Heavy Rain, an 'experience' that goes beyond conventional thought
Every game is an experience. There are games that every gamer should play if you like FPS, Puzzles, MMO, Action-Adventure etc. etc., and there are a select few that EVERY gamer should play. Welcome in Heavy Rain.
Described as an 'Interactive Drama,' Heavy Rain in it's basic concept is a choose your own adventure book, but think with the leaps and bounds that the latest Star Trek movie is compared to the Original Series. The story goes on no-matter what happens, there is no sense of losing and the game does a great job at conveying this to the player, because, no matter the decision, you want to see the outcome.
CONTROLS - Your choices are made through intuitive QTE (Quick Time Events) but with a bit more spice than what you would normally see, and it's this interface that helps flow the game together seamlessly and adds an extra depth to the tone of the scene. Pressing L2 brings up a characters 'thoughts' that circle around the player, and depth of field does take into effect, but what is actually happening is a guide for the player to help them advance, a hint system if you will. Where the controls shine are in the action sequences, buttons presses to avoid attacks are placed on the source, so if you're being punched, the corresponding button will be on the fist or arm and moving, creating a heightened sense of awareness within the player because it's not in a static position. One sequence had all the buttons upside down and a simple flick of the analog stick 'up' became a problem that could have end terribly. To make matters worse, tense events are amplified even more by all possible actions you can take shown as shaky, double-imaging, hard to read messes sometimes circling frantically around the player. There are many times you'll have your eyes darting around the screen looking for where the sequence will start and then mashing the x button to avoid being clobbered by a 2x4 or being choked to death. Six-Axis style flicks or shaking of the controller are used, and never felt unresponsive, it's these amalgamations of ideas for simple mechanics that make it accessible to anyone.
GRAPHICS - Fluid controls add a depth of tone, but it's the surface that sets it. Graphically, this game is one of the best out there, you'll notice minor winces of pain or sorrowful joy expressed by characters at every turn, it's the attention to detail that makes every character realistic. Quantic Dream did an amazing job with the motion capture, you are watching real people move, make faces of disgust, show anger, or even die. Cuts, bruising and other deformities are shown with unnerving detail that make you feel for what you have ultimately committed, and it was your decision, and the game has no qualms showing what you have done. Settings have a grime about them that set the mood for each sequence, a sort of despair that you won't succeed or that something awful can happen at any point, even a dance club is brought down by the tone that is set, through character animations, facial expressions and weather befitting for a funeral, even light-hearted places feel uneasy.
SOUND - You have these great graphics and controls, but what about the sound? This is another excellent detail heavy portion of the game, from parks to malls, it gives you sense of where you are with inane almost mumbled chatter of hundreds of people to birds chirping while you watch your kids play. From pain to joy, these are expressed both facially and through excellent sound design, you'll know what you have done, whether it's a joyous laugh, or a horrifying scream of pain, or even regret, it's expressed beautifully and once again, realistically. However, this is where I do have a few gripes, the voice acting, for the most part, is above average, there are certain characters that fell short though and took me out of the game for a brief second, but I do stress brief. Certain pronunciations of syllables feel off, particularly one part in the opening chapter, where words are over accentuated and too much emphasis is put on one part of the word, these points are few and far between but are noticeable when they appear. A few conversation trees also felt awkward, but with the amount of dialogue present in the game there are going to be parts like that.
CONCLUSION - Heavy Rain is an experience unlike anything on the market right now, the controls, graphics and sound design come together to create a rich atmosphere filled with interesting characters and a story befitting a murder/mystery novel. The story is told through 4 different perspectives and the player pieces together everything they've uncovered, and it truly is what you uncover as the player, it shows how you played the game though actions taken and at certain points it tests whether you were paying attention to details such as clothing and time of day. That being said, there are certain aspects of the story that are lacking, that didn't feel fleshed out enough, and a couple plot holes, one of which surrounds the killer your looking for, that do hamper how I felt walking away from the game. It's a game more focused on it's journey rather than it's conclusion (which does wrap up nicely), you come away with wondering how events could play out differently or, what if I didn't fail this part of the fight? Or even better, was this the right decision?
Worth buying? Absolutely, if you have the money this is a game that you will go back to and enjoy again and again, and a host of unlocks to keep you coming back, they even put a convenient chapter select to revisit events. No Money? Easily a rent, the game clocks in between 7-9 hours for one play through and it may even be better to play through once and leave yourself wondering of what could have been.
