There are some fine lines defining whether or not a game is a series of actions and interactions where everything you do has an impact on the game, or just playing through one long sequence of unskippable events, feeling more like a movie than anything else. This is the dilemma surrounding the latest release by Sony and developer Quantic Dream’s latest title – the PS3 exclusive Heavy Rain. And for a game that’s been in the works for ages, it’s finally good that the wait was worth it. Somewhat.
Heavy Rain prides itself on being “Interactive Drama”, wherein a more traditional gaming experience is eschewed in favour of a much slower experience. This is a game that lives and breathes cinematic atmosphere – feeling at times like a very high quality crime drama. The story follows the lives of four individuals whom are after the one person – the mysterious Origami Killer, whose modius operandi is to kidnap young boys, drown them in rainwater (hence, the Heavy Rain) and places the corpses on a wasteland, with flowers and an origami figure. The shit really hits the fan when the son of one of the playable characters goes missing, as they’re put through the paces to learn just how far the character would go to save him; and forms a crucial part of the plot.
Each of the four playable characters aren’t exactly your standard game characters either – with each suffering from various problems and aren’t exactly pleasant to be around; such as architect Ethan – who after the death of one of his sons and divorce is starting to lose grip on reality, or FBI agent Norman, whom is struggling to deal with a drug addiction.
Much like with Quantic Dreams previous game, Indigo Prophecy/Fahrenheit (depending on where you live in the world), the game plays out via gratitutious use of quick time events and some minor forms of other interaction, mostly in the form of moving your character around the scene, picking up items, talking to other characters and so on.
There’s a joke here about the woman getting soaked by something. But I’ll leave you to guess that for yourselves.
But what really makes Heavy Rain stand out is how progression is handled. The game never stops for anything – time is always moving, so you’ll constantly need to make snap decisions and take advantage of the little time you have. Even things like character death don’t impact the plot – if any of the four characters die, the game doesn’t stop and forces you to reload, and it keeps going. The same goes with the Quick Time Events. They’re handled in such a unique way that it never really feels forced or tired, but fascinating. Best of all, there’s almost no penalty for failing most of them – save for the few occasions where you can kill characters.
That being said though, the game does have a few key problems with it. For starters, the game is a technical mess. Loading times can be exceedingly long, the audio drops out completely at times (albeit briefly), character animations define the laws of physics and much more. Then there are times when the game crashes, refuses to load and much more. Even with a 226MB patch as a mandatory download, it manages to be staggering at how glitch the game is.
Oh hi. I was the first character ever shown for Heavy Rain back in 2006 as a test character. And guess what? I’m still in the game!
As well as that, the story itself has its problems. While the experience overall is great, there are moments in the game where you’re constantly questioning to their existence. There are moments that are absolutely pointless to the overall plot, and feel utterly stupid to be playing. As well as that, the story makes some use of some rather cheap storytelling mechanics and pulls off some weak twists. It does tend to derail the story, but thankfully, doesn’t totally kill the experience.
Visually, the game ranges from tipping the uncanny valley to looking great. The character models in particular look fantastic, though there are moments where they’d fit in well in the Uncanny Valley. The animation on all the characters is great, but the facial animation can sometimes lead to some weird mouth movements that make for a better comedy than a serious scene. That being said though – the environments you move around in are jaw droppingly beautiful, fitting in well with the somewhat noir atmosphere going on. And yes, there’s a lot of great looking rain.
The same thing can be said of the sound – its equal parts amazing and equal parts unintentionally hilarious. The voice acting is mostly solid, though there are periods where the mostly European cast drop out of their American accents and back into tinges of their regular ones, or don’t even try to be American. That, and there’s quite a bit of weak delivery at times. That being said though, the music is fantastic, and does wonders to compliment the atmosphere the game is trying to present.
Overall, Heavy Rain is a unique experience that begs to be tried out, with some of the best music and visuals you’re bound to experience in a video game. Definitely worth it – especially if you’re after something new.
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