like saw or american beauty, and it's kind of silly in hindsight seeing exact environments & action sequences from detroit debuting first here ... so. that's all a bit lame. but again, not unsurprising!