"How far would you go to save your son?"
Game: Heavy Rain
Developer: Quantic Dream
Rating: Mature
Platforms: Ps3
M.S.R.P: 29.99
Never in the entirety of my life had I played a game that had got me so emotionally invested in the characters in a way that "Heavy Rain" does. This is not your typical game, if anything it is an interactive movie that blows you away. I'm going to review this all for you, but let me say now, this game is art. Like drama movie that you dont expect to make you cry, but it does, art.
Story:
The story of "Heavy Rain" falls on deeply mature themes, ones not touched upon in video games before. "Heavy Rain" is the story of four people whose lives become entangled with a tragedy going on in their community. There is a man kidnapping children, drowning the bodies and leaving an origami on their corpse. No one has been able to catch him before he has killed a child, and the game has you unravel the mystery to find out who the culprit is.
As aforementioned you play as four different characters. (You take control of one every chapter.) They are: A father whose son gets kidnapped, a journalist writing about the case, a FBI Agent sent to investigate, and a private investigator who is paid by the families to find the killer. Each story and driving force behind the characters are rich and compelling and you will want to see their stories till the end.
Grade: B+
Gameplay:
The gameplay of Heavy Rain is different, in the sense that the game is essentially quick time events. If you are unfamiliar, QTE's are essentially button prompts, so when a game tells you to hit the A button before the timer runs out...thats a QTE. Heavy Rain is nothing but those, but in a way that is engaging. After a while it becomes really fun and intuitive to do the actions the game wants you to do. That is not to say that it isn't always perfect. There were times where I would mess up scenes because the actions the controls wanted you to take were a bit too complicated...even for me. But I will say this, there is a scene where a finger gets hand sawn off, and you have to do the motions...I have never been so squeamish or engaged in anything so much my whole life.
Another interesting addition to the game is that the characters do come across situations that can kill them. Now of course you as the player are trying your best to not have them die, but you can choose to have certain characters be killed off. There is no game over screen the narrative just keeps going. So once one has beaten the game, they can go back and see what happens if certain characters weren't alive at certain parts in the game and see how it all pans out. It makes the game very engaging and worth multiple play throughs.
Grade: B+
Graphics and Sound:
If your familiar with "L.A Noire", then you must know about motion scan. Motion scan is a new tool used by developers to capture real actors faces and translate them into 3D environments with astounding accuracy. Like "L.A Noire", "Heavy Rain" uses that same technology in its gameplay and it looks amazing. The game has trillions of little details that look gorgeous when playing through. Sure there are some oddities (I.e; when someone isnt a central character they clearly look fake/ made up) but the environment, the tiny objects and even the rain look life like.
The soundtrack is alright. There is nothing that I would rush to download, but it does its job as being an atmospheric addition to the game.
Grade: B-
Verdict:
This game is an art project, and while I have been tooting its horn the game is like a movie. Once you find out who's behind the crimes, the plot actually doesnt change. There isnt anything you can do to make it a different person, as a result the replay value, while fun at first dies out quickly. Sure there are different scenes but once you know who it is, the suspense kinda dies. A great game however, and it should be experienced at least once.
Final Grade: B
Is it worth your money: I would rent it to be honest, it can be beaten in two days sitting. If you like it enough, buy it of course. But if you find its not for you, I wouldn't blame you.
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