let’s get started.

heavy rain is the best video game i’ve ever played.

i have played a shitload of video games. a shitload. especially since the middle of college. i remember skipping a week of classes to play through wind waker. i remember not being able to put down my controller during bioshock, or any of the last 3 call of duty games, because i was compelled to push forward through the single player game. i mean, if i’m going to spend this much money on this hobby/habit, i might as well finish these games, right? and since there’s only so much time before the next one, there’s not a lot of reason to do anything other than power through these games.

however, heavy rain felt different.

i slapped myself in the head, realizing that i forgot to do a task in one of the scenes. i regretted some of the decisions i made two, three, ten scenes after i made them, realizing why what i had done before was a mistake. and most of all, i was compelled to press through the game, to push forward in the story. not because mlb 10 and final fantasy 13 come out in the next two weeks. not because i was ready to put the game on the shelf and not see it again for a long time, or because i had some obligation to the game. i pushed through because i wanted to see what happened, and not only that, i had a connection to the characters that i’ve never had in any other video game i’ve ever played. they were each their own people, but i had made my little imprint in all of them, and that personal connection was a completely new experience to me.

the only game i can remember recently wanting to power through because the story gripped me was bioshock, and that game did not leave as much of an impression on me as heavy rain. more to the point, i’m never going to take bioshock off the shelf again unless a fit of nostalgia hits me. heavy rain will not be the same. i’m considering starting it back up right now.

if you have a ps3, play heavy rain. the end.

music i am listening to now, well behind the curve:
phoenix – no matter if geoff thinks it makes me a hipster, i don’t wear skinny jeans and have ridiculous hair and at least it is good to code to (which maybe isn’t a compliment)
passion pit – aiiya. i’m sorry, i can’t help it.
japandroids – fucking awesome, and made zach embrace distortion in ways he won’t even admit to me, so that’s double awesome.

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