Heavy Rain [2010] Review

8^th July, 2012.

23:09 Pm

0.31 inches

After just completing Quantic Dream’s masterpiece – Heavy Rain, I honestly don’t know where to begin with. I remember over a few years ago, after watching the ‘Casting Video’ that Quantic Dream released – my mind was set to getting my hands on this game. A few months later, came the demo – unimpressed as I was at start, cause as you all must have noticed – the game fails to deliver ‘traditional gameplay’. But then again, what is a good game really about? Does it all lie in gameplay, visual appeal, storyline or simply fun!? It’s quite debatable isn’t it? Picture yourself a few years ago, playing Super Mario bros on your Gameboy, Sega or your PC, or the game of Tetris and Space Invaders that our parents enjoyed on their Ataris. The evolution of gaming has reached beyond the point of zombie killing FPSs and RPGs. There was great risk of course formulating this amazing experience that Heavy Rain had to offer – its main asset lied in its storyline and character attachment, which I’d personally talk about later in my review, of course.

So, as a frequent gamer, I chose my difficultly during the start of the game, as I placed my Shure headphones on, I was set to begin an awaited adventure.

The story is captivating, nothing ordinary these days. We have our regular conspiracies and one enemy attacking the other. None like that. But instead, the story kept the game alive. It revolves around certain individuals and your choices determine whether or not you can lead them towards the completion of the game.

Ethan Mars has just lost his son in an accident which he blames himself for. The structure of the game is well placed, as the opening gameplay sets off with you controlling Ethan’s life as a tutorial level [if you must say]. Here, we see a more than content family with a life full of emotion and then, one day, it all suddenly fades away. The guilt of losing his 2^nd son leaves him no choice, as he gets involved, rather desperate to complete his search as the Origami Killer passes on clues for him to follow.

Ethan comes across Madison Paige, a journalist who eventually gets herself involved into the case as she tries to assist him. She suffers from insomnia, but that seemed quite irrelevant to me during the course of the game, but oh well!

Ethan’s 2^nd son is now in the hands of ‘Origami Killer’ who captures young boys and kills them in a matter of days. To investigate this criminal case directly, we have Norman Jayden, who’s basically hired by the FBI with a psychologist degree and some funky glasses. He’s also an addict, and his addiction might cost him his life, for those who need to know.

Then there’s a story, which at 1^st didn’t seem entirely connected to the plot initially. This is the story of Scott Shelby, who’s a private eye looking to seek the same.

So, as I uncover a few pieces of the puzzle, the game continually keeps me curious to whom the Origami Killer could be. Isn’t that what keeps a gripping mysterious novel interesting too? As a writer’s point of view, the story was well taken care of, but only in terms of the mystery. The choices we make, as gamers, determine the rest of the picture. Simple ethical decisions needed to be made in the game that gave rise to a particular flow during gameplay – thought the basic outline of the story stayed the same. A few things that really caught my attention were how the game involved us gamers so deeply and beautifully. I remember the cops questioning me of what time, place and clothes were worn by Shaun [Ethan’s second son] at crime scene. I really underestimated the level of thought before this, and then onwards, I made sure I paid immense attention to everything this game had to offer. I came correct in a few instances, luckily – room 207 in the motel, where Ethan was located during the investigation – oh, it’s weird that I still remember it! See, that’s what makes this game bigger than most others.. The simple fact that it’s still playing in my head even after I completed it a week ago, makes it ever so special to me.

Like I said before, the story was bang on. The killer [whom I shall not reveal, for obvious reasons] had good enough reasons to justify his deeds [not in the books of the law of course]. Lol… But there’s one thing that I did notice after completing the game though – the killer had no way out of it. All the characters had a reason to end the story mid-way or make one false move that destroyed their path to catching the killer. It’s weird, but still a pretty cool observation if you ask me.

Time for the gameplay review *drum roll* - the most awaited question of them all, isn't it? It’s quite, what’s the word – ‘decent’ if you ask me. Ha! Playing it safe, aren’t I? To be fairly honest, I wouldn’t see myself spending Rs.2500 for such gameplay, if Quantic Dream rethinks on making a sequel, of course. It’s exciting at a few instances, when there’s a pressure test perhaps, but it ends right there if you ask me.

The graphics and character/environment design was phenomenon on the other hand though. Great work! Some might argue how gameplay is the most crucial factor in gaming and this one clearly stands before it, then why upgrade your drivers and graphic cards and move to a f*cking Playstation 3? Lol, so hypocritical you see.. But oh well.. I’m quite a sucker for visual appeal. MGS 4 did it for me, but that’s another story for another time.

Now, since we’re already talking about this, I might as well bring out the effort taken by Quantic Dream to create that value for their market audience. Have any of you seen Kara yet? If not, go knock yourselves out and get amazed as I did. For those who didn’t know, Kara is some sort of a model created to capture real life in the character during gameplay. It surely captures emotions displayed on a face with an attempt to micro-detailed expression as well. The man’s a genius you know. He says that Kara wasn’t a game trailer or a teaser of any sort, but more likely their graphic design model to showcase what they’re working with. What you see is Level 1 interface and they’re probably on a Level 3-4 right now. So you can surely expect much from their next release ‘Beyond: Two Souls’ later this year, or the next.

Taking me back to the game, I’m sorry to say, but the replay value for this is hmm.. fairly difficult, since you’re already so familiar with its storyline. Being a fairly good gamer [as I may], I completed the gameplay with all characters alive, which makes my storyline somewhat narrow and linear. Whereas, for others, having had their characters killed in maybe a fire, or a car crash or any other hypothetical situation could have affected decisions of another character and changed their path entirely. For all you know, it could have been a lot better? I wonder. I didn’t have that chance unfortunately, and I’m sure many others didn’t and are as fairly curious as well. So, yes, it’s a difficult choice isn’t it – choice? I don’t really see myself playing this game again to make the different choices I hadn’t before, only because
I’m familiar with its outcome and outline. But, give it a year or more and I’ll surely give it a completely contrasting shot. I’ll surely hang on to this gem. Never letting this go!

Bringing in a game, a 1st of its kind and completely unlike any other, certainly creates a stronger life to modern day gamers today. Yes, of course we have had our share of adventure/mystery games in the past – not to disregard the greats such as Syberia and The Longest Journey – but as Heavy Rain creator David Cage always said – gaming would not survive without innovation. I truly stand by those words, simply because I believe so in the same. What, in such a competitive environment can survive today without innovation?