Heavy Rain the Heavy Review
By Joseph Tresca
So I’ve been playing Heavy Rain for the past 2 weeks now since the game was released and I have to tell you, when I’m in the shower, sometimes I swear I see those little context sensitive button indicators or analog stick movements floating in the air. If you play the game long enough or play through it as many times as I have, you’ll know exactly what I mean.
Why don’t we start from the beginning though. If I had one simple word to describe the game it would be, ‘engrossing’. Upon loading Heavy Rain you are prompted to install it to the hard drive which is close to a 10 minute process. This would normally be boring as you might imagine if not for the piece of origami paper included in the game case. As the game installs you are provided steps to create an origami crane and I found this to be a clever way to pass the time.
We start the game playing Ethan. Ethan has a beautiful house, a beautiful wife, and two energetic and loving children. Perfect life right? Well as you might guess it all comes crumbling down. I won’t spoil anything for you because Heavy Rain is all about the story.
My first reaction to the game was simply put, “wow, incredible”. Never have I been so immersed or as I said earlier, engrossed in the environments, as I was in Heavy Rain. Graphically this game is an absolute stunner. The loading screens display pore level detail on character faces that look full of life. There are little details in their facial expressions and lip movements that are really impressive. This is a showcase for what the Playstation 3 can do. In the mall you’ll see 50 or 60 people walking around each with their own individual motion captured animations. It’s easy to build an environment devoid of people, but when you see life moving all around you, it really pulls you in. If you do stop to smell the roses in Heavy Rain, you can bet they will be the most detailed roses that you’ve ever seen. The attention to detail in the environments is simply impeccable. There are also some beautiful particle effects which include, rain, steam and cigarette smoke.
As a long time gamer my first instinct was to walk around and explore everything with the hope that I might find something that would change the course of events. I’d read from Quantic Dream’s own David Cage that every little decision could have a vast change on the outcome. I was of course determined to make the right little decisions. This is where the game pulls you in. You cannot win Heavy Rain, but you can influence the outcome. You interact with the game through a series of context sensitive button presses or analog stick movements that are either timed or must be pressed precisely in sequential order. At first it seems like a novel idea, although after my third play through, I wanted to throw my controller through my flat panel LCD TV. You’ll want everything to happen faster once you know exactly what the animations look like and the novelty wears thin quickly. I wasn’t very fond of the old school Resident Evil tank style walk mechanic either. It was sometimes a real pain getting the characters to walk into the right position so that I could continue the story. Continuing the story is pretty much what playing Heavy Rain is all about.
The story is generally pretty good. I cared enough about the characters to want to know what would happen next. The dialog was written better than in most games, but inconsistent voice acting often reminded me that this was just a game rather than an interactive movie. The game doesn’t take a lot of skill to play. I’m fairly sure just about anyone, even a non gamer would be able to enjoy playing Heavy Rain, but this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I think where Heavy Rain truly shines is in the third or fifth play through. I can attest that making different decisions will in fact change the course of the story. However by the fifth play through I found myself wishing that I didn’t have to sit through all the decisions in the game that clearly hold little to no bearing on the final outcome. I also wished that once I discovered who the killer was, that another play through would make the game choose a different character as the killer based on my choices. Still the game does have multiple endings and that will be enough for many to slog through the same basic story multiple times. The problem is most people without patience, curiosity or the willingness will miss at least 75% of what this game has to offer. There in lies the inherit problem with this type of game. It requires an almost religious dedication to get the most out of it.
Does Heavy Rain fail or succeed at what it aims to achieve? I’d say it’s mostly a success. I found myself happy that the adventure genre has returned in this form. I know that this style of game could be tweaked to allow the player to feel as if he or she has more control over the outcome. For what it is though, Heavy Rain is certainly worth playing through at least one time. Cinematic Interactive Story telling will probably never take off like the first person shooter but for those seeking a mature and different playing experience, it provides more than enough entertainment to “engross” you.
