Is this the Se7en of video games?
Format: PS3 Dev: Quantic Dream Pub: Sony Out: 26/02/10 Players: 1
Director of Heavy Rain, David Cage, hasn’t been prudent about telling the world that he wants players to “feel” for the characters in the game. In production for more than four years, Heavy Rain confronts many adult subjects which are shied away from by this medium. In a way, it’s less of a game and more of a sophisticated choose-your-own-adventure story. At times it struggles to finds its place between interactivity and cinematic. Nevertheless, Heavy Rain is a poignant experience you won’t soon forget.
Set in a grimy metropolis, this dark, psychological thriller’s main draw is its narrative. When Ethan Mars, a young father of two, loses his son Jason in a fatal car accident his life is torn apart. Two years later, a spate of child murders have been committed by someone known only as ‘The Origami Killer’. So-called because of the origami figurines he leaves with his victims – all of which drowned in rainwater. When Ethan’s remaining son Shaun goes missing, the father finds himself in a tragic race to prove his love and rescue his son. Just how far he is willing to go will be up to you.
Though you begin as Ethan, the story intercuts between three other characters as well: journalist Madison Paige, FBI agent Norman Jayden and PI Scott Shelby. Every one of these characters can die at certain points, which affects the outcome of the story. Coming from the studio behind Fahrenheit, gameplay in Heavy Rain uses button prompts and lots of set pieces requiring quick-time events (QTEs). Exploration is minimal. It’s all decidedly twisted, although control is a mixed bag of naturalistic actions and sudden failures.
Like any noiresque tale, you’ll be in all kinds of disturbing and potentially deadly situations, such as being trapped and forced to crawl through broken glass and incapacitating a religious zealot before he shoots your partner. The Stanislavski effect touches gaming once again with Quantic Dream’s new title, as you’ll also be doing things as humdrum as cooking eggs, changing nappies and going to the toilet.
But the antitheses of this are the game’s moments of chaos and darkness: feeling completely disoriented after losing Jason, characters getting sexually involved and seeing a power drill inches from skin. At a stage Ethan is asked to do something horrific to himself as sacrifice. So disgusted was I that I actually throw my controller away after making my decision. Heavy Rain is at its most dramatic when forcing you to make agonising decisions which are often the lesser of two evils.
Performances are well realised overall. The character’s facial expressions in particular convey real fear and hurt. However, there are moments when some of the in-game voiceovers are repeated again and again, breaking the illusion. The cinematics are beautiful, but as soon as you’ve completed your first playthrough the gameplay quickly becomes in danger of stagnating.
At most points you can hold down the L2 button to see thoughts buzzing around your character’s head. There are mandatory instances when thoughts or actions must be performed before you can progress. What’s more, of the optional objects you can interactive with, many of them don’t actually do anything. For example, you might sit next to someone at a party, but there will be no reaction from them or any response from your character. Only interacting with elements that progress the story feels restrictive. Seems like a sorely missed opportunity for greater depth to the world and gameplay when heading off the beaten path.
It should be noted that failure is not immediate when you miss QTE prompts. The game cleverly changes dynamically with a degree for error and a few possible outcomes for most scenes. However, the movement controls are often at odds with the camera which can get characters killed on occasion. One of my characters bit the dust a single chapter before the finale and all because they strayed too close to a surrounding hazard.
You will definitely want to play this game more than once. Keeping all four characters alive is much more fulfilling than witnessing the throwaway epilogues if some die. Seeing the consequences of different actions, and the eventual endings, gives Heavy Rain a lot more staying power than it would otherwise have.
As an artistic work of narrative and drama, this game is of rare breed. In those moments where the game asks you to do the dirty work, you’d be hard-pressed to feel absolutely nothing for these characters or to not be hesitant in your decision. And the revelation of its John Doe is a work of genius. There are shortcomings with its gameplay, but Heavy Rain strives to be different. It deals with grownup concerns, and if you’re willing to keep a cool head you’ll find it is more than worth the price of admission.
Aaron Lee
Tags: adventure, heavy rain, interactive drama, sony
