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.

I use the word 'thriller' as normally one doesn't associate that word with a video game, rather a movie or TV show. But the lines between interactive and passive entertainment have been blurring for some considerable time now, and Heavy Rain is the latest evolution of this.

From the same director and software house who brought us the 'infamous' Fahrenheit, notorious for its 'Simon Says' style of interaction, Heavy Rain shares this same basic game mechanic of following on screen prompts to engage particular actions. If you're near a chair, pressing the instruction cue, such as the right stick up, will see the character interacting with the chair, possibly by sitting, maybe by leaning on it.

And this simple yet extremely effective way is the model for the whole game. There is no 'forward back left and right with jump punch' type of control, instead movement is facilitated by R2 acting as a pseudo 'accelerator' and the left stick guiding the player - it's clunky, and at times obstructive, but it just about does the job.

As for the actual plot, because let's face it, that's the point of the game, to be a story, Heavy Rain follows the pursuit, by 4 main characters, of a notorious serial killer called the Origami Killer who is kidnapping and drowning young children. Suffice to say our heroes become embroiled in his latest kidnap and it becomes a race against time and rain (that will become clear later).

The ultimate question we have to ask ourselves, as to whether we like this game or not, is what we expect of it.

Is it the evolution and revolution of gaming that it promised to be? Probably not - it is let down by some mechanical failures, plot holes wide enough to fit the Titanic through, and a fair number of event/dialogue contextual gaps which make little sense at the time.

But inasmuch as these irritate, Quantic Dreams have to be applauded for trying. And trying really hard. Yes, the story and plot would have benefited from being proof read by professionals, but anyone looking that deep for flaws is missing the point - the game tries to do something quite different, quite radical, and involving of the player in ways not seen before by other games.

Heavy Rain does not hit the mark in everything it does, but it comes close overall, and is a worthy attempt at doing something dramatic and different in a gaming market which is in danger of becoming sterile.

Pros:

• Great story & characters
• Challenging choices
• Pretty good graphics
• Great plot twists
• Great music

Cons:

• Slow start to story
• Some story plot-holes
• Few bugs and glitches

Verdict: Another Quantic Dream game that conducts a great story with sympathetic protagonist that keeps you glued to the game. Thou with a slow start may push people away, the game delivers soon after.

8.5/10

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.

What a very good movie and have some strong moments. The investigation of the murder was very interesting and we want to know the killer until the end. It was a very good experience with some very interesting characters. The revelation at the end let us speechless and make the whole game make us seen antoher perspective that we didnt think about. Very clever video game and very good narrative that keep us engage. And the choices can have strong consequences. And the different ending can make us wanted to see all the end possible. And they have a lot !. An unforgettable video game for sure.