The struggle between video games and movies have raged for years. It seems impossible for filmmakers to adapt video game storylines and characters into a decent film, and video games based on movies are often rushed and unplayable. Heavy Rain is a truly unique experience because it has an extremely cinematic plot and appearance, unlike anything that has been seen before in gaming. Unfortunately, the actual gameplay isn’t as smooth or interesting as the appearance, making Heavy Rain a tough game to get into.
While Heavy Rain isn’t based on any existing film or television property, the story feels like a mix of a brooding Hollywood thriller and an episode of C.S.I. The plot circles around a child murderer dubbed The Origami Killer, on account of the paper animals that he leaves with his victims. Norman Jayden, a by-the-books F.B.I. agent, is sent in to find the killer before he can strike again. Unfortunately, The Origami Killer captures the son of Ethan Mars, a man who is willing to do absolutely anything to get his son back. With the help of Madison Paige, Mars attempts feat after feat proposed by the killer (including self-mutilation), in order to save his son.
Everything in this game can change by the player’s chosen actions. Main characters can die, to never be seen or played again. Scenes from the game can be completely skipped, depending on the actions that the player chooses. Heavy Rain is almost the equivalent of a choose-your-own-adventure novel. Each time it takes to do a run-through of the game (approx. 10 hours), the player can make different choices with the story, each of them with a different ending complete with a different identity for The Origami Killer. Seeing the story unfold around your choices is a very satisfying feeling, because regardless of what the chosen action is, chances are that it will affect the story in one way or another. Add in the insanely detailed characters and environments, and the game almost feels like a movie that you can actually control.
While the interactivity of the story is obviously the high-point of the game, the control scheme is definitely the low-point. The game plays out completely in quick time events, meaning that prompts will appear on screen, and the player has to press the prompted button on the controller in order to perform the action desired. While this seems like a novel idea when used sparingly (i.e. boss battles in the God of War franchise), a game controlled by only this action gets really old really quickly. To add to the pain, the characters in-game can only walk if the player holds down the R2 button, much like a vehicle would be controlled in practically every other game. Why the left analog stick couldn’t do the job is beyond me.
Little things like the control scheme bog Heavy Rain down from being a must-own title for Playstation 3 owners. For some, the interactive story will be enticing, and the realistic graphics are truly a marvel, but at the end of the day, it’s still a video game, and a video game should be fun to play. Unfortunately, the cut-scenes are more interesting than the actual gameplay, which makes Heavy Rain an intriguing experiment, but not one that is completely successful.