A refreshingly different, and still well made adventure.
It's hard to really convey what Heavy Rain is like. It is a PS3 exclusive murder mystery themed game that is really greater than the sum of its parts, and its parts are pretty impressive. This is really a game about telling you a story involving some very interesting characters in a very dynamic and dire situation. The most fantastic thing about this is that the story the game tells you almost completely depends on you, because you're the one making all the decisions about what the characters do next. Because of this, 2 people can play this game and get completely different stories, and still both love it.
How does it do this? Basically, if you didn't already know, the game is like one huge quick time event. Now, I know what you're thinking, that this sounds like it would be either extremely boring, or extremely frustrating. I worried about the same things. But these aren't your God of War quick time events - if you fail you don't just lose some health and have to try again. And these aren't your Resident Evil quick time events - you don't get a Game Over from a missed button press. Most of the quick time events in this game are centered around choices. In the earlier stages of the game, the choices are minor, and really bear very little consequence, but as you progress the choices gain magnitude, until you are literally deciding whether someone lives or dies. Despite the levels that things get raised to, these choices never become black or white, but always a terrible, maniacal shade of gray, where you really aren't sure what you should do next, but you can't just set the controller down and think on it, because almost every quick time event is on a timer, and doing nothing is a separate choice all on its own, with its own potentially disastrous set of consequences.
Of course, not every moment of the game is a choice, because there are some forms of combat. These are also quick time events, but as I said, you won't die from just missing a single button press. The combat changes dynamically based on what you do and don't miss, of course resulting in your character's death if you miss far too many. If that happens, what follows may shock you as a gamer - you won't see a game over screen. Since you control four characters throughout the game, jumping back and fourth between them, if one dies it's just another part of the story, and your story continues on. When you couple this edge of your seat combat which may cause a dramatic turn in the story if you lose with all the choices you make throughout the game, you get a nerve wrecking thrill ride that keeps you feeling like you're always on the verge doing something disastrous, with no option to take it back.
Since the game is fairly short (I'd say around 8 hours), you don't need to really worry about doing everything perfectly, because what you succeed at and fail at will lead you to your specific ending, and you'll hopefully have enjoyed the ride. On the other hand, since the game is only 8 hours or so, and I personally don't have any intention of playing it again, it's worth considering if that is worth $60 to you. I will say that, for me, Heavy Rain was one of the most immersive and pulse pounding adventures I've had in a video game, but if you want straight up action, or are on a tight budget for your games, this may not be the best use of your money.
