Heavy Rain

When 10 years from now someone looks back at the past decade in gaming, one ps3 game stands out...Heavy Rain. A choose-your-own adventure type of game, this film-noir interactive drama centers around the Origami Killer, who spies on kids and leaves an origami on their trail. You play the role of various characters. It's not easy or hard. It's how you play the game. The game will end quickly if all of the main characters die if you choose different paths. The graphics are pretty good, the sound excellent (minor audio glitches), and the controls are really excellent. Trophies are also good as you can get plenty of them to level up your trophy profile. Definitely worth getting it for $60. Highly recommended.

Or something like that. The game at hand here is quite unique, although the one responsible for the game is known to make games as intriguing as the one right here. The inciting incident here is quite ... harrowing to say the least! It really gives you the chills. And it drives the story and the characters forward ... it also has ... well I'd advice not to read too much about the story, because the way it evolves and the twists and turns ... you have to experience them! Truly great game to say the least.

In Fahrenheit you only played one character and this is the first game you jump back and forth, changing the perspective you have and bringing quite the unique flavor into the game too. If you like story driven games, you will love this. Most of the things are QTE events and decisions you have to make .. which is not something everyone loves ... but those who do ... they'll more than cherish this.

Let's figure this: you have been dreaming of become a a movie star for a long time, and then someone offers you to star in his adventure movie, and you accept it. This is the case of Heavy Rain.

Heavy Rain is a video game - and a movie at the same time, with brilliant combinations of drama, action, adventure, and thriller elements. It has gorgeous graphics with amazing attention to the smallest details, terrific atmosphere, great audio, and one of the most sophisticated storyline ever released as a video game, no one even comes close to it. And get this: no superhero, no alien, no monster, no future setting, no demons, no magic spells - it is about several (well, OK, four) ordinary people deal with extraordinary situations, set in our time.

Well, honestly, Heavy Rain may not be the game for everyone. If you're more into shooting and slashing spree from the start (Ninja Gaiden, everyone?), this game might bore you as hell because it does have its slow-paced moments, especially at the beginning. But now I'm talking movie here, and since I said that this game qualifies as a movie too, let me remind that even fast-paced action movies may be slow at times, so it might be a good excuse to give this game a go.

The actions are simply based on moving and quick time events. No worries of memorizing combos and complicated button assignments here...you will spend more time watching than actually pressing the buttons to play...well, that's one more reason why I call this game a movie.

If you plan to grab a copy, pick the Heavy Rain Move Edition. It is basically the same game with tons of extras: PS Move support (as the title says), nice theme for your PS3, bonus tracks, some behind the scene and promotional footage, and the biggest one - in my opinion that is -, Taxidermist side-story (originally released as DLC) to feed your adventure fetish a bit more after you finish the game - that's ALL in one box.

So adventure PS3 gamers (if you don't have a PS3 then it is not your lucky day) rejoice, for you're on one - no - two really nice treats this time: it is a great game as well as a marvelous movie. What are you waiting for? Go to the nearest store, pick a copy,provide a nice couch along with some snacks, spare some times, and get ready to star in your own movie!

Heavy Rain has to be my favorite game of all time, awesome story telling, the atmosphere of the game is to die for. The storyline is absolutely immersive. Towards the mid-end of the game I felt like I was constantly on the edge of my chair. 1000/10.

Before it's release in March 2010 there was already a massive amount of buzz to the release of Heavy Rain, impressing at video games conferences, including E3 when it's film rights in 2006. This was a game that promised a truly interactive experience.

In an unnamed Eastern American city, the Origami Killer is stalking the streets. His modus operandi

is to kidnap young boys in the autumn and place them in a well until their drown from rain water: so they usually have about 3 to 6 days to live. In 2011 he continues and the games focuses on 4 characters. Ethan Mars (Pascal Langdale) is an architect whom oldest son died and lives a depressed live. He is distant to his younger son Shaun. But when Shaun is kidnapped by the Origami Killer Ethan has to go through a series of Saw like trials set up by the Killer for clues to his son's whereabouts. Norman Jayden (Leon Ockenden) is an FBI profiler sent to help the police with their investigation. He has to find clues and suspects as he battles against his police partners and his own drug addiction. Madison Paige (Judi Beecher) is a journalist who suffers from insomnia. She befriends Ethan and conducts her own investigation to help him, using her contacts and journalistic instincts. Finally there is Scott Selby (Sam Douglas), a private detective who has been asked by the victims' families to investigate the case. He asks the parents of the victims questions and suspects the son of a powerful millionaire. He is also befriended by the mother of one of the victims, Lauren Winter (Aurélie Bancilhon), who forces herself on Scott as a partner. They all race against time to save Shaun Mars and find the killer.

The big selling point of Heavy Rain is that the player makes their own way throughout the game, with every decision he/she makes will have an influence on the outcome. If a character dies in the game their stay dead, there are no extra lives. This is a game where you have to conduct actions for the investigation, sometimes, you it won't let you move forward until you do a certain task, but also miss things that could have consequences afterwards. The other part of the gameplay are real time action scenes where you would need to do the right command in the middle of say a fight or a chase scene. If it goes wrong then you character may die. The gameplay was very similar to Shenmue, one of the best games that was made for the Dreamcast; but there is more threat in Heavy Rain and some of the interesting aspects are hearing the characters' thoughts and taking a conservation in a different direction. The game also has multiple endings, depending what happens to the characters, on whether they live, are arrested or pick up enough clues. It a good reason to play the game many times over.

The other excellent element is the story, which could have worked as a film. It is dark, violence, but mostly has a good combo of down-to-earth realism to more over-the-top elements you would expert in a computer game, e.g. the electric maze. The tone is much like a film noir, with dark complex characters with interesting backstories, particularly Ethan's. Many cut-scenes in games annoy some people, but in this game they are important and it adds to the cinematic nature of the game. There is a great voice acting in the game. Langdale is the best as the emotional depressed but driven man who feels the guilt of loosing both his sons. Hopefully his live-action acting is just as good.

But there isn't complete freedom that is promised. There are still scenes that you are forced to go through and there is not much change in the outcome of some events. If the game was able to combine Shenmue's fights, Heavy Rain's multiple ending and storyline and the Sandbox environment of the Grand Theft Auto and other Rockstar games then you would have the perfect game: besides the Football Manager and Total War series.