Quanticdream has done it again, stemming from it’s 2003 adventure simulation Indigo Prophecy, Quanticdream yet again puts you into a world where even the smallest decision can effect the outcome of the game. The precedent of situs roulette online has been maintained and upgraded with the time.
Heavy Rain takes place in a city shook up by the kidnapping and murders of innocent children by the notorious Origami killer. The game tells the story four protagonists that are directly linked to the outcome of the story. A desperate father willing to do anything to rescue his son, An FBI agent struggling with drug addiction, while tapping every resource possible to solve the case, An insomniac journalist, plagued by night terrors will go dive deep into this mystery for the scoop and maybe fall in love? And a gruff old school detective hired the families of the victims to investigate and close the case putting an end to the terror.
Heavy Rain is unlike any game out there today. With it’s choose your own adventure approach you can have the story unfold and end in many ways. The player is given choices and responses when interacting with others and can even divulge into his own thoughts by holding down the L2 button and picking a thought.
Gameplay is not what you would expect from other games in Heavy Rain. You have to really know the PS3 controller in and out effectively to execute events in heavy rain. Even how you walk around in Heavy Rain is unlike any other game, instead of the normal push of the left joy stick you have to hold in the R2 button to walk, a little getting used to, however after a while you get used to it.
Events unfold in real time, prompting the player to press whatever button icon comes on the screen to execute an action, or fail if you press the wrong button or neglect to press a button at all. Even if you fail an event or possibly lose the life of one of your characters, the story will still continue on, opening different possibilities and outcomes, which gives room for multiply playthroughs.
Graphically, Heavy Rain has heighten the PS3’s abilities to their fullest with outstanding background settings, almost makes you feel like you are realy there, being rained on. Character models look so real,they give off the illusion that their real people with real emotions to make the player easily sympathize with them.
The music can be depressing, but it does fit the tone for the nature of the story. The voice acting at times can be really good, however, other times it can be kinda cumbersome, with some of the accents flying around you hear different ways that the word “Origami” can be mispronounced.
Despite it’s buggy controls and some minor sound glitches Heavy Rain in the end has you feeling a sense of satisfaction. With every decision you feel as though you play god in lives of each character, there were times I was struggling weather or not to press the R1 button or just walk away from the situation. Interactive gameplay is still an untapped market with a lot of potential to be harvested. For something new in the world pool that constantly spits out the same type of games just with new faces, Heavy Rain is a great welcome into the future of gaming.