GamesRelay

Name: Heavy Rain

Heavy Rain is the long awaited PlayStation 3 game from Quantic Dream, ever since Sony first announced the game way back in 2006 the game has been eagerly anticipated by almost everyone in the PlayStation community. It certainly has got a lot of hype to live up to, the games plot has been surrounded in secrecy since the start with little or no details given, is it going to disappoint? Can it possibly live up to the hype? Is there really a topless dance scene? All these questions and more can finally be answered now the game has arrived and we'll answer at least some of these in our spoiler free review for you because we're nice like that.

The game is set against a semi-futuristic back drop in the year 2011, a serial murderer whose become know as "The Origami Killer" is loose in the streets and the player takes on four of the key roles in discovering who the killer is and putting a stop to them and their dastardly deeds. Joining the search for the Origami Killer is Ethan Mars, an architect and father to the latest missing child suspected of becoming the Origami Killer's next victim, Madison Paige a photo journalist who helps Ethan on his quest to find his missing son, Scott Shelby who is a Private Investigator looking into the killings independently, and Norman Jayden an FBI Profiler drafted in to help the local police who've had no luck in solving the case so far. The main game takes place over the course of a week, roughly the time allotted for Ethan to find his son, the Origami Killer uses rain water to drown his victims naturally by trapping them in an area where rain collects; obviously given the title of the game, Heavy Rain, the clock is ticking.

Over the course of the plot you'll take control of these four characters in turn, seeing the story evolve from a variety of different viewpoints and perspectives, it should be explained that Heavy Rain is not what you'd call a traditional game, it classes itself as an Interactive Drama which basically means that to progress through the game you must follow a set pattern of things that must be achieved. This is primarily done by button inputs on the controller, for those of you familiar with quick time events you'll quickly pick this up, a series of button presses and analogue stick actions are shown on screen and you must do your best to complete these button presses. They take on different forms, some buttons must be pressed in sequence, some must be pressed in order, and some must be held down in combination. The analogue stick plays a part as well, you'll be shown a motion you must mimic in order to complete an action, so for example, if your character is to open a door then you'll be instructed to move the stick in and upward motion then round it off to whichever direction the door opens. The controls in some parts excel themselves, bringing you closer to the action in even mundane ways, lovable rogue Scott Shelby in one scene has to take care of a baby and the player is given the dubious honour of changing its nappy and rocking it to sleep, rock too hard and you can expect the baby to cry and never settle, rock just right and the baby is happy to fall asleep, providing you don't slam her back into the cot that is. At other times the controls can feel clunky, the moments where you have to time your button presses can be quiet awkward, in the same scene Sam must comfort the baby after feeding by patting her back, the timing of the patting can be hard to get right leaving you to replay the same animations over and over again until you get it right. This is obviously to give some added realism to the scene and to the game itself but it can get a little frustrating to get stuck on scenes such as this. The game also takes advantage of the Six Axis functions of the PS3 controller as well, at times you'll be prompted to move the controller in a certain direction or to shake it violently, again this translates to your actions on screen; in a fight scene for example you'll be asked to use a downward motion with the controller which signifies you knocking someone to the floor, or if a cupboard door is stuck you might be asked to swiftly move the controller to the left or to the right. Again, this isn't perfect and often you'll perform an action only to be informed it wasn't successful and you'll be left not really understanding why. This is most noticeable during the driving sections of the game, you'll be asked to turn the controller as you would a wheel but it won't always work no matter how much you tilt the controller. It's a shame, but no surprise, the Six Axis features of the PS3 rarely work in a game situation, especially one that asks you to react as Heavy Rain does.

If you're worried by any of that Interactive Drama talk, then don't be; you're still playing a game, it's just a bit different that's all, at any given point your character can die due to your actions, or inaction. If one of the characters should die then the game will simply carry on without that characters presence, their departure while not meaning nothing doesn't affect the fact there is still a serial killer to be found and the game continues as it would in real life. It's another interesting facet to Heavy Rain, there are no 'Save' points as you would find in other games, it just carries on, should you fail you can't really go back and try again without some effort involved, there are no second chances for the most part, you just have to deal with the cards you are dealt, should you miss one of the button presses, and it's easy to do especially on your first play through, then you'll have to live with it one way or another. You'll find yourself forced into making spilt second decisions, fully aware that one mistake could see the character your playing die; it adds a whole new dimension to a traditional game playing style because you often barely get time to react to a situation, so you're constantly on edge that what you do may be wrong and it may have dire consequences.