Molyneux: Heavy Rain is “The Way Forward”


Admiration from one’s peers always feels good. It must be especially nice for developer Quantic Dream to hear a competitor fawn so sloppily over their game, Heavy Rain. Peter Molyneux — the man most recently responsible for the Fable series of games on the Xbox 360 — said several nice things about Heavy Rain to Wired writer Frank Rose.

According to Joystiq, Molyneux said about Quantic Dream’s big hit, “I recommend anyone who wants to start to see the first glimpses of the future of video games to go out and buy it.”

Molyneux explained that he personally couldn’t play too much of the game, because it was too emotionally draining. Sounds intense. He continued to proselytize, “there’s no question in my mind that games like Heavy Rain — games that have a new fidelity in the way that they present their experiences; obviously made with cinematography and motion capture in mind — can really show the way forward to a new form of entertainment, which is evolving the story and choices and consequences.”

It will be interesting and revealing to see what other developers do in reaction to Heavy Rain. It has been a commercial success, while mildly dividing critics. Though even most of the game’s detractors admit that the concept holds promise.

Are developers going to look at Heavy Rain and take away the interactive experience, the cinematography, or the quick-time events.

“Us designers were just laughing because we thought quick-time was dead, but that really was part of the drama of Heavy Rain,” said Molyneux.

Hopefully, that doesn’t mean that every developer will settle for QTEs. Perhaps there will be a way for Molyneux to integrate his fascination with Natal with his newfound fascination for Heavy Rain.