I’m breaking with my set routine (as it isn’t done so in stone and writers are allowed to wing it) and bringing you a review today on the ps3 game Heavy Rain. Seeing as how I just finished it in less than a week of playing (could’ve been done in a day if I didn’t have only two hours a day to play) I feel compelled to tell you of my experience.
Heavy Rain was released in 2010 by Quantic Dream. To my knowledge, it was only released to PS3, first for the normal console and then for the PS3 Move System. The basic storyline revolves around a serial killer, the Origami Killer – who kidnap young boys and then force their fathers to go through brutal trials to prove their love. If they do not succeed, then the boys die. You play as four characters – a father who’s son has been kidnapped, a journalist who investigates the case, a private eye hired to take a look and an FBI agent. The story presents itself in a series of cut scenes. Sometimes you are directly in control of the character and other times you have to respond by pressing the buttons presented on the screen in order to control the character’s actions. What’s made Heavy Rain so appealing is that the story line is ever evolving. Your main character can die and his or her role will then just be stubstituted (or not) by some of the other characters, depending on what had been happening in their story. You can fail to save the boy, or you can make it in time.
You can never catch the killer, or you can be the killer.
It is brilliant. I recently read an article by Listverse where they listed the 10 best written games to date. The list was alright but I noticed that quite a lot of commentators mentioned that Heavy Rain should’ve been included. When I was presented with an opportunity to buy it (second hand) over the weekend I decided to grab it with both hands. And I have not been disappointed.
The game starts quite slow and admittedly, you have to take the characters through some minor, remedial tasks such as brushing their teeth or getting dressed. It’s all focused on getting you more accustomed by the controls but it does slow the game play down in the beginning. The game also utilizes the PS3’s Sixaxis’s motion sensitive hardware, meaning that you sometimes have to (as with the Wii System) literally bash the brains out of somebody by waving your controller in the air like a lunatic… it was what made it such a logical game to bring out for the Move PS3 controls.
I was very skeptical about this in the beginning. To date, the only game that I played using this for the PS3 was Liar and it frustrated me so much that I gave up after about 2 hours of gameplay. I had thought that I’d be able to choose my controls for Heavy Rain but realized that I was delivered to my fate when I couldn’t do it.
I’m now willing to admit that this technology brings a whole new aspect to gameplay (including for me, the risk to get an asthma attack if I get too worked up bashing out those brains) and I liked it. It makes you so much more involved with the story and the movement of the characters. I’m impressed.
And, I’m impressed with the game itself. The story line is gripping, the ending devastating and the replay value endless because you can have over 20 different endings. Although the actual story line is only about 9 hours, you can go back and change a decision in the beginning and it will change the events of the whole game.
I really, really liked it. I cannot stress this enough.
So, if you’ve been patiently waiting for this game to become a little cheaper as I have and you’ve been debating whether or not to acquire it, I’ll say whole heartedly – wait no more.
Go and get it. It’s worth it!
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