The gamer is literally sitting back and watching Madison take a shower with these really strange, voyeuristic shots in which you see every part of her body except for her vulva.Īnd, within the context, of the rest of the game, I’m not willing to read this scene innocently. Typically, when the game has you perform mundane actions, you do every little bit of that action through a QTE. First of all, the only interaction you have with the scene is whether you want to turn the water off (and end the scene) or not. I get that - and I think it’s one of the more interesting risks the game takes - but I don’t think the shower scene is one of those times. Jayden bouncing a tennis ball against the wall.
Ethan trying to get his kid to start his homework. Large portions of Heavy Rain concern themselves with the mundane details in our lives. But why is there an extended scene of a character taking a shower at this point in the game? What does this scene accomplish for the narrative? There’s nothing wrong with showers or characters taking showers. So this scene starts with Madison taking a shower, and the gamer gets full-on shots of her naked breasts and butt (the camera lingers on her butt, too). I probably should’ve known at this point… Let’s start with the “dream threat-of-rape” part… And I really, really feel like talking about it. But, you know what? I got around to playing Beyond: Two Souls recently, and it only made me more annoyed about Heavy Rain.
I mean, if Cracked is talking about it, the issue has basically hit the mainstream. If you go google “ Heavy Rain is sexist” right now, you’ll get a bunch of hits. Happily, there are a bunch of people talking about it now. It was very, very frustrating for me, and that feeling was what made me want to start this blog. Complaints were much more focused on loopholes and dislike of the QTE gameplay - both valid complaints - and maybe someone would mention that Madison was a shallow character. But my experience was that gamers weren’t having the same experience as me with the game. Maybe the conversation was happening somewhere, and I just couldn’t find it. But they were mostly made on forums, and I don’t have enough Google Fu to find them.) Instead, I found a bunch of gamers talking about how the “Madison is almost raped in a dream” sequence made them feel like they could relate to women’s fears better. But I couldn’t seem to find anyone talking about the sexism in the game. Even three years ago, the online gaming community had less of a social justice conversation going on, but it was still there. So I went to the internet to commiserate with other gamers.
It really sucked that a game I would otherwise have been happy to recommend to others had these really squicky parts. She was the product of bad writing and characterization and just… sexism. But Madison was this huge blip that made any serious, artistic statements almost ridiculous to me. Here was a really interesting, if flawed, game that obviously wanted me to take it seriously.
Let’s get this out of the way first: Madison is not a real person, so I’m not actually targeting “her.” I’m saying that David Cage wrote a terrible, sexist character, which dragged his game down and ensured it would stay mired in some of the most immature elements of the gaming industry.Īt first, I was sad. So it’s really too bad that Madison Paige is an abysmal character. The game wasn’t perfect, but at least it was trying to do some unique, genre-pushing things.
There was one trial that I failed, making me feel genuinely guilty, and this was one of the first games I can think of that (attempted) to seriously delve into the parent/child relationship that has been so popular in 2013. I loved the threat of permanent death for any of the main characters, and the finger scene is still one of the most tense moments I’ve experienced in gaming. I played it on release and, overall, enjoyed it. I’m always up for a non-traditional gaming experience, and I thought that, even if the game sucked, it would at least be a cool experiment. I was really intrigued by Heavy Rain when it was first announced. Heavy Rain is actually the game that made me want to start a blog.