Developer: Quantic Dream
Publisher: SCEE
Release Date: Out Now
Players: One
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Heavy Rain is a linear adventure game heavily influenced by movies, or, according to developers Quantic Dream, an 'interactive drama'. The game pretty much picks up the idea first put into motion by the studio's previous PS2 title Fahrenheit, which although innovative in its story telling and its use of multiple split-screen camera views, came under strong criticism for its use of some absurd supernatural plot directions. This has obviously been taken on board though as one of the first announcements made about Heavy Rain was that it would not contain any supernatural elements. The game utilises an original control system which involves holding R2 and a direction on the left analogue stick to move through environments, and directions on the right analogue stick to interact with certain points in the environment. The game also relies heavily on QTEs (quick time events), which involve all the buttons and the right analogue stick, as well as the sixaxis. The path of progression through the story changes based on the players ability to complete the quick-time events and through a series of multiple choice scenarios, some based around moral choices.
The story centres around the search for a serial killer, dubbed the 'Origami Killer' due to him leaving origami figures in the hands of his victims (all of whom are young boys who have been drowned in rain-water). You play as several characters and each of them have their own reasons for trying to discover who the Origami Killer is; architect Ethan Mars is searching for his son who has been abducted by the killer, private investigator Scott Shelby has been hired by the families of the victims to look for clues the police might have missed, Madison Paige is drawn into the search after meeting Ethan Hunt, and F.B.I. profiler Norman Jayden has been called in to help on the case by the local police.
At the start of the game the control system is very gently revealed to the player in a very tasteful and subtle manner, and performing Ethan's morning routine whilst getting to grips with the controls is a strangely mesmerising affair, especially given the slow emotional piano track that accompanies this segment. Once you've relieved yourself, showered and dressed you can explore Ethan's house a little. In your sons' room you are introduced to the QTE system as Ethan plays with some juggling balls, there is a sense of satisfaction at this stage as you match the button prompts and see Ethan smiling away as he juggles - of course, mis-timed or incorrect button presses will cause Ethan to drop them.
The overall standard of the graphics is very high, although not entirely without fault. The opening scene's environment is particularly glorious, Ethan's ultra-modern house and the glorious summer weather call to mind early scenes of the film One Hour Photo, and the attention to detail in his house is superb. Not long into the game though, the sun disappears and for the rest of the game the player is treated only to autumnal browns and greys and almost constant dreary, rainy days and drizzly nights. This is most likely a choice on the designer's part to influence the overall feel of the game. Certain environments are stunning, in a hallway that contains porcelain lizards the dust motes hang in the air, highlighted by a rare ray of sunlight and really gives a feeling of sheen. Likewise, some of the suburban environments really are impressive, rain hitting the streets and water running down them all looks great. There are weak links however. Although the skin of characters is absolutely superb and possibly some of the best seen on the PS3, the character models themselves suffer from some of the proportional problems common of this generation of videogames. Characters' arms are slightly too long and torsos seemingly too low or high, sometimes walking motions look awkward. The gulf in detail between the playable characters and the 'extras' is fairly large... Madison Paige in her nightwear for example looks great, whereas a Mother from the chapter 'Suicide Baby' looks like she'd be more at home in Quantic Dream's previous PS2 title Fahrenheit... At one point a rat seen scurrying away looks like it's made of chocolate, and on a close-up shot of some eggs revealed that they have straight edges. Not to mention the mouths of characters seemingly having minds of their own and noses being host to a large amount of shadows - some characters look like they've been in a fire and had a narrow escape from a smoky environment! There's horizontal tearing even in cut scenes (which I find incredibly ugly to look at and it's kind of inexplicable in a PS3 exclusive) and there was also a silly, lazy bit in one cut-scene where the Ethan is talking to his missus in a busy Police station, and rather than walk around there are people passing clean through the pair of them! Of course these are only minor graphical gripes, but when the environments are so good-looking it's hard not to notice such blatant flaws.
There are good and bad elements in most of the facets of this game. The choice to use R2 to move is an odd one, and sometimes when the camera angle suddenly changes you find yourself heading in completely the wrong direction, your character's head remaining staring in one direction as your body shifts seemingly of its own accord in a bizarre way. I thought at first this might have been me not being used to the controls, but I was doing it all through the game. Sometimes icons can disappear quickly, and by the time you've seen them and aimed your character for them, your character has walked one foot too far past them and the icon has disappeared, which then requires manoeuvring your character back one foot, which is difficult with the R2+direction control system and can be pretty frustrating. Another strange choice is the some of the QTEs. Tying someone else's tie, making a prostitute an omelette... I assume these somewhat menial events are supposed to make you feel like you are the character, although it doesn't really work due to the fact you can only interact with 1 or 2 things in some of the rooms, and performing these tasks leaves you wondering whether the developers just wanted to see how many pointless or everyday tasks they could include.
The linearity of the game is severe, and sometimes borders on fascist. Entire houses, shops and motels contain very few interaction points, and the only ones they do contain are ones essential to plot progression. The game holds your hand almost an embarrassing amount and is very easy. Environments are brutally small as well, stood in a street in front of a house, the game lets you travel barely 5 metres from the front of the door before you are given a rather patronising cut-scene of your character shaking their head and turning back in the direction that the game wants you to go in. This frequently makes the game world feel absolutely tiny and teamed with the lack of interactivity makes many settings a relatively uninvolved experience.
The overall tone of the game is uncompromisingly bleak. A chapter called 'Suicide Baby' sees your character reaching down to pick up a baby, only to realise his hands are covered in its mothers blood and then you're shown a shot of the sink, where you have to wash your hands before you pick up baby. Another scene involves a trip to the children's graveyard, where the player can check the names on each grave, which is adorned with a name and a birth and death date. The rousing score is remarkably similar to the score of the film Seven, which the game is surely influenced by (one scene where a house is broken into being almost identical to a scene in Seven). Depending on your attitude towards extremely bleak items of culture, you will either be impressed by the commitment on Quantic Dreams' part to pulling off their extremely downbeat vision, or its incessantly depressing atmosphere will turn you off the game very quickly.
Although it does show glimpses of brilliance in its plot, graphics and general ambition, Heavy Rain is too much of an alienating and flawed experience. The loading screens break up the game's flow too much, and the lack of back-story and constant changing of the character you are playing really do make for an experience akin to watching a film by standing in the garden and watching the TV through the window. Some of the story and voice-acting is terrible as well, particularly that of the F.B.I. profiler Norman Jayden, whose fictional techno-specs and addiction to a fictional drug really doesn't fit well with the rest of the story, and left me wondering why it was even included.
Replay value comes in the form of multiple endings which are attained by playing through the game and making different decisions/failing/succeeding QTEs, and although this offers a certain amount of fun (the reckless second play-through where you can be rude to people and let people you saved the first time people die) the commitment required to do everything differently is probably not going to be forthcoming from anyone besides those who are completely charmed by the game, plus without dropping spoilers some of the alternative outcomes are slightly disappointing, often just long cut-scenes and you generally have less involvement in them than maybe you should have.
This game would probably have been more suited to the PC market with its mature themes and emphasis on story above everything else, but is most likely going to be lost on your average gamer, unless he/she is very patient with it. It's a shame as the game showed huge potential and its adult themes and plot driven by redemption promised much, but sadly the game needs to be filed under 'interesting but ultimately a novelty.'
Best Bits
- Good-looking and detailed environments - Innovative control system and experience - Interesting plot
Worst Bits
- Minor graphical and character model hiccups - Control system can be hugely frustrating - Overall feeling of linearity - Doesn't live up to its potential
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