Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment of America
Developer: Quantic Dream
Platform: PlayStation 3
Genre: Adventure
MSRP: $59.99
ESRB: M
Release Date: February 23, 2010

Review By: Eduardo Zacarias

There are very few games that not only pull you into its universe but rather grab you by the neck and doesn’t let you go until you’re either too tired to continue or until you see final credits roll. Heavy Rain for the PlayStation 3 is one of those games that stops feeling like a game and more like interactive cinema or even a social experiment. Either way, it makes for one compelling gaming experience that you will not soon forget.

If this seems like high praise than you probably missed out on a little Xbox game called Indigo Prophesy that – while it had its few problems – was nothing short of brilliant. If you did play it, then know that Quantic Dream has taken the same concept and revolutionized it in ways that it pushes the adventure genre to ambitious new heights. In short, this game is original and absolutely mesmerizing.

I will not spoil many of the surprises the game throws at you nor will I dive too deep into the story or its many colorful characters because doing so would take the fun out of exploring that rich characterization that is one of the many attractions the game showcases. What I will say is that the story is shaped by your every action because even the most mundane action has a consequence that – like rain falling on a puddle – sends ripples throughout.

Heavy Rain follows a few lives that are touched by a single connecting factor … the Origami Killer who leaves a carefully folded Origami crane near the bodies of the killer’s victims. Each chapter is seen through the eyes of each key character as his or her life is played out in a slow and sometimes excruciatingly detailed manner. At first you’ll wonder what shaving your stubble or microwaving a pizza for your kid has to do with the plot but these actions define who your character is and what will become of him or her in the end.

As I mentioned, your every action is critical to how the story progresses and even what you say determines the outcome if your characters’ fate. There is no right or wrong in Heavy Rain and no win or fail either so if your character meets an untimely demise the story will still continue either way. You will find that your characters have conversational options floating around their heads so you’re not limited to just a few topics and you can also listen to their thoughts as well with the push of the L2 button.

Movement can be really awkward at first seeing as you move said character with the left stick while pressing the R2 button. As awkward as it is, though, the scheme works and so does interacting with everything around you. Interacting with things around you requires a few timed flicks of an analog stick or even a shake or two of the SIXAXIS controller as well. All of this goes for performing simple tasks like fixing somebody’s tie to taking on a thug in a fistfight.

Here’s the bad news, Heavy Rain is relatively short. You can play through the game in eight hours but there’s a flipside to this coin. You see, Heavy Rain is the type of game with high replay value seeing as the game has multiple endings and different ways to see a character through a situation. I can get into the many things you can do differently in the game to get something different every time but I would be doing you all a great disservice. Heavy Rain was meant for gamers to experiment with the story and believe me when I say that playing it more than once pays off big time.

As far as the graphics are concerned, Heavy Rain is simply stunning and oftentimes it is breathtaking in the way it conveys human emotion in ways that seems so surreal. There are graphical glitches aplenty, though, so all is not perfect. I hate to see a gorgeous game ruined by clipping issues but the game more than makes up for it by displaying some gorgeous detailed environments and characters.

The sound fairs even better with a stellar voice acting cast and background noise that turns up the realism dial even further. It’s a blast looking at the beautiful set design of a street in motion but it’s another thing to hear it come to life as well. There’s also a rich cinematic score as well that makes this game feel more like an interactive movie.

I know it’s a cliché to say this but Heavy Rain really is the type of game you don’t play but experience. It really is one of the more brilliantly conceived titles of this year that offers so much that one playthrough just isn’t enough to paint the full picture this game displays. While it has a slow pace, it will still not fail to unnerve you, surprise you and even haunt you every step of the way.

GAME FRONTLINE RATING

Gameplay: 9.0
Graphics: 9.0
Sound: 9.5
Appeal: 9.0
Overall: 9.0

Advertisement