Heavy Rain - A Cinematic Masterpiece
It's a lovely day outside; sun shining, birds chirping, a cool breeze caressing the skin, so naturally I decided this was the perfect opportunity to go and spend the day playing Heavy Rain.Seemingly set in the height of British Summer, Heavy Rain settles us into a increasingly bleak world following the actions of four protagonists all involved with the mystery of the Origami Killer, a serial killer who uses extended periods of rainfall to kill his victims. First up, we have the missing child's father, Ethan Mars, who at first appears to be a bit of a goof to say the least, but as the story progresses he is thrown into testing situations where we, the player, are forced to make game-changing decisions. These are usually the result of our levels of dexterity as the way we interact with the game is by performing actions highlighted on the screen related to motions on the controller. The introduction to the unique control system encourages you to learn quickly as our first encounter with Ethan is him getting out of the shower and standing with his bare arse to the camera… Secondly, we have the private investigator, Madison Paige, who similarly also has an early scene in the shower… Needless to say, I wasn't so hasty with the controls this time. It was actually here I realized how detailed the graphics were and (albeit prematurely) jumped to the conclusion that this was the best game ever. It isn't long after this that you're thrown into a fast-paced action scene in which you have to perform a series of quick-time events. Within about 20 minutes of game-time, depending on how long you leave Madison in the shower, you will be almost entirely comfortable with the innovative control system, bar a few instances of course. At one point in the game you have to make your way through a maze of electrical fences, holding down more buttons than you have fingers and essentially playing a game of twister on your PS3 controller, making it the first instance where I've had to use multiple appendages on my body make it through a level… I'm just lucky I had an erection at the time. The game itself is not what you'd call fast-paced as the majority of the action is interacting with others and investigating clues, especially with our third playable character, FBI profiler and part-time crackhead, Norman Jayden. Aside from being the owner of the coolest pair of shades on earth, Mr. Jayden's introduction is (thankfully) not in the shower, but instead scouting a crime scene and picking up as much evidence as you can which you can later review and start piecing the puzzle together. Of course, the more clues you miss, the less chance of a good conclusion come the end of the game. And that was marketed as one of the main selling-points about this game; the fact that every decision you make affects the story… Well, not exactly. As far as I can see the story largely remains the same all the way through and it's just the combination of endings that change. Of course there are some scenes you could play out differently, but none of which that really affect the game's story. For example, there is a scene in which the fourth character, private detective Scott Shelby, confronts a few bad guys with a gun and depending on how well you perform the on-screen actions, the sequence will slightly alter - you could be the one who ends up getting shot after all. It's really only in the latter stages of the game where your actions result in severe consequences and you certainly shouldn't expect all of your characters to make it across the finish line. The first time I played it through I accidently killed off Madison in a fire because I was inept at something as simple as 'moving away from the fire'… So, for me it's not really the "every decision you make affects the story" concept that makes this game stand out, it's the fact that Quantic Dream had the initiative to go and make a deliberately-paced game that plays out more like an interactive movie. How many times have you seen a movie and wanted to change the ending? I watched that film 'Knowing' with Nicholas Cage in it a few weeks back, and it actually held my interest until the end where all of a sudden aliens appeared and whisked some kids off to another planet to start a happy new world... that took the royal piss. Oh Cage, how far you've fallen since Face/Off… Wait, what am I writing about here? Oh yes, a game! Of course due to the myriad of deviations you can make that alters the outcome of the game, one can only expect plot holes to appear in some cases, but in conclusion, although there is no avoiding the largely insignificant interaction with the world until later in the game, the unparalleled presentation, engaging and brilliantly-narrated story with unexpected plot twists are enough to make this game shine alone in a market saturated by first-person shooters and the like.
