Heavy Rain Review – “Truly Astonishing”
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Heavy Rain - Review
QuanticDream have returned once more to bring us yet another amazing story driven action thriller videogame\interactive movie experience! Yep, we really not quite sure what this game is but we do know that it has been worth the wait and If your a fan of Quantic’s work then you’ll be right at home. Turn the lights off and make sure you have nowhere to go for the next 20 hours. So you can be immersed in this amazing experience.
Story – 9
How about a bedtime story? Heavy Rain tells the story of the mysteries of a serial killer. A killer who has kidnapped children, drowned them in rain water and then left an origami figure in their resting hand. Known as the ‘Origami Killer’ the game has 4 characters which you will go about playing through who all have some sort of relation to the mystery. Characters include:
- Ethan Mars – A father who is trying to save his son from the killer.
- Madison Paige – A Journalist who is interested in covering the story.
- Norman Jayden – An FBI profiler who has been called in to investigate the killer.
- Scott Shelby – A private investigator.
Each character tells an amazing story which will have you contemplating who you prefer most. Ethan’s story of losing a son truly makes you tear up inside – at least I did, I’m no man. The voice acting of everyone in the game is spot on and really can turn this game into a blockbuster movie, which obviously isn’t for some. Story moments are delivered through massive cut scenes of button presses or from the characters thoughts. From holding down L2 you reveal all the thoughts which are floating around the characters head. Selecting each thought will hint you at what you should be doing next\actual emotional thoughts of these loving characters.
Some of these dudes have messed up minds, also I swear men are supposed to think about sex every 6 seconds? Proved wrong my friend, proved wrong! Although the story is brought across to the audience like a knife into butter there definitely are some amazingly bad plot holes and general bad writing here and there. Throughout playing through the game you may feel a ‘?’ raising inside your head, It seems that they’ve cut some stuff out during the development of the game. Maybe to become DLC? Or just they didn’t really tie everything together properly? We are hoping for the first one. Even though from a perspective of screenplay writing It really doesn’t matter that the writing is somewhat terrible because the delivery is A Class. Especially seeing as our ending of the game might just be completely different from you the reader. All the choices you have to make in the game have consequences and can completely change what happens towards the end of the game. Meaning when we play the game through the 2nd time round we’re not going to get the same result. Amazing.
Gameplay – 9
How far will you go to play a massive QuickTime sequence that simply has you doing mundane tasks? Including wiping your bottom, cleaning your teeth as well as just sitting in chairs for no apparent reason. Although massive FaceTube arguments have hit in the world of the internet slagging off that the game is simply an interactive Blu-ray DVD we think otherwise. Obviously yes, expect to be brushing your teeth, expect to be walking around and pushing buttons to pick stuff up and yes staring at all the mirrors does just take the biscuit. However without this the game just wouldn’t be Heavy Rain. QuanticDream want to immerse you in the gameplay and sadly without giving you the option to do all these little mundane tasks you’d probably wouldn’t feel at home. The best moments in the game are most definitely the long QuickTime fight sequences.
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During these fight sequences the games HUD for all the button presses go faster and start shaking violently depending on how nervous and scared the character your playing is. The speed it ends up going at really has you fretting and hoping that you don’t blink for the next button. It’s amazing that the game just has you watching all the action and sometimes you can easily go about completely forgetting to press all the buttons. The action gameplay is amazing, I want to watch this in film format! Although knowing how video game movie conversions go, I’m alright thanks. Obviously this game definitely isn’t for some so we recommend you check out some gameplay footage before you go about sitting down and contemplating buying the game.
The video embedded has our lovely selves entering the Hassan’s Shop. Sadly Hassan is the father of one of the Origami killers victims, our condolences are with him. The video shows a sequence we played through first time round. Then we did this – Sequence 2 Shows how a few simple actions completely changed our game for the following chapter. With more or less dialogue being spoken if you plan to listen it, so you can definitely ignore chatting a lot if you really want to. With our initial play through clocking in way over the 20hours mark we blame it on getting really involved in chatting with every NPC possible in the game. We just that sort of guy who just doesn’t stop yapping! As well as punching people square in the face.
Other than shooting and punching people in the face you will go about investigating the actions of the origami killer as FBI agent Norman Jayden. Jayden owns a pair of black glasses and a right hand glove which allows him to use technology known as ARI to go C.S.I. on your ass! Simply round and pressing the R1 buttons allows you to scan the area for clues. You then go about pushing buttons to get down and dirty with the evidence. The cool thing is that all these clues get saved in the ARI virtual world which becomes key to finding out who the killer is throughout the game. Depending on all the evidence you find during your investigations in the game you will get a completely different idea of who the killer could be, which then will change Jayden’s final story.
Audio & Visual – 9
This game Looks amazing and sounds even better. The amount of human NPCs you can have in a scene at once is quite truly amazing. The image above shows Ethan struggling through a massive crowd of people. By massive we mean that this game pushes out around about a 100man crowd bustling around in a shopping mall and later on in a bank. With the power of the Playstation 3 on board we saw no struggle with the sequences, however we did find some visual bugs. When you enter the world of ARI and change the background environment which you are sitting in sometimes the game jerks a little visually and there is a few seconds of slow down. No idea why this happens during quite a simple visual sequence, a little strange.
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The orchestral score of Heavy Rain is that of a Hollywood blockbuster. Each character has their own score of music which changes depending on what emotional values are being displayed in the games cut scene. Subtle chimes of a pianist playing really make you want to cry your eyes out at the scenes where your most immersed. I really felt apart of the Heavy Rain world and really didn’t want to leave it, I liked what I saw and heard for that matter! [/two_third] [one_third_last]
Details
Category: Arcade/ Action Adventure
Age: 18 Years and above
Publisher: Sony
1inches of Rain
- Immersive story will have you caring and sharing. It changes every time you play.
- Amazing fight scenes has moments of heart racing action.
- Best music of 2010 so far.
6inches of Rain
- Story does contain plot hole\scripting problems.
- Random visual difficulties.
- It ends.
Overal then
Heavy Rain is a masterpiece of gaming. Although this game definitely isn’t for some of our readers we can’t go about saying that you should give it a try. However if your willing to learn and be patient with an unfolding story then this is what you have been waiting for since Fahrenheit. Check out some footage then make sure you go and buy this game.
Written & Reviewed by Sam Clay
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