Heavy Rain

Title: Heavy Rain
Platform Played On: PlayStation 3
Release Date: February 23, 2010
Date Played: June 2010
Time Played: 12 hours
Completed (Y/N): Yes
Score: 5/5


Opinion:
Heavy Rain is not just a game, it is a breathing novel, an interactive film... a masterpiece.

Heavy Rain starts with a sequence of events depicting a wonderful life of a happy suburban family. You go about your daily tasks of shaving, taking a shower and getting dressed. While familiarizing you with the game's setting it actually creatively teach you the controls and basics of the gameplay.

As soon as you start getting comfortable with the game's unique context sensitive control system the story starts taking unpredictable turns and you soon find yourself in the middle of a huge mess involving murder, kidnapping and of course riddles. In Heavy Rain there is no main character, although I suppose most people will associate the first character they play as (Nathan) as the main character. In truth though you play as about half a dozen characters, each with their own reasons for doing what they are doing. This is one of the most interesting parts of Heavy Rain.  All of these characters have little to do with each other, but all of their stories impact each other in one way or another. Perhaps the most interesting part about Heavy Rain, something that is almost never seen in video games is the fact that any one of the characters you play as can die, and their death will impact the rest of the story and the ending. There is no game over, the game just keeps going with that character dead. And in addition to these major impacts to the story, each character story has several branching points, which can help to further the uniqueness of your personal Heavy Rain narrative.

Quantic Dream (developer) did a phenomenal job on Heavy Rain's presentation. Everything about it is simply top notch. The camera work is some of the best I have ever seen in a video game, not only is it always perfectly positioned for any given scene, but it also does masterful dramatic sweeps, and artful multi-camera views. Coupled with an amazing musical score, it is an absolute pleasure to just sit on the side and watch someone else play Heavy Rain.

All in all Heavy Rain feels like you are playing through a book. Everything about it is very unique and not seen in other video games. It is an absolute must play for everyone. The story is that of a really good thriller novel, and the presentation is that of a great Oscar winning film. I would go so far to say that it is absolutely worth buying a PlayStation 3 for this game alone. Bravo Quantic Dream, bravo! I give you a standing ovation.


PS - In my game the only character to die was Lauren Winter (Scott Shelby's Partner), she was drowned in the car by the mafia.

One Of The Many Scenes With Different Outcomes