Fresh new baby
I'm the kind of guy who tends to put gameplay first. I like good stories and characters in my games, but if it doesn't play well you can just forget it. That's why I was a little wary of Heavy Rain's extreme focus on narrative, as well as the fact that its gameplay is composed entirely of quick time events. But, some technical oddities aside, Heavy Rain does what it sets out to do. The gameplay serves as a direct conduit for its narrative, allowing Heavy Rain to deliver an experience that pushes the boundaries on what video games can be.
First and foremost, Heavy Rain isn't perfect. A handful of technical hiccups mar an otherwise great looking and great sounding game. While the character models are superbly animated and convey a lot of personality, a lot of other objects in the environment fall pretty flat. The voice acting can also be hit or miss, and a particular early game glitch halted my progress for quite some time. Last but not least, the labels for the actions you can perform can get a little confusing at times. When multiple actions appear on the screen at once it can be hard to tell which one does what. Which is kind of a shame, as Heavy Rain's quick time events are otherwise executed extremely well. There's a wide variety of motions which do a surprisingly good job at mimicking the actions your character is performing, and they even had me on the edge of my seat during the more intense scenes. The control scheme is effective at making you feel like you have direct control over your character's fate, which is ultimately all you can ask for.
What really sets Heavy Rain apart from other narrative driven games, however, is how it empowers you with said control scheme. You're always in the driver's seat, and the game's seemingly infinite "choose your own adventure" style decision points are handled with such care that it feels as if the game is constantly adapting to your decisions. Rather than simply giving you black and white menu options, the choices you make in Heavy Rain unfold through what you do or don't do. You don't select an option to kill someone. You either pull the trigger, or you don't. You don't simply choose to cheer your son up. You have to get up and do something about it, and do it well. Failing to act is just as consequential as the alternatives, and a main character's death doesn't lead to a Game Over screen. Heavy Rain's narrative is constantly evolving based on your actions, and it has a much more organic feel to it as a result. The whole thing ends up being surprisingly engaging.
In the end, that's where Heavy Rain wins out. It may have its quirks, but I don't know that video games have ever delivered such a powerful narrative that's so directly influenced by the gameplay. Everyone who plays Heavy Rain is probably going to come away with a wildly different, yet oddly personal experience. It's great that games can involve the player so directly in their narratives, and Heavy Rain goes a long way towards showing us some of the untapped potential left in our medium.
For additional information on my review style and scoring system, click here.
