PixlBit

Heavy Rain and God of War: Ascension.

Before I get into the gory deets, let me point out that although I am Raised_on_Nintendo, it doesn't mean I don't give Sony and Microsoft a fair shake.  I own a PS3 and 360 and have played dozens of games on each, many of which I like, so please don't think this is a fanboy bashfest.  Hopefully, after you read my reasons for writing this blog, my objectivity will shine through.  First, we'll start with Heavy Rain:

I started playing Heavy Rain and it completely immersed me.  Depite the lengthy load times, I did in fact enjoy its heavy QTE, dialogue driven nature.  What gripped me most is it's mature storyline.  I never watched any of the Saw movies, but I know what they're about - make extremely difficult decisions, huge sacrifices in the hopes of attaining the greater good - and could sense a Saw influence in the game.  I don't want to spoil any of the game, but there was one point when I felt really, really, really bad about killing someone just to try and save my character's son.  I never experienced a moment like that in any other game, and I was quick to sing Heavy Rain's praise.

That was until I got to the chapter late in the game in which you control the female character (forget her name) and enter the home of a doctor to try and find information to help the main playable character who is trying to save his son.  In this chapter, the doctor tries to basically date rape you, and if one is wise enough to decline the beverage he offers, he goes into another room, allowing you to search the dwelling for clues.  It's at this exact point when the game froze on me.  I checked the disc, found a scratch, said oh well, sent it back to GameFly.  I was so enamoured with the game, though, that I went to a local used game shop and bought a used copy.  I put the prestine, unscratched disc into the PS3, loaded up the game, and it still froze at the same spot.  At this point it is abundantly clear that the disc wasn't the culprit, but a buggy game build.  Are you friggin' kidding me?  I scoured the web for a workaround, some sort of glimmer of hope that would allow me to continue without starting over.  There are none.  Reluctantly, I abandoned my quest to save the boy trapped in a sewage drain, after being ever so meticulous about performing every quicktime event flawlessly.  What a crock of #$%#$.  I will never play Heavy Rain again.

And now, for God of War: Ascension:

I absolutely love the God of War franchise.  I've beaten all previous 5 (includes PSP to PS3 ports) and enjoyed every single one.  In fact, the only platinum trophies I have are from the GoW franchise, proving that I do in fact traverse every nook and cranny of these great games.

I was estatic when my coworker, after incessant requests, let me borrow GoW:A for a week.  Yes, I will beat this game in a week's time, I told myself...

Not so fast!

For starters, I must reiterate my stance of playing all games on hard difficulty.  It's what I do, after feeling cheated, beating many games on normal and feeling unfulfilled over the years.  In the GoW franchise I beat all previous 5 on hard, and yes there are some tough spots, but I still managed to get to the end and win.  In GoW:A, I'm a mere 1.5 hours in and have already lost all patience for its *updated* combat system.  I won't get into the precise details, but sum it up by saying the game demands flawless combat execution in order to power up Kratos' rage meter for slightly greater-than-moderate damage attacks.  

The spot I'm stuck on is where Kratos receives the fire element upgrade and must immediately defeat numerous aggressive foes in a small confined area.  The new attack feature that the fire element provides - the one the game nudges you to employ - is about as powerful as a wet rag.  It stuns enemies, but so what?  They get right back up and hammer you, and hammer you, and hammer you some more.  

So I try precise blocking, parry moves, stop-and-pop attack/dodging, every single strategy Krato's arsenal of moves will allow, and it's no use.  Death, death, death.  The AI is heavily unbalanced, and feels sloppily metered so.  In previous GoW's, no matter how difficult the fight, a successful tactical approach would always reveal itself.  Even if it meant dying dozens of times, the route to victory simply meant making no mistakes while on the attack/defense.  Not so, here.  It's complicated to the point of cumbersome.  Combine that with the 1+G game patches one must install and it's clear to me that GoW:A was poorly planned and hastily delivered.

I could play devil's advocate and defend GoW:A, but I won't.  This is inexcusable.  Same with the problem I had with Heavy Rain.  These are AAA Sony exclusives that people spend good money on.  Yes, I am playing these games rented/2nd hand, but that doesn't change the fact that they are substandard.  These aren't launch titles that may earn sympathy due to early, unfamiliar programming techniques with new dev-kits.  Both of these games were developed well into the PS3 life cycle.  GoW:3 got it right, but GoW:A didn't?  Why?  

These are the 2 most recent non-Nintendo games I played and they leave a nasty flavor in my mouth.  Forgive me if I neglect to join the next gen bandwagon (aside from WiiU, of course).  Why should I?  All I experience nowadays is broken.

I really want to post positive blogs.  I hate all this negativity.  Maybe I will after I finally beat NSMB:U or ZombiiU.  We'll see.  After this blog is posted, I will try GoW:A for the hundredth time, but doubt I will make substantial progress before my week is up.

image links:

http://cdn-media.hollywood.com/images/l/heavy-rain.jpg

http://nextgengamingblog.com/files/2013/04/GOW-Ascension-screen-5.jpg