Having given up on Deadly Premonition and having finished Heavy Rain, here is my review: "So that happened."

While I can't say my overall impression of Heavy Rain improved - I think it's a terrible game and a poorly written story - I'm glad I finished it.

After the jump, the spoiler-ridden postmortem for the winner of the face-off

So that's why Scott Shelby is in the game. Very clever. You got me, game. I admire that sort of emotional manipulation when it's done well. Those last four words are the operative phrase: "when it's done well".

Heavy Rain was all over the map in this regard. There's crass emotional manipulation to no effect like the "Madison is dreaming of masked rapists" sequence. Then there's emotional manipulation to develop a character like "Ethan is dreaming of an eerily inert crowd in the mall" sequence. Both of those are pretty cheap, but the second one at least had style. If I'd been invested in Ethan's character, that would have been a fantastic bit of storytelling, partly because I've never seen it done before and partly because it tied into Ethan's psyche. Instead, it was just stylish.

But beyond those sorts of parlor tricks, there's long-term emotional manipulation to develop the story. For instance, presenting Scott Shelby as a stand-out character, notable for how he's not really notable, and then making him the origami killer. It's always the quiet ones, isn't it? He seemed so nice. Sure, it's arguably cheap, but so are most mystery solutions, which have a long history of butlers doing it. But that's because it's effective. Heavy Rain tricked me into liking Scott Shelby and thinking I understood him as a simple character. Then it turned him into the bad guy and it even gave him a reason. Not a very convincing reason, but at least a reason. Bravo, Heavy Rain. It's a rare game that ends better than it begins.

But here are four things Heavy Rain needed in order to work more consistently beyond its Scott Shelby fake-out:

1) Plausibility
What a terribly sloppy plot. For instance, every single "lead" Shelby got should have been handed over to the police already. Furthermore, Shelby's luck strained credulity. When a single character stumbles conveniently onto a beating, a robbery, and a suicide attempt in rapid succession, it's a sure sign that the writers are flailing around helplessly. They might as well have him win the lottery while he's at it. Furthermore, sloppy or non-existent character motivation drives most of the relationships. Agent Baldwin-Duchovny vs. Officer HotHead McBadCop. Anguished Protagonist and Female Lead Who Digs Him Because He's Anguished and the Protagonist. Hooker with a heart of gold. Evil guys with accents. It's all so lazy. Heavy Rain is shot through with narrative shrugging.

2) Graphics
Photorealism is tough. It's going to be held to a different standard than more stylized graphics. Heavy Rain is technically proficient, but it's incredibly awkward far too often. The sex scene makes Bioware's erotica look like Adrian Lyne. Moving your character around looks ridiculous. The outdoor areas have silly "you shall not pass" obstacles like impenetrable yellow police tape and cars parked at just-so angles. Mouths open oddly and teeth don't look right. Any time cloth is supposed to be draped, the game world shatters. Pants, coats, towels. They're all deadly to Heavy Rain. And those eggs Shelby fixes for Lauren? Those were the most disgusting things I've ever seen in a videogame.

3) Gameplay
There was none. Heavy Rain is little more than an elaborate cutscene, and not a very good one at that. While this is clearly a design choice, there is no way I'm ever going to replay this thing. Yet it's built to be replayed, to encourage me to try different approaches and even to experience different fail states. What's fascinating about Heavy Rain isn't how it unfolds, but how it could have unfolded. Too bad I'll only ever know this by listening to other people talking about the game. I guess you could say Heavy Rain succeeds mostly as a multiplayer game.

4) A Female Character
Because you can't count Madison's lucid-dreaming, skirt-ripping, lipstick-applying, story-chasing, testicle-squeezing heroine as a female character so much as an embarrassment. The game was never more facile than when it tried to present a woman's perspective. "I always say if you got it, flaunt it!" Do yourself a favor and keep your finger off the L2 button during the Madison sequences.

All told, Heavy Rain is a failure. A fascinating failure, to be sure, and one I'm glad Sony published. I like the direction developer Quantic Dream is pushing videogames. I just hope in the future they'll push better.

(Click here for the previous game diary entry.)