[PS3] Heavy Rain Review

[AgtFox]

Heavy Rain Review

Title: Heavy Rain
Platform: PS3
Developer: Quantic Dream
Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment America
ESRB: M
MSRP: $59.99
Editor: Loren 'AgtFox' Halek

What's Hot: Graphics; controlling four characters in the game; afraid for your life during intense action scenes; story even with the holes; the emotional tie you should feel with at least one character and possibly more; the moral choices; multiple endings

What's Not: Very rare clipping; lockups (I experienced one); knowing the Origami Killer way before the reveal; plot points left hanging or hidden from us until the end; some of the voiceovers lines fall flat, although many of the main ones are very good; some breakneck QTE sections are insane

I usually don’t read any reviews before I do my own, I prefer to come at a review cleanly. In this case I wasn’t originally going to write this review, but ended up doing so. Many are talking about how original this game is, and it would be if you’ve never played games like Dragon’s Lair, one of my favorite old time arcade games, or Quantic Dream’s other notable release: Indigo Prophecy (or Fahrenheit elsewhere). Although this is a huge evolution from Dragon’s Lair and a refinement of Indigo Prophecy, the gameplay remains pretty much the same: you’re faced with situations, some in quiet times and some in extremely hectic ones, and use Quick Time Elements/Events, or QTEs, to pass them. In Heavy Rain everything except walking is done via QTEs. You will get very accustomed to doing most of your actions with movements via the right stick and walking with the R2 button.

Heavy Rain is a story built around four controllable characters: Ethan Mars, Norman Jayden, Scott Shelby and Madison Paige. For most of the game, at least from my perspective, was spent with Ethan and Norman. As we open the game Ethan, an architect, is waking up in his house and does some household things before his wife and children come home. He goes out in the backyard and plays their two boys while dinner is being made. They sit down, eat and decide to go to the mall. The mother takes one of the boys to go get some shoes and Ethan is left with watching his other son, Jason, who is celebrating his 10th birthday. Ethan buys him a red balloon, but Jason starts walking off as Ethan tries to find money to pay the seller. He turns around and can’t find Jason so you spend the next few minutes frantically searching for him, easily feeling the same level of worry that Ethan is. You eventually see him on the other side of the road outside the mall and he starts to come towards you. You see a car coming and dive to grab him, but he is killed and we later find out you entered into a coma for six months.

We jump two years into the future after that incident and Ethan has become a disheveled man. He and his wife have divorced and share custody of the other son, Shaun. Ethan tries to take care of Shaun the best he can when he has him and Shaun reminds him that Jason’s death was not his fault, but Ethan still feels guilt. The next day they go to the park and do some fun stuff. Shaun gets on the carousel, but Ethan starts to have a blackout, something which has been happening a lot. When he awakes elsewhere he runs looking for Shaun and doesn’t find him. Another son possibly lost and a life pretty much destroyed.

He eventually learns the Origami Killer, a serial killer that has been drowning little boys in rainwater for the past couple years, has taken Shaun. Ethan is sent an envelope with a locker ticket at the train station. He goes to open it and finds a shoe box with five Origami figures and a gun. Each figure, once unfolded, reveals a trial for Ethan to do in order to get the address of where Shaun is via his cell phone. For much of the rest of the game, Ethan’s gameplay revolves around these trials and whether he has the fortitude to complete all of them because the killer asks, “how far will you go to save your son?” Well, I went as far as a man possibly could during the game. I don’t have children yet in real life, but I have to believe if I had a son and he was kidnapped that I would do whatever it took to see him safe. Ethan’s story, at least for me, felt like it took the majority of the game. He gets put through the emotional and physical wringer, no doubt about that and you’re along for the full ride on that rollercoaster.

Next up is FBI agent Norman Jayden. He’s been assigned to investigate the Origami Killer murders. His first task is to check out a crime scene. For those that have played the demo, this section should be familiar to you. We are introduced to the ARI (Added Reality Interface) system that Norman can use. This allows him to scan the area for evidence with the R1 button and then investigate the things that pop up through the normal QTE system. Norman is partnered with Lt. Carter Blake from the local police department. Blake is a tough guy and much of Norman’s moral decisions revolve around stopping or letting Blake continue with his mostly violent way of getting answers to questions. Norman also gets himself into many spots of trouble where he ends up in hand-to-hand combat against some pretty tough people. He takes the murders personally and really wants to save Shaun from being the next victim. He also has an addiction problem with the ARI system, which seems to be a side effect of using it for long periods of time.

Then there is Private Investigator Scott Shelby, a former cop. He seems to sit on the fence morally. He has been hired by the eight families that have had sons killed by the Origami Killer. His first investigation we see is with Laura, a local hooker who is devastated by her son’s death. This was also in the demo sequence, so this section will be relatively easy to get through and gives you the first experience with an action scene through fast moving QTEs. Through the game Scott will follow leads that he picks up along the way as well as visit another Origami Killer victim’s mother. Much of his sections are action packed and he has asthma. However, he really only uses his inhaler a couple times in the very beginning. For how much physical action he gets into and him noting that heavy rain (it rains throughout almost the whole game and is key to how the killer drowns the boys) makes it harder for him to breath, you would think that the inhaler would be more tied into his gameplay.

Finally there is Madison Paige, a local photographer. Her section opens up with her waking up and walking around her apartment. You can have her take a shower and see her full-frontal topless as well. After this she starts seeing people dashing around her apartment, but she turns around and no one is there. Eventually people do attack her, looking like three guys attempting to rape her, but she fends them off. Then she wakes up. It was only a nightmare, but really they never explain what that was all about. I guess a DLC episode is coming that will pan that section out, but I feel a bit disappointed that I have to buy a DLC in order to get that information. Madison eventually finds a motel, the only place she can sleep when her insomnia is full-on. There she meets Ethan and is basically his nurse as he goes through his trials, being his caring person to confide in. Only towards the end does Madison get into some heavy action sequences, but for the first half of the game she is rarely seen.

With all that out of the way, is Heavy Rain any good? Best answer I can give is mostly yes and somewhat no. There is no doubt the graphics are top notch, although I did notice some rare clips at times. The very beginning and getting used to the constant QTE controls didn’t excite me very much, but as I continued on through my roughly 8 hours with the game I started to get more interested in the game and more invested in the characters, especially Ethan. I figured out who the Origami Killer was way early on and wish there would have been an option to put the person away early. The very endgame was a little too filled with multiple fast paced QTEs and I found many of the action scenes being a bit overloaded with them, but somehow I made it out of all of them. I guess that is because I was probably on the highest difficulty, so the game had the ability to throw all the buttons and controller moves at me whereas I think the lower difficulties keep it more confined to the right stick and face buttons.

I think there are some excellent design choices here. I like the multiple button presses you have to make in difficult to maneuver situations, such as Norman from the demo climbing the hill, and in many cases the QTEs follow logical moves you would be making. This game is so full of QTEs, especially in the endgame, that as I woke up the morning after beating the game my mind was popping up buttons as I did things. I’m sure this had a lot to do with the little sleep I got that night, but it was awfully weird to be thinking in those terms in daily life. I guess that is where this game’s strength comes from along with the emotional investment. Although I find overuse of QTEs to generally be a bad thing, I can’t see this game not using them exclusively. The one thing I wish they would have done is allowed you to walk with the left stick even while holding down the R2 button. As the controls are set you basically move the left stick in the direction you want to move and your character moves straight towards there. Why not allow me to make quick turns while moving? The left stick really isn’t used for anything else in the game.

On the no side of whether this game is good, I sometimes wonder if the game relies too heavily on QTEs and slamming them too quickly at you in action scenes. With difficulty turned all the way up you are using Sixaxis control as well. So there are times you’ll shake your controller, move it quickly left/right or turn it left or right. They are the most difficult thing that registered for me and almost cost me in the very endgame. I was just never prepared for them to pop up, but I also wanted the challenge. I also think although the story is good overall that there were things that could have been expanded upon or fleshed out better. There are some plot holes, but I think there are plenty of arguments out there whether there indeed are plot holes or not. I say there are because the designers pull a bit of a Houdini that you only learn about later on. There are also some questionable things related to inter-character connections towards the end of the game. There is plenty in the game that we don’t see or aren’t shown to us in the final reveal. They aren’t as Houdini-like as the one key element, but David Cage certainly should have taken care with all the possible endings and outcomes to cover all his bases from a story perspective.

Lastly I would like to talk about the voiceovers. I’m not sure why Sony, who produced this game, didn’t hire some American actors for the voiceovers and left it to Quantic Dream to cast many of their usual voice actors. In most cases they pull off the American accent and lines well, but many of them fall flat or you hear just a touch of French in how they speak. I think Ethan and Madison’s actors do a good job, Norman’s voice actor attempts a Boston-like accent (I think) even though he is based out of Washington, D.C. (although we don’t know his full backstory). Scott’s voice actor, Sam Douglas, has some weird deliveries. He isn’t bad, but I really think Sony dropped the ball on possibly making this better than it is from a voice/emotional perspective.

Heavy Rain is a good game, but I don’t think it is that “revolutionary” and well-told story that everyone is positing it as. There have been games that used QTEs exclusively before, just not necessarily at this level or in this type of way of telling a story. In many ways this game is like the Adventure games of old, just with far more real-time control than the old point-and-click mechanics. I would say this is a game to be experienced and you can certainly play through the game again to see a different ending or make different choices, but one time through with the emotional rollercoaster was really enough for me. I may play it again down the road, but we shall see. I highly recommend this game, just not as highly as some other Sony exclusive games (Uncharted 2: Among Thieves, inFAMOUS and Ratchet and Clank: A Crack in Time to name a few recent ones).

Score: 4 out of 5 CoGs


Loren says, ”This is certainly a game to experience as it may be something unique to you if you haven’t played Indigo Prophecy or, via the wayback machine, Dragon’s Lair. The story will keep you involved, but the constant QTEs and especially the quick reaction action sections could leave a lot to be desired.”

[DoctorFinger]

The demo for this really turned me off, but this review means I may have to give it a second chance.

[Dukefrukem]

disagree w/ "doesn’t rely too heavily on QTEs"

[menage]

I'll pick it up for 25-30 bucks. Looks nice, but gameplay left me rather cold in the demo.

[Handmade.Mercury]

About the voice actors, perhaps you could enlighten me. I know Pascale Langdale (Ethan) is an Englishman of French heritage, Jacqui Ainsley (Madison) is English, and that Leon Ockenden (Norman) is also English. But what about Sam Douglas (Scott)? Is he also English?

[AgtFox]

Originally Posted by Dukefrukem

disagree w/ "doesn’t rely too heavily on QTEs"

You need to read the whole sentence:

"I sometimes wonder if the game doesn't rely too heavily on QTEs or slamming them at you too quickly during action scenes."

What I'm trying to convey is that it does rely heavily on QTEs. In order to fix reading comprehension I will take out "doesn't" and put "relies" in place of "rely".

[AgtFox]

Originally Posted by Handmade.Mercury

About the voice actors, perhaps you could enlighten me. I know Pascale Langdale (Ethan) is an Englishman of French heritage, Jacqui Ainsley (Madison) is English, and that Leon Ockenden (Norman) is also English. But what about Sam Douglas (Scott)? Is he also English?

You are correct, maybe it is the other voice actors I am getting a tinge of an accent of some origin.

[agentgray]

I don't think it's revolutionary in the sense that a lot of people are saying either, but it is revolutionary to me as an experience. I have eight reasons good and bad why the game goes beyond "typical" and I posted them to a blog I write for. I don't want to blog spam that other blog so I've posted it on my CoG blog (so as to note make this post long). If you'd like, humor me and comment back here.

http://www.colonyofgamers.com/cogforums/blog.php?b=1167

I'd love to take part in a discussion under AgtFox's review about his thoughts and/or mine.

[MosBen]

I barely scratched the surface of the game on Sunday (I just started the first section with the FBI guy right after the title sequence), but so far I love it. The pejorative of "interactive movie" in gaming usually refers to a video that requires a press of the "A" button every once in a while to proceed. In contrast, I really got a feeling of playing a true "interactive movie" with what I've played of "Heavy Rain" so far. It's not a couple minutes of story followed by a half hour of running and gunning your way through a thousand generic enemies. It's also more than simply pressing "A" to proceed. It really feels like there's a movie that's unfolding before my eyes that's unique to my experience. Part of me feels like it doesn't matter if I put on the seatbelt when i'm driving my son home, but that's what I chose to do. I skipped his snack (because I didn't figure out to give him a piece of fruit), and I just missed the window for him to do his homework. It's definitely a story happening, and I know I'm being pushed through it a bit, like a movie does, but it's also uniquely mine.

Thus far I agree with Gabe that it may not end up being the "best" game ever, but it's clearly one of the more "important" games of the last several years.

[TheEpicOfTyler]

Originally Posted by AgtFox

On the no side of whether this game is good, I sometimes wonder if the game relies too heavily on QTEs and slamming them too quickly at you in action scenes.

I've seen this criticism in a lot of places, but I don't like it. Heavy Rain doesn't expect you to play through scenes perfectly, things that are difficult are difficult. The game lives and dies by it's unintended consequences IMO.

[Kelegacy]

I don't really like QTEs (what I call faux-gameplay) so I'll probably pick this game up far down the road when it drops in price to $20 or so. I'm sure it's a great experience, but it seems much more like an interactive movie than a game. Still would like to give it a spin, even if the actual gameplay is just Simon Says. I really liked Indigo Prophecy.

[MosBen]

TheEpicofTyler - That's perfect! As I was playing through the fight between the detective and the abusive guy I screwed up a couple times and the momentum of the fight suddenly turned. It was super intense, but it's not the end of the world that I missed a button press. I just made a mistake and it was reflected in the game. Maybe down the road a stray button press can make all the difference in the world, but that's ok too. I'm interested to see where my mistakes and unintended consequenses lead me.

What I don't understand about the "interactive movie" pejorative is that lots of people like good stories in games. People don't play Mass Effect because it really captures the feeling of shooting electro space zombies but because it's a fascinating universe with interesting characters and an involving story. That's not to say that we should just watch the cut scenes and call it a day, but clearly we're on a continuum between a game that's all gameplay time and no story (Doom, or something like it) and a game that's all story and no gameplay (I can't think of an extreme example here, but something where you essentially just push spacebar to continue).

Heavy Rain, so far, tilts to the low-gameplay end of the scale, but it's not without gameplay or interactive elements. It's one of a very few games where the interactivity is actively drawing me into the world; caring about the characters and how I'm affecting them.

[torrefaction]

I love the unintended consequences. Screwing up and moving on, regardless of how it effects you. I think this stuff is pretty great, overall. I loved the game, and plan on replaying...but it's downside is that the beginning doesn't lend well to replayability right away.

[Hawkzombie]

I hate QTE's in games. But generally they make no sense, and seem to be totally uninvolved, flashing down across the bottom of the screen, and usually during some very important movie sequence.

However, I felt the ones in HR were actually well done and pretty ingenious. Having to dodge fists as the QTE button comes up over the fist actually had me watching for them AND enjoying the action.

I dunno, for me that slight change (as well as making them seem more natural...sliding right to open something to the right, half circle down to roll, etc) made me enjoy it more. And the story is really, really good so far. But I'm only as far as Shaun being taken, so I think my assumption of the killer is off.

Also, if you have kids, the first part can be emotional...we have a son just like Jason, who tends to wander off. Of course we keep him in eyesight at all times, but I'm not lying when that whole sequence got to me. My wife was blubbering like a baby and I had to stop playing for a minute. If a game can trigger you emotionally like that, then I think it has done its job.

If you enjoy a good drama/mystery, even if you abhor QTEs, this is a must buy. And my god does it look good.

OH, and the VOs...I think most are ok, (the main people) but a few of the minor characters, and especially the children, you can certainly hear the french. It was a little off-putting to hear two non-french accent people with french-accent children at first. But it's a minor annoyance.

[Disgustipated]

This is one of the defining games of this decade, and it came right at the start! It's an incredible experience and I think it's set a new standard for videogames as a whole. The maturity and depth of the storyline alone is amazing.

[Wilkz07]

playing it now from a rent. i'm a little annoyed with the movement but so far its alright. i really wanted to see what would happen with shelby in the convenient store if i had been aggressive but I wanted the trophy instead and am only playing through while i have time on the rental.

[Dukefrukem]

Originally Posted by AgtFox

You need to read the whole sentence:

"I sometimes wonder if the game doesn't rely too heavily on QTEs or slamming them at you too quickly during action scenes."

What I'm trying to convey is that it does rely heavily on QTEs. In order to fix reading comprehension I will take out "doesn't" and put "relies" in place of "rely".

Reads better now. And yeh, some sections are extremely hard. I played it on hard, and sometimes I would do what was on screen, and it didn't register. Not because I didn't do it, but because I didn't do it at the correct timing.

[Hawkzombie]

Originally Posted by Disgustipated

This is one of the defining games of this decade, and it came right at the start! It's an incredible experience and I think it's set a new standard for videogames as a whole. The maturity and depth of the storyline alone is amazing.

I...I don't see any plum...and I sorta agree with this...

I'm totally confuzzled. HOW COULD YOU DIS.

[Shieldmaiden]

For me, the most exciting aspect of this game is how it moves beyond binary continue/fail scenarios. The vast majority of narrative-based games don't even go as far as win/lose, you either succeed and continue or you stop playing. I was chatting to the head of my Game Studies course and she was telling me how she'd "finished" the game, but had got a terrible ending. We're so used to the idea that screwing up is going to involve a game over screen and a reload. Being able to continue uninterrupted, despite potentially making a complete hash of things, is quite scary.

[Hawkzombie]

Originally Posted by BigJonno

For me, the most exciting aspect of this game is how it moves beyond binary continue/fail scenarios. The vast majority of narrative-based games don't even go as far as win/lose, you either succeed and continue or you stop playing. I was chatting to the head of my Game Studies course and she was telling me how she'd "finished" the game, but had got a terrible ending. We're so used to the idea that screwing up is going to involve a game over screen and a reload. Being able to continue uninterrupted, despite potentially making a complete hash of things, is quite scary.

YES. I screwed up a few things, and it just kept going. The fact I can't reload to 'fix' it sort of invests me a bit more into the game than normal, and I'm watching everything with a far more keen eye.