Outcomes
Still here? Great, let’s continue. It’s fair to say that I enjoyed Heavy Rain at first – whilst the beginning was merely a setup for Ethan Mars and his sons it did give me chance to explore the game’s controls and figure out the slightly bizarre tank-like steering. But it quickly started to drag, and the Mars residence was the first time I realised that regardless of what I do in a particular chapter, the outcome was roughly the same.
Quantic Dream were very smart in the structure of the chapters – by eliminating as much cross-reference as possible they managed to almost treat each section as an individual entity. Take, for example, the FBI agent Norman Jayden and his police chief counterpart: when they start looking for the Origami Killer their two main suspects [aren’t really tied to the rest of the plot] so what happens to them is [largely academic].
What I mean, is, although their introduction and their scenes are superbly acted, nicely voiced and well scripted, it [doesn’t really matter what happens]. I played through the first encounter with a suspect twice last night, once leading the scene one way and then the other, and the only difference (apart from a bullet) was the Trophy I got, and, as if to acknowledge this quirk, you get a different Trophy each way you play it.
Of course, with that particular individual out of the story, a later cut-scene deftly avoids that suspect. Yes, it’s scripted so that the protagonists know he’s no longer there (he’s not just ignored) but that’s the extent of the differences in this particular case. Of course, some decisions are much wider reaching and it wouldn’t be fair to suggest that all your actions have no lasting consequences, it’s just that not all do.