CandyBob

PS3 version picked up from local Tesco for the odd price of 37.70!! No day off though.

). It only seemed like most dramatic scenes inevitably degenerated into the participants suddenly developing uncanny pugilistic skills and pumelling each other. I also thought was cheap and lazy. I find it odd that you say "some of the voice acting" in ME2 is better than Heavy Rain - to me, ME2's script and acting defecates on HR's stilted, English-as-a-second-language efforts from a very, very great height. I didn't feel as much emotion from HR simply because the artiface and manipulation seemed more obvious. ME2 was more natural and uncontrived. Sure, ME2 isn't original in the sense that it's a spaceships-and-aliens space opera, but with HR David Cage doesn't even remotely bother to disguise the fact he fancied remaking Seven with more than a splash of it's bastard offspring, the Saw movies, thrown in for bad measure. The fact that the multitude of Seven knock offs that came out in the 15 years since it's release have comprehensively failed to be anywhere near as good didn't seem to deter him, and he ploughed on regardless. Ultimately, I guess the fact that my corrupted save mean that 8 hours' worth of what I played of Heavy Rain yesterday are down the toilet and I don't feel remotely compelled to play them again or find out how the story ends means that, for me at least, Heavy Rain was a failure. I'm not sure where you are coming from with English as a second language. I never got this impression at all except for maybe where the actor did sound quite odd. Certainly Ethan, Shelby (adult), Madison and Jayden were all very convincing for me and tbh I'm not even sure what the problem would have been had they been very obviously english speaking French actors anyway. I think for me, one of the big things was that I related to so much of it (more so than hearing the woes of a scaly man with gills). As you say this game just didn't do it for you but for me, it has been one of those moments in gaming that will be long remembered.

). Unfortunately, all too often it fell back on resolving situations with a big, dumb fist fight. And I guess I was even more sensitive to the shortcomings of the script and voice acting than I might otherwise be because immediately prior to this I'd been playing Mass Effect 2, which oddly enough, despite never to my knowledge advertising itself as an interactive movie, felt more like one (in a good way) than Heavy Rain. It's a bit cheeky of them to charge the full £40 game price for this when it isn't really a game, more a PS3-generated movie where you occasionally have to press a button otherwise it won't proceed. Although, if it was simply a movie, I doubt it'd even go straight to DVD, with it's rampant unoriginality and cast of French people pretending to be American it probably wouldn't be considered of sufficient quality to even release at all. I think during my play-through, roughly 10hrs, I must have spent 10mins fighting. . None of them felt out of place and in the case of , the fight is probably avoidable. The comment about ME2 I find odd. I had finished ME2 and was half way through a second game when I started Heavy Rain. Certainly some of the voice acting is better than Heavy Rain but Heavy Rain is probably the closest we have to an interactive movie (in a good way). The interactive scene's in ME2 didn't have anywhere near the emotional impact on me as those in HR. I also don't see how you can produce the unoriginality card at HR in a post where you mention ME2.

This was pretty much how it was for me. I escaped the crusher with Jayden but then got battered by Mike after having another fit. Ethan got caught and hung himself in jail. I'd made it to the door with Madison but screwed up the last button press and then of course Shaun died. I'm debating now whether to play through again on an easier level (I went through on hardest first) just to beat some of the QTE's that I messed up to see how much things change.

While I think Natal looks a steaming pile, the 360 will still be the prominent home of muscles, guns and shin pads. Surely the worst that can happen (other than blowing millions up the wall) is the avid 360 gamer just won't buy it?

Oh man no Heavy Rain tonight.

With Thanet being one of the chav capitals of the world, I can understand it.

More love for the game here. Tense, poignant, thrilling, uplifting, depressing. The most emotional time I have spent with a game for some time. It has a few issues but overall I thought the acting was good, especially from Ethan, Shelby and Norman and the writing equally so with the scene's involving Ethan and Shaun and Shelby and Lauren my favourites. The controls have frustrated at times (mainly moving a character about) but nothing major and generally they work fine. I especially liked the almost twister like inputs involved in some of the more tense scene's. I definately think I'll get two play-throughs out of it. I started on the hardest setting and didn't do so well in a couple of the more QTE driven scene's (and even had a character death I think). Will be interesting to see how different things can turn out.

I'd like to add a positive for my local Game at Westwood Cross in Thanet. There are a couple of guys there who take the time out to have a chat with you and they are very knowledgable about games from all era's. Strangely the so called more gamey Gamestation locally to us is populated by emo's who you are lucky to get a grunt from (assuming you can hear them over the brain crunchingly loud metal). We have a Gamestation in Ramsgate (relatively new) and Margate with the Game at Westwood Cross. The next nearest would be Canterbury. I guess one of the Gamestations may go.

Spoiler below maybe. I chose Miranda as Fire Team Leader and Tali as hacker. Tali died at the door.

Righto thanks for that.

I haven't found them yet and this would certainly make a difference. I've scanned a fair amount and tbh, the only anomalies seem to be related to the main or loyalty quests.

Of course, but then I enjoyed my little excursions in the Mako, whatever I found.

But I liked that. I can't really explain it in any way other than to say that when I landed on a planet, even though I knew what I was probably going to find, there was a real sense of anticipation. When I get to a new planet now, there's none.

. Claiming "the game r dumb now" is ridiculously reductive. For me the exploration side of things certainly doesn't feel fleshed out. I for one really enjoyed going down on to some of the planets to explore them and I don't feel slowly scanning one for resources a suitable replacement. The decision to remove the Mako was big for me. Last night I also found myself wandering the Normandy twiddling my thumbs. I never recall this happening in ME. While some people seem to be finding the interaction with the crew fleshed out, I just haven't found this so far. The chat options in the Normandy are exhausted very quickly and unlike DA, there is little dialogue on the ground outside of main mission stuff. There is little involvement with equipment also aside from the odd visit to the research computer. When you are there it is then a simple matter of deciding whether to spend your resources or not. Everything else is automatic. I think I have possibly come into this game with the wrong attitude. I don't think it is dumbed down, but it is a lot more focused and the things that kept me occupied in ME are just not as interesting in ME2. I should be playing it as an action game with some RPG elements whereas I'm probably doing the opposite.

I'm not sure if its coming straight from DA, but I'm not feeling the love as much as I expected either. The world so far feels pretty sterile compared to the first game (and indeed in comparison to DA). Wandering around the Citadel for the first time last night and it was all, well, boring. Apart from the shop-keepers (who were mostly dull anyway) there seemed hardly any interesting characters to talk to. The one or two very basic missions seemed shoe-horned in just for something to do and apart from a conversation about a fish, the club was a huge disappointment. I couldn't believe I was walking around the only nightlife in the Citadel with absolutely no one to talk to. It was a shame as the graphical style was superb, just let down by the content. I don't think its helped by the lack of planetary exploration to break the missions up with either. There are all of these interesting planets and all you can do is run a target around them very slowly. The characters feel quite stilted. While they are all generally very interesting on the surface, its not long before they are to busy to talk to you and there is hardly any character developing chat when out on a mission. Then there are the moments that just take me out of the game. As an example. . The combat has also been quite unsatisfying. I'm a biotic and the powers seem to have less oomph than the first game. Also I think the pace of the combat often means that its more efficient to just pop off head shots with my pistol. I've been considering starting again as a more gun focused character purely because the biotics are so under-whelming. They just feel as though the progression of the power, for the points they cost, has minimal effect in combat. There is alot that is good about the game. I'm really loving playing as a female Shepard. Much prefer the acting style. There is the typical depth you come to expect from Bioware with the codex's, planet descriptions etc, and most of the area's are beautifully presented. Its just that when I feel that I'm getting into it, something happens that takes me out.

Do you think that would happen with Walcott anyway? I think when you look at what we paid, and the England fiasco, it could possibly ruin him. Wenger would probably be roasted for it as well.

. Seemed completely at odds with how some of the bigger moments in the game had been handled to that point.

I think we have a strong squad, especially in comparison to say, Liverpool or Villa. Its always bogged down with injuries though.

+1 After going a goal behind we really had a go and the second goal was against the run of play (imo). After the previous weekend I thought we'd crumble at that early goal but there was none of it. Drogba said it was tough going in the second half and so I wonder how easy it actually was for them. Its just the stupid mistakes which have cost us again. We needlessly gifted a goal almost from the off to a team who haven't lost at home since dot. Suicide really. It was interesting seeing Wenger angry at the defence when what he is putting out clearly isn't working. Its not as though he doesn't have options. Taking into account how Clichy has been, maybe it would have been more solid to stick Sagna on the left and Gallas on the right, bringing in Campbell. Maybe bringing Eboue onto the right and Sagna left, or Vermaelan left with Campbell coming in. As we can see with Denilson and Almunia though, he will continue to play someone even when they are having a torrid time of it. Blaming Almunia is madness for this particular game. At least a point needed against 'Pool now to lessen the chances of getting dragged into the dogfight for 4th.

Ahhhh!! I like to have the shinies myself. Just found some at Amazon.

Where do you guys buy your Manga from? Just getting into One Piece and my local Waterstones only has a few volumes.

I would save the ice for the melee mobs. As soon as the fight starts hit the mage with horror/sleep/whatever to put it out of action then when the melee types close in freeze as many as you can so your party can get the shatter on. That pulse spell that centres out from Morrigan and stuns enemies for a few seconds is also invaluable. The frozen dudes should be taken out in very short measure. When you have frozen the melee let Morrigan loose on the mage.

I never said they wanted to stand still or that I wanted them to, just that current circumstances dictate thats how things are at the moment. English football is dominated by two teams with everyone else chasing their heels. With respect to the other PL teams its also a much much tougher job de-throning both ManU and Chelsea from the top.

That also goes for a fair few other teams in the PL, doesn't mean it'll happen. I was of course talking about the way people have responded to the defeat though by saying we are shit. The current PL table says otherwise. Realistically you could count the teams that will win the big honours on one hand. Chelsea or ManU for the PL and either of those two or Barca for the CL. Chelsea are taking the FA Cup pretty seriously and so they would have to be big favourites there as they have the squad to be able to do that. Financial disparity means that we should never be expecting to win anything as things currently stand. If all of the stars align for us and Chelsea and ManU under-perform for a long period of time then maybe, but its unlikely to happen. I want us to win things but I just think realistically, where we are is about where we should be.