72% of Players Finished Heavy Rain

[Ether]

Here's why that's incredibly impressive.

When you first see a statistic like "72 percent of players who started Heavy Rain finished it", it can be difficult to determine what that means. After all, data needs context. Sure, that number seems high – but in high school that'd be the equivalent of a C, which is average. However, if you compare it to the industry average completion rate, which is 20-25 percent, it's downright astounding.

David Cage, president of Quantic Dream (the company behind the title), revealed this information today at a panel during the Game Developers Conference.

To add in some extra perspective I thought I'd compare Heavy Rain's statistics to another extremely popular title, Mass Effect 2. IGN's overall Game of the Year for 2010, Mass Effect 2 only boasted a 50 percent completion rate despite receiving more critical acclaim. Heavy Rain garnered an 87 average on Metacritic.com, while Mass Effect 2 secured an almost perfect score of 96.

ign




edit -


2011 UPDATE

[Move BRICKS]

Mass Effect 2 was a better game so it won game of the year, you much more options than you did in Heavy Rain.. I remember I spent like 2 hours going around getting resources from random ass rocks in no-name nebulas before I went back to a city to do more side missions.

I think games like Mass Effect, Knights of the Old Republic, Morrowind, Oblivion, etc. are great because none of them require you to beat the story mode to feel fulfilled with the game.

I dunno, seems like the article is just David Cage blowing smoke.

[Ether]

I thought Red Dead got game of the year?

True ME2 is the better game. But still, more people completed Heavy Rain.

Me, and both of my friends have had ME2, all thought it was sick but only I've beat it, Platinum.

Yet all 3 of us have beat Heavy Rain.

[Move BRICKS]

I thought Red Dead got game of the year?

True ME2 is the better game. But still, more people completed Heavy Rain.

Me, and both of my friends have had ME2, all thought it was sick but only I've beat it, Platinum.

Yet all 3 of us have beat Heavy Rain.

I think it's because Heavy Rain is linear, you follow a path.. There are 22 endings to make it feel non-linear but you go through the same sequence of events as far as cut scenes and game progression goes. When compared to Mass Effect 2, it's more open ended. You play through the tutorial and then the Illusive Man tells you that you need to assemble a team, next thing you know you're on a ship in the middle of a solar system and you can go wherever you want.

That's why I believe more people finish Heavy Rain than a game like Mass Effect 2.

[Cokezaghe_Loc]

Speaking of Mass Effect...... Am I the only person that preferred 1 over 2?

[???]

Here's why that's incredibly impressive.

When you first see a statistic like "72 percent of players who started Heavy Rain finished it", it can be difficult to determine what that means. After all, data needs context. Sure, that number seems high – but in high school that'd be the equivalent of a C, which is average. However, if you compare it to the industry average completion rate, which is 20-25 percent, it's downright astounding.

David Cage, president of Quantic Dream (the company behind the title), revealed this information today at a panel during the Game Developers Conference.

To add in some extra perspective I thought I'd compare Heavy Rain's statistics to another extremely popular title, Mass Effect 2. IGN's overall Game of the Year for 2010, Mass Effect 2 only boasted a 50 percent completion rate despite receiving more critical acclaim. Heavy Rain garnered an 87 average on Metacritic.com, while Mass Effect 2 secured an almost perfect score of 96.

ign

I still need to get the game.

[Ether]

I am in the 3% who got the platinum.

[bigsmoothh]

i was part of that 65% that saved shawn, one question though does the killer changes character or is it always the same person.

[TintaBoricua]

I am in the 3% who got the platinum.

Congrats! I remember when I went crazy trying to get all the endings and actually having a save point specifically designed for re-booting and working from there to get all the possible endings.

I wish more games like this were made. I was very much looking forward to it when it was being talked about in magazines. The fact that the story has a lot of different endings and doesn't throw a "WTF" moment like Indigo Prophecy did (Matrix-esque fight scene) made it all the better.

It's a terrific game with great, great replay value (several endings) and an interesting and mature story to boot.

I got all the endings but I can't for the life of me remember what trophies I'm missing. I'm sure they are minor ones, though.

Overall, I think "Heavy Rain" is going to end up being one of those "greatest games you never played" for most people.

The last game I bought was Catherine. I got all the endings for it, too. I feel stupid that I can't even beat the first stage of the Babel trials. I have access to all of them, but I can't even beat the first.

EDGE! EDGE! EDGE! EDGE!

Catherine, Heavy Rain, Indigo Prophecy...

Does anybody have any other recommendations for games like these (games with terrific atmosphere, fairly passive gameplay with great replay value and numerous endings)?

I'd mention Fallout 3 in there, but honestly...I played it, finished it, explored the world and did a number of sidequests. After putting something like 50-60 hours into it, I just stopped playing all of a sudden and didn't have any interest to pick it up again. It's a great "go wherever you please and do whatever you want" style of story, but the overwhelming freedom means you get completely lost as to what to do and where to go sometimes. The game tells you your current missions, but it's easy to get caught up doing one thing, and then find yourself wrapped up in another, and then get caught up in another thing while doing another, and so on and so forth. Tons of content, but not exactly something I'm going to be a fan of.

Heavy Rain>Fallout 3

But that's just me.