Essentially, they’re far too basic, and always seem to be on the opposite ends of the scale, to use your analogy. It’s either save a kitten or cannibalise it and its whole family. Mass Effect 2 did have a more correct idea, in that you’re never actually bad, always good, just either ruthless or righteous, while Heavy Rain opted for more realism in decisions, actually making it great :mrgreen:

I think one of the big reasons as to why morality/karma systems fail is because they often aren’t a central focus of the game, but more just a tacked on thing to extend gameplay time. A game should opt to focus on this system and make it more than just “select choice at this point”, if you get what I mean. ;-) The game should continuously assess your actions, even with little things, and I’m not just talking about “+5 bad points for killing civilian” or “+2 good points for collecting an apple”.

I’m talking about a proper, deep system, where one group can hate you while another can like you, where one person could be on your side, while another would look for any chance to stab you in the back. Real characterisation with solid variation in choices – and plenty of them! :razz:

Its a pity I don’t have a PS3 to experience Heavy Rain, but I have an idea of what you felt when I played Bioshock 1.
Morality within games still has a long way to go, but the effort developers like Bioware are putting into continuous sequels is inspiring.

I think what makes heavy rain so good is that you forced to make a choice whether you like it or not and you actually have to deal with the moral consequences somewhat albeit its still a game.

Good write up :)