For me, Heavy Rain was a console seller from the moment it was announced at E3 years back. I had the sentence framed in my mind “When Heavy Rain comes out, THAT will change my life. I’ll buy a PS3 just for that.” When I got a chance to play several levels for myself with Sony just a few days ago, it did nothing short of sealing the deal for me. This game changes the possibility of gaming on so many levels.
I’m not so sure Heavy Rain needs much of an introduction, but if you’re reading about it for the first time here at Spawn Kill, you’re looking at a game that will be making some serious waves in the realm of possibility for gaming once it launches. The game’s creator, David Cage, also the founder of Quantic Dream, the studio developing Heavy Rain, has dubbed it with a new genre in our always blurring lines between genres of today. Heavy Rain is an “interactive drama.” I have heard a lot of people cry out about it seeming more like a movie than a game. Non-believers, as I call them, must know that it’s much deeper than pressing the X button to continue.
The first level I got a chance to play is going to be the prologue of the game where you take upon the role of a husband and father of two named Ethan. It seems to serve as a rather slow-paced introduction to the control scheme. You start off waking up being alone in the home. You are introduced to the ability to see your characters various thoughts and listen to them if you desire, in which you’ll learn Ethan is quite keen on the idea of a morning shower. As you saunter into the shower, a quick disrobing will leave you fresh and clean. You can also shave or brush your teeth. All simple everyday tasks to familiarize you with the controls. Well, it’s definitely not just Quick Time Events like most people seem to believe. It may take a bit to get used to, but the characters are controlled by holding down the R2 button to move forward. I found this to be incredibly frustrating at first because I felt so inclined to want to use the more simpler obvious method of just holding up on the analog stick. Doing so will just make your character turn in circles because you only need to just tab the analog stick into the direction you wish then release, and continue holding the R2 button to propel the character. It’ll take some getting used to, I assure you, after being so trained to press the analog stick to walk.
Interacting with the environment will take place with the right analog stick, in which you will make movements indicated on-screen if you so wish to open a cabinet, playfully spin around your son, or sit down and work at your desk. Other times you will need to hold multiple buttons to corroborate with what is going on on-screen. For example your wife in this prologue level asks you to carry the groceries, pressing and holding the X button will hold one bag and holding another face button will secure the other. Now you can also let go and the groceries will fall to the floor, surely firing up your old woman. It’s interesting, and feels much more involving than tapping random buttons. So if you’re holding items, you’re holding buttons. Fair enough.
Heavy Rain actually makes use of the Sixaxis controls, and fairly well at that. In some cases, such as brushing your teeth, it may seem silly rowing your controller left and right for a few seconds, but in other instances, I felt incredibly satisfied slamming it up and down to smash a sleazy jerk’s head repeatedly into a table or pushing it quickly forward to kick down a door.
If you’re familiar with Indigo Prophecy, this is the same creator we’re talking about. It was incredibly unique, and an interesting (though quite a bizarre ending…) story worth experiencing. Some major battle as well as other story sequences would trigger a Simon Says type panel in which you’d repeat the buttons you saw on the panel to succeed and continue. Though quirky and one of my favorite games, it had its fair share of issues. Heavy Rain seems to have built upon these issues to make a whole new and immersive experience. The Simon Says-esque sequences (which is fancy talk for Quick Time Events pretty much) would sometimes draw your attention away from the actual events taking place in the game, with your focus on succeeding at the correct button sequences. I’d often find myself frustrated with missing some of the action taking place whilst I was so concentrated on that area of the screen. Heavy Rain’s button press motions and triggers will lie on-screen exactly where it will take place. If you have the choice to punch someone’s face in, throw them against the wall, or grab them, all of these options will float around your character’s fist, so as not to let you miss out on the action and saving the experience from being broken up.
The first level was a bit of a sleeper for me, granted it is the introduction, it was just incredibly slow-paced and lengthy for what it was. It felt like an overlord version of The Sims being able to perform mundane tasks, interact with my wife and children, put away the… dishes… But it is definitely just setting the grounds for what you will be able to do coming up. That’s the thing about Heavy Rain, or what I’ve played thus far at least. Some levels seem very slow-paced whilst others are action-packed and on the ball. I didn’t really get to be a part of any “middle ground” levels. You may go from a crawling conversation right into an all-out frenetic street brawl. And when you do — it is juicy.
Every little decision you make — or don’t make — makes an impact. In the Sleazy Motel level I went through, I played a character who was a private agent seeking out information on the Origami Killer. I knocked on a woman’s door. She opened, told me to leave. I knocked again and she decided to let me in. “Fifty dollars on the table. I don’t kiss and I don’t do weird shit. You’ve got ten minutes,” she says, as she winds up her alarm clock for a ten minute countdown. You can put money on the table, walk straight up to her, begin talking, it’s all your choice. Treating her one way may make her divulge information whilst another will get you the boot. Getting the boot doesn’t mean you failed though, the story continues on as such. There really doesn’t seem to be a “losing” or “failing” feeling in the game. The story simply is what it is, or what you craft it to be. I spoke to her kindly and asked for information, she said she’d call if she learned anything. (Leaving out a few details to spoil as little as possible!) As you’re on your way out, some sleazebag pounds open her door and goes inside. You can go inside and find out what it’s all about, or simply let it be and have nothing to do with the likes of him. Being the strong man that I was, I decided to confront him and knock on the door to which I was harassed to leave by the junkie-looking jerk. Why knock again? He didn’t seem like the reasonable type, so I jarred the Sixaxis forward and kicked the door open, and he wasn’t in the mood for tea and crumpets to chat about it either. I engaged him in an all-out fight, and it was exciting as hell. Heads were smashed through glass, slammed against the table, fists flying through the air. It was wild, fast, and it was damn fun.
I haven’t even mentioned the graphics yet! Because I know you’ll be in dire need of such knowledge. To be blunt, the graphics speak for themself. They are all done via motion capture and are incredibly fluid in motion. Motion capture is when a developer uses the movements of real people when translating it into sequences for the game. The graphics are surely not the best we’ve seen of this generation thus far, but I’m hard to talk to about this, because I’m never sold on a game purely based on graphics. My first and foremost concern for (most) games is the story, save for games like God of War and Bayonetta since they’re just straight up blessed by the Action Goddess herself. And Heavy Rain surely has that down pat.
If you are heavy into experiencing a good story, you would be a fool to skip out on Heavy Rain. Whether you buy it or simply rent it, it is definitely worth experiencing at least once, because the experience is surely an innovative one being brought to the home plate of video games next year. No official date yet in North America, but keep a lookout during the early Q1 release window.
Is Heavy Rain a video game? Is it interactive drama? Is it both? Maybe a better question to all three questions is: is it good? Tigresa (Stephanie) and Snarkasaur (Dave) aim to find out with a little deliberation. We may disagree about nudity a bit, but I think we come to a common consensus on Heavy Rain as a whole in the end. Heavy Rain is a difficult game to both review or discuss without getting knee-deep in spoiler territory, but we have taken on that very challenge.
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