Playing Heavy Rain is a bit like watching a movie, you have an idea of what’s going to happen, however as you move on and the characters make decisions these affect the outcome and suddenly things take an unexpected turn that perhaps you didn’t see coming.

 

 

The game starts off innocently enough with the opening scene seeing you taking control of one of the main characters, named Ethan. In this scene you are introduced slowly to the controls by partaking in everyday tasks and domestic chores such as getting out of bed, having a shower and getting dressed. Later on your are introduced to the characters family and you interact with them, therefore building up a picture of what this person’s everyday life is like. It’s all a very slow start to a game which promises so much, however as you will soon find out, it is a very necessary one.

 

Without wanting to give away any spoilers, Heavy Rain tells the story of four characters who through different circumstances find themselves trying to solve the case of the Origami Killer. Throughout the game you will take separate control of, the previously mentioned Ethan, a Special Agent named Norman Jayden, Shelby, a Private Investigator and also Madison Paige, a journalist. Throughout you will be helping them to make decisions that will ultimately decide their fate.

 

Choices made throughout can be tough and they certainly throw up many moral dilemmas for you, most of which must be made on the spot and without too much time to think. As mentioned by David Cage, the games Director, each action has a consequence, although this seems to refer to the second half of the game as during the first half, any decision you make generally results in the same outcome.

 

You do certainly start to feel for the characters and since the story is so well told you will naturally make a decision based on your instincts rather than thinking “I wonder what would happen if I did this”. Heavy Rain is a clever game, of that there is no doubt, you will need to play through it quite a few times if you wish to see all of the endings and earn all of the rewards, but doing so will provide you with a different experience than what you saw first time around, although admittedly this applies more to the second half of the game than the first.

 

As you play through Heavy Rain for the second and third time, you will make different decisions that will enable you to see what would have happened should you have chosen that path the first time around and it was only by doing this that I was able to provide what I feel to be a fair and balanced review.

 

The presentation and controls are all blended together so well that they are almost one. Throughout both the Third Person and QTE scenes you are prompted by on screen actions which not only help you explore your surroundings for clues but also help with your decision making and act to keep you out of harms way (and sometimes place you right in front of it). With decision making being such a main part of the game I feel that the controls are perfectly suited to the situations you find yourself in, blending in well with the overall action and helping the game feel more real to life than most others do.

 

There is no doubt that thanks to its wonderfully crafted story Heavy Rain will keep you gripped. As an example of this, throughout my first play through I had someone sit with me to watch, and they refused to move an inch until it was over in fear of missing out on what happened next. The graphics also help matters as at points you would swear it was real actors on your screen rather than just pixelated ones , there is obviously some very clever motion capture at work here because all of the action, environments and characters look stunning.

 

 

Finally it’s worth mentioning the sound, although often overlooked, the drama and atmosphere the music, acting and sound effects bring really help to create a mood, therefore depending on the situation you find your character in, all of the games elements will blend together to help you feel for them.

 

Although it can be at times, this game is not the all action shoot fest that most are used to, instead it’s a slow mover which drags you in and gets such a grip on you that no amount of button presses will make you let go. Unfortunately for Heavy Rain though, I feel that most gamers may not have the patience to stick with it, which is a shame because if you do then you begin to realise that this game is a technical marvel, with a story told like none before it.