Neither of which I am convinced by.

Namely becuase Splinter Cell was one of a few games about observation and calculated actions. I know this is a game design blog, but how narrative is injected into game design is relevant. And Chaos Theory for example had you interrogate people, listen to conversations and avoid conflict. Why did they feel the need to inject the narrative interface they chose in Conviction?

And as for Heavy Rain, it defies game design paradigm completely. It's very much within a genre of it's own. But it's predecessor still relied on bars.

So there's kind of an arcade vs simulation here. A simulation gives you ambiguous or less information which challenges the 'game' element of it becuase it's based on the ambiguity of real life. And arcade adds the necessary interface , so the player can mechanically interpret a game.

Neither of which I am convinced by.

Namely becuase Splinter Cell was one of a few games about observation and calculated actions. I know this is a game design blog, but how narrative is injected into game design is relevant. And Chaos Theory for example had you interrogate people, listen to conversations and avoid conflict. Why did they feel the need to inject the narrative interface they chose in Conviction?

And as for Heavy Rain, it defies game design paradigm completely. It's very much within a genre of it's own. But it's predecessor still relied on bars.

So there's kind of an arcade vs simulation here. A simulation gives you ambiguous or less information which challenges the 'game' element of it becuase it's based on the ambiguity of real life. And arcade adds the necessary interface , so the player can mechanically interpret a game.