Heavy Rain Review

Heavy Rain is a PlayStation 3 exclusive intense interactive thriller game set in a waterlogged city with a murky past.

Let’s not beat around the bush. I’ll get this off my chest before saying anything else about this game. There is nothing wrong with interactive video games! Yes, you’ll be watching some of the time, but that isn’t always everything. They are structuring the idea that there are others ways to play a game rather than getting a few headshots. The main draw of this game is that you build a relationship with the characters and you want to see them go down the right path, but it’s easier said than done. You can’t go down such a path and not run into complications, which is exactly where this game receives its charm.

You alternate between four main characters in this game:

Scott Shelby, a retired police officer who is currently working on his own as a private investigator trying to solve the mystery of the Origami Killer.
Madison Paige, a photojournalist who has sleeping problems. She tries to solve her problem by checking into motels- that is usually the only time she can actually get sleep.
Norman Jayden, an FBI profiler who was sent to help the local police force with the Origami Killer case. He struggles with his triptocaine drug addiction that gets in his way of work.
Ethan Mars, an architect who lived with his wife and two sons before losing one in an accident. His wife left him so he now lives alone, depressed with the loss of his older son, but still sees his younger son, Shaun who he looks after once in a while.
The Origami Killer has struck again; only it’s the son of Ethan Mars. He already lost his first son and losing another would completely drive him over the edge. He has to follow the breadcrumbs of the origami killer in order to find his son before he is killed. This is no easy task for Ethan, as he must complete various tasks set up by the killer himself to get clues as to where his son may be.

I was very impressed with the way Quantic Dream created this game. Within the first 5 minutes of playing the game you’ll be drawn in and after that, there’s no escape. You’ll play more and more wanting to find out what happens next, to what character and how they
will react to it. Switching characters is done through chapters. Once you have completed a certain goal in the level you will move on to another character. The loadings screens even show different characters showing you the amount of detail they put into the game. During gameplay there are tons of ways to complete the level. When your person is faced with a decision, you can hear the characters thoughts by pressing L2, which brings you an even closer connection to the person you are playing as. After reading listening to their thoughts you can choose to make any decision you like, but choose wisely as every decision can have a pro as well as a con.

The graphics really show what the PlayStation 3 is capable of. In the Heavy Rain demo, you can see the amount of detail they have implemented in this game. This game really shines when you and your character are outside in the pouring rain. It looks very real even when the rainwater soaks the characters. My only argument with the game was that there is so much rain in the outside environments of this game, but there was no water when a character was washing his/her hands in the sink. I found it to be weird since they’ve used so much water in other places of the game that they didn’t bother with water coming out of the faucet.

The controls of the game are actually pretty neat. I remember when the demo came out and I was a little bit hazy about using R2 to walk. Me, as well as any other gamer might find this a bit awkward at first, but once you get into the groove of the game it won’t be a problem at all. The camera angle is somewhat fixed so it’s nothing like Uncharted where you can pretty much look wherever you want. The only downside is that you would sometimes have to walk in a certain direction to see more. Turning the characters head doesn’t expand what you can see as much as I thought it would.

The left analog stick is used to look around which works so smoothly. They really managed to make good use of the DualShock Sixaxis controller. There are many examples of the game where you had to move your controller a certain way, to shaking frantically to get out of a tricky situation. This was well done and other PlayStation exclusives should do the same.

The game has also received a PlayStation Move update allowing you to use the Move wand for even more motion controls. I’ve yet to try it, but I will be picking up the PlayStation Move soon, so I can re-experience the game with movement controls.

In terms of difficulty you don’t have to worry about missing the button pressing too much. I consider myself to be somewhat of a casual gamer but my first play through was on the hardest difficulty. There are still ridiculously easy parts to play so I don’t think you will have to play easy mode. Its funny, I was playing on hard mode and they made drinking orange juice so easy. All you had to do was shake your controller (to shake the box) and push the right stick up. If you fail to do that correctly he’ll just stare at the box of juice in his hand with an expressionless look on his face

This game features 22 different endings so that tells you that depending on the choices you make in the game can alter the grand finale. If the character you’re playing dies, it’s over for that character. However, you can still continue to play the game with the other characters to reach another specific ending depending on the choices you’ve made. This gives great replay ability to gamers who want to know everything that could have happened in a situation a character is in. It’s fun to replay a level again choosing to do different tasks and see how the character will respond to it as well as see what the character starts thinking about.

I think it’s safe to say that Heavy Rain is a masterpiece for the PlayStation 3. The game will take you for a ride on an emotional roller-coaster with your own steering wheel. You make the choices and you deal with the consequences.

I highly recommend Heavy Rain to anyone who enjoys a good mystery to solve. It’s definitely worth the money because you’ll keep playing it to see if you missed anything the first, second or even third play through.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKPPdgBK3r8&feature=related