If ICO and Limbo were wet in the rain. Rain review.

For a year now, many small studios have been proved by their example that everything is brilliant – simple, and everything is simple – brilliant! The large budget has long ceased to be the main prerogative to achieve success – when financial opportunities leave much to be desired, original and often crazy ideas are used. Of course, to grab the tidbit of glory far away a few-somewhere there is a lack of quality, and somewhere-identity. And where to go without promoting your own brainchild – they will bite and forget after all, if you do not advertise yourself.

Yes, today Your humble Ready to tell about one of these forgotten “gray” mice. I think, when looking at the name, many in their heads automatically set up associations with another Rain – To those who Heavy – However, do not rush to produce a comparative analysis, since both titles do not bind absolutely nothing … except that exclusivity for the PlayStation 3. And if the French from Quantic Dream familiar to every lover of non -standard interactive entertainment, then with the Japanese from PlayStation C.A.M.P. (that is, the creators of Rain) should meet in more detail. Firstly, the team is inhabited by very versatile people and often their talent is not limited only to the game with developers-did you know that one of the main designers c.A.M.P., Whose ideas were actively used in creating the game, is also a florist? Secondly, the approach to development-almost any employee can express his own idea for the future project, and Sony with its (or third-party) forces fills on its basis a full-fledged finished work. Early from the pen C.A.M.P. The extremely extraordinary Tokyo Jungle and the equally extraordinary puzzle Echochrome have already been released – excellent evidence that the Japanese people know how to creating a Japanese.

However, to offer a concept is one thing, and realizing it is completely different. Is it so good for Rain With this? You can’t say right away.

The boy was friends with the girl, the boy cherished friendship
As the theater begins with a hanger, so Rain offers to look at the plot of watercolor drawings. The invisible artist looms with careless strokes about the story about the nameless boy who really wanted to get into the circus. Perhaps, if he had not got lost one night, he would probably have ended up there, but the previous walk did not end in any good. The boy fell ill with a fever and was forced to stay at home, while the parents themselves went to the performance, leaving the patient by the bed. Maybe for the better … since the story happened to our ward.

One of the boring cloudy days, the hero suddenly notices the silhouette of the girl washed by the jets of rain. However, not one-the company was a strange creature, for some reason chasing behind the unhappy throughout the town, and the same translucent and visible only under the rain drops. What would you do when you see a similar picture? Most likely, they spat on this matter and locked them between four walls. But since our hero is young and curious to the brain of the bones, he is not eager to throw a stranger to be torn to pieces. After spitting on the instinct of self -preservation, the boy decides to step by the strange door leading to the dark otherworldly world, where the light is completely absent and it is always raining, but he just does not notice how he becomes invisible … relatively. How to save a girl and return the old look? Why are monsters want to eat shit children? Here are the few of the questions to which you have to find out for 8 chapters of a leisurely narrative.

If you immediately go in Dynabet.co.uk comparisons and an analogy, then you notice that the Japanese team was clearly inspired by the work of its colleagues from the naked gaze Team ICO And the Danes from Playdead. From Fumito Weda The Japanese adopted the duet of young heroes of the opposite sex, who met in the same circumstances and strange creatures, from which there is clearly no way to wait for help. And the spirit Limbo Often it hits here and there-let the general mood not as gloomy as in the black and white indie-masterpiece, but still gives a small share of hopelessness and despondency. Abandoned cars, shabby walls, gray industrial zones and a dilapidated church definitely do not set a player in a positive way … And yes, about two heroes, of course, I rolled. The third, perhaps the most important character of the entire narrative is between them – rain … In this case, it is not just an atmospheric phenomenon – it is both the main source of mood transmission and an integral part of the gameplay, since the world in which the boy was inhabited only by ghostly silhouettes, visible exclusively in the rain in the rain.

The sound is no less important element – the timid steps of the little heroes and the tense breath of the monsters literally make their way to goosebumps, allowing you to feel tense moments more strongly. And without musical accompaniment written South Cannon, Rain I would have lost the lion’s share of her charm. The composer masterly combines the violin and changes tones from chapter to chapter, transmitting the emotions of the characters and actively complementing the surrounding environment: piano overflowing at the beginning of the game go into the drum fighting and ringing the cells for its completion, sometimes interrupted by excerpts of classical music, including the unique Clair de Lune from Claude Debussy. You can get acquainted with a small part of the soundtrack in “Musical Positator”, located at the end of the article.

Unfortunately, the light spots end on this and the game itself begins. And just like “Game”, Rain is a very dubious entertainment. But I will not rush ..

It was not for nothing that I mentioned that the downpour plays an extremely important role in the game mechanics, because the boy cannot contrast the monsters with practically nothing – in order not to fall into the paws of rain creatures, we have to hide in those places where rain drops do not fall. These can be various umbrellas, cabinets or other secluded places. On such a simple stealth and the main gameplay is tied Rain – In the course of the passage, we plunge deeper into the rainy longing of an empty town, pursuing an ever -running girl. However, by the middle, playing the catch -up in the role of the lagging man will no longer have to join us in misfortune, but nothing will radically change in the gameplay. In fact, the girl will play the role of a typical “partner-Bolvanchik”-she almost always follows us on the heels, she does not need to be saved from monsters, and even where her death is possible, the game will not mention this in any way, but only sarcastically accuses the boy and, accordingly, playing the playing. Against the backdrop of the growing friendship between the two characters, it was possible to realize really curious stages of friendly interaction, but the developers were sunk only to implement primitive actions, like “Throw me up up, and I will lower the stairs to you”.

Despite the modest duration of 3 hours, to the final chapters Rain manages to tire with his rehearsal, because during this time you have to do the same actions. Here are several enemies in front of the heroes, then a small “puzzle”, and after it suddenly jumps up the unsinkable younger brother of the “Nemesis” from Resident Evil 3, from which you have to fly to a safe place at all pairs. This endless chain of the same situations will continue until the very last minutes, but to great happiness, the developers stop in time and the journey ends exactly where it would stretch for another hour – and then it would be simply incredibly boring.

From time to time, the game still tries to throw various tricks in order to make some kind of diversity. It soon turns out that not all rain monsters crave to absorb the soul of a boy. As you pass, you will come across quite harmless creatures, playing the role of shelter from the rain and incomprehensible small creatures that resemble beetles are no longer so friendly, but sometimes turning out to the solution of some “puzzles” … unless, of course, they can be called, because they are simple to the dentistry and do not require any difficult fraud. In addition, the local tint system itself is not averse to revealing the method of solving certain puzzles, but because of their aforementioned simplicity it looks like a process of unnecessary lustering with a player. Yes, we have already guessed one hundred and eighty times that it was necessary to make a distracting maneuver with a slap on a puddle, why open the cards in 10 seconds and prompt obvious things?

Not everything is in order and with responsiveness of management. It, as in most games from the country of the rising sun, is clumsy and clumsy – the protagonist is quite slow and in the scenes of the chase the extra seconds of delay can be destructive for him. The game design is not always thought out in terms of building locations – some levels are straight, like a stick, while in others you have to often wander five minutes to find a way out. Often a camera is added to the above sores, sometimes too cinema and strongly moving away from the characters, which is why to discern them among other objects is problematic on a small screen. And since it is also static, sometimes situations arise where the virtual operator, as if, purposely hides the further path, hiding it from the player’s eyes.

***
Rain Watering from a mass of creative ideas stumbling on the same type of gameplay – with its modest duration of three hours, it causes strong attacks of yawn after two. The main problem of the game lies in its uncertainty than it wants to be – a contemplative journey like Journey or mysterious adventure in the best traditions of games from Team ICO. It seems that PlayStation C.A.M.P. At the very last moment, they decided to make something much more out of an interactive short story from a kind of interactive novel, but because of the clutching deadlines they failed to realize the planned. To everything else, Rain It remains a one -time entertainment – after the final, the developers offers to re -walk around the rainy town in order to collect some memories and make a story more clearly and clearer, but there is no desire to do it, and it is not possible to make the same strong effect as during the first visit, the game cannot be able to. History to frankly simple and not as metaphorical as in the same Limbo -She does not throw some kind of soil for reflection and does not carry gray matter outside the cranial box, which, to some extent, is a dignity. Agree, we have already no longer spoiled plots where everything is served by semi-trees and incomprehensible images … I want something more affordable and less phantasmagoric.

In the dry residue, it turns out that in addition to a pleasant visual-musical design, the spiritual atmosphere and the most unusual use of rain in video games, the creation of the Japanese from PlayStation C.A.M.P. There is nothing to boast. Rain is inclined to the category of kinds of art-reckoning experiments, where the emotional background costs much higher than the gameplay, so the impression will strictly depend on how much small projects you like that leave a pleasant aftertaste, but which is unlikely to return to return. And do not wait for something that will turn your views and make you think about deep topics is far from the main task that sets itself Rain. Before us is a sweet, but at the same time a rather naive Advencure with an unobtrusive plot in the spirit of “The boy met a girl and they began to be friends”, told without unnecessary pretentiousness and the sea of ​​drama. The game is easier to perceive as a good and slightly sad fairy tale, which can be told to children at night, besides, a meditative and leisurely pace with this.

The main thing is not to forget to make sure that your window is enough. Still, the name speaks for itself- It is contraindicated in clear weather. The wrong effect will be, to put it mildly.