(release) 2/23/10
(developer) Quantic Dream
(publisher) Sony Computer Entertainment
(platform) PS3
Heavy Rain is a unique beast. It tries to do what most other games attempt and fail: to be a complete interactive narrative experience. What does that mean? Most games attempt to have a deep story and stimulating dialog, but it ends up being all action with not much in between (*cough* Gears of War *cough*). Heavy Rain truly exceeds where other games have failed. You will become attached to its characters and watch them develop. You will feel for them when they suffer, and feel elation during moments of pure joy. You will really think about the choices you make and what consequences they may or may not have. Yes, that's been a fad for a few years now, but trust me when I say that Heavy Rain does it much better and more in depth than any game you have played in the past. This is how it's done.
The story of Heavy Rain is told through the eyes of four main protagonists: Ethan Mars, a father trying to pick up the pieces after the death of one of his sons. Scott Shelby, a private detective tracking the case of the serial killer known as the Origami Killer. Madison Paige, a journalist suffering from chronic insomnia, and finally Norman Jayden, an FBI profiler brought in to help the local police catch the Origami killer. If this sounds like a movie, well, it IS a movie. As I said before, I've played games that attempted the cinematic feel. A lot of them can pull it off parts of it, but no one comes close to the complete package that Heavy rain is. I've never felt so immersed in the story and characters before this. I was invested in every choice I had to make to the point where I often paused the game to consult a friend on what I should do. Even in games like Mass Effect I never felt so torn by the choices I had to make. Heavy Rain truly succeeds where others have merely attempted. Having said this, a lot of the choices you do make don’t have such an immediate effect as they might have in other games, but they lead to immensely different ending. You’ll definitely want to go back and replay the game a few more times to see where the story could have gone.
At its core, Heavy Rain wants to be a big Hollywood picture, and all the pieces are basically there. It won’t take long to see comparisons to movies like SE7EN and The Bone Collector. The game has a dark, Fincher-esque style to it supported by excellent, mood setting camera work and hauntingly sorrowful score. This helps further connect you to the characters and what they’re going through. The animations are well thought out and clever as well. Stuff you might not think about, or even notice, like characters crossing their arms and trying to warm up whenever it's raining outside. Which is always. When it comes down to it, everything this game does helps further its own cause. It’s a game that wants to forget it’s actually a game. It wants to be a 10 hour movie, and it pulls it off with flying colors.
Visually the game matches its ambitions on almost every level. Character’s faces are extremely well detailed to the point where you can see pores and individual hairs. Although you can tell a lot of effort went into the detail in the world of Heavy Rain, but they missed the mark on a few occassions. Certain textures can be a bit muddy and the motion capture isn’t quite as refined as some of the bigger franchises. The voice acting is a whole other concern. A few of the performances are top notch, while others really fall flat. It’s really apparent that many of the voice actors aren’t American and their accents are hard to believe. This is unfortunate because you can really be taken out of an otherwise wonderfully crafted and emotional scene by some awkwardly delivered dialog.
The game's developer, Quantic Dream, has been here before. They released Fahrenheit (Indigo Prophecy in North America) in 2005. A gritty, paranormal thriller, Indigo Prophecy made heavy use of dialog and character choices with a unique quick time event playstyle. Heavy Rain continues this style and uses it for every moment of the story. There are no iron sights or cover based shooting. There’s no melee combat or platforming. The game is all about dialog and decision making advancing the story. All actions are controlled by prompts that appear on the screen for which you must press the corresponding button or analog stick. For instance, if you need to open a fridge in an apartment, you would have to hold the right stick to the right or left, and then move it counter clockwise. You can also hold down L2 at any time to bring up your characters thoughts. These thoughts represent your character's mood and emotion regarding the present situation.This style of control will be new for most people (especially the Call of Duty generation), so make sure you use the beginning of the game to get acclimated. You do a lot of mundane things at the start, like exploring your house, opening drawers, or shaving your beard after taking a shower. There’s no catch to any of this. You are actually performing these actions like you would in real life. I know, it sounds odd, but there’s something kind of enticing about it. It helps you to understand where the characters come from and get yourself in the proper mood.
The controls makes for vastly different action scenes as well. At several points of the story you’ll be forced to fight off burglars, have a shootout with thugs, or even drive the wrong way down the highway. These play out as long series of quick time events. However, since this is the game's sole design, it’s much more lenient than your average QTE segment. Fail one or two prompts and your character will come away more beat up or distressed. Mess up too much and you’ll fail the sequence. They turn out to be quite hair raising and intense because so much of the dialog and story depend on the outcome. In most other games, failure usually means death. In Heavy Rain it can lead to vastly different storylines and character development.
The only thing I didn’t like about this control scheme is some of the free-movement. Simply moving the left analog stick will only make your character look at his or her surroundings. You need to hold R2 to move your character in 3rd person. It’s takes a little while to get used to and is often clunky, making you go in directions you didn’t want. It’s a mild frustration, but it doesn’t ever affect your overall enjoyment of the game. It’s also one of the very few complaints I have about this game, to be honest.
FINAL WORDS:
Considering the trend of current games, Quantic Dream took a huge risk with Heavy Rain, but in the end it paid off. This game isn’t for everyone. It’s a game mature in content, but for all of the right reasons. It’s a much needed breath of fresh air in an often stagnant pool of explosions and bullet holes. If you can look past the sometimes slow pace and movie-like feel you’ll find a highly rewarding and emotional experience unlike anything you’ve played before. You shouldn’t miss this one at all. Just remember to bring a rain jacket.
-Andrew Schwaiger
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