Heavy Rain

[Areala]

I've been absolutely enthralled by the idea of Heavy Rain ever since I heard about it two years ago. Quantic Dream, the studio who developed "Indigo Prophecy" (or "Farenheit" if you live outside the USA), had been talking about it and showing off technology for a little over a year. And finally, when they announced a release date in February, I went ahead and dropped the money for a pre-order. Doing so at GameStop got you the first DLC that the game offers for free instead of paying $5.00 for it, so I figured it was a reasonable investment.

Thus far, I've had an enormous amount of fun with the game, and I would highly recommend it for anybody who enjoys cerebral adventure-style games as opposed to action-packed blastfests. Heavy Rain is just like playing in a movie where you get to direct the characters to do whatever you please via a simple means of performing the onscreen interactions. But where Heavy Rain is most interesting to me is in what you are allowed not to do. Heavy Rain's story follows four different protagonists whose lives wind up intertwined in the pursuit of the Origami Killer, a serial killer who has now kidnapped 7 children in broad daylight, murdered them by drowning them with rain water, and then left them in an area of the city known as "The Wasteland" which collects trash and other detrius. All victims are left on the ground, their faces deliberately smeared with mud, an orchid placed on their bodies, and a small origami animal clutched in their hands.

Ethan Mars is the father whose own son, Shaun, has just become the Origami Killer's 8th victim. But the serial killer has offered him a way out: if Ethan can successfully perform a series of four tests that have been laid out for him by the kidnapper, he may just get his son back.

Madison Paige is a designer photographer with chronic insomnia. She meets Ethan when she discovers him right outside the motel room she has rented, sees that he's injured, and tends to his wounds. She knows something isn't right, and now she wants to help him if only he'll open up to her.

Scott Shelby is a private investigator, hired by several families of the Origami Killer's victims to track down the killer and see that justice is done. So far, though, he's come up with zilch, and really needs to get some better information. Now he's following leads with the other family members, trying to find out anything they know. If he's lucky, he'll catch a break.

Finally, Norman Jayden is an FBI agent who has taken a special interest in the Origami Killer. He's a profiler, armed with a high-tech piece of equipment called the ARI, or Added Reality Interface. With it, Jayden can scan crime scenes for clues and evidence left behind by the perpetrator, catalog and organize his thoughts, and record DNA, physical, organic and non-organic information for storage and recall later. Unfortunately, the local police aren't very happy once the Feds start poking around, and the partner he's assigned to is a serious jerk. Additionally, Jayden is addicted to a terribly illegal drug. He's trying to quit, but the withdrawl symptoms hit him something fierce from time to time, making his hands shake, impairing his vision, and slowing his reaction time.

All four of these characters play through the story in various times, and you bounce back and forth between all four of them in every chapter of the game. What's most interesting about the story, though, is that Quantic Dream has crafted it in such a way that you are free to go about it however you see fit. If you want Shelby to be a complete and utter dick to people, or if you want him to be a compassionate victim's advocate, it's all up to you. Want Jayden to take a fix off his drug when the going gets rough, or should he try and tough it out and deal with the consequences? Will Ethan try his best to save his son, or are there some lines he won't cross? Will Madison be able to help Ethan with his predicament, or will she hang him out to dry once she starts learning the truth? The smallest decisions can have far-reaching consequences throughout the game, up to and including the death of any of the protagonists, but even if Ethan doesn't survive one of the Origami Killer's vicious traps, if Shelby catches a bullet, or Jayden misses a crucial piece of evidence, the story continues. Characters live and die, but the show goes on. Indeed, sometimes even the choices you see on screen aren't your only choice. For instance, if a character asks you a question, you'll often see a number of potential "answers" floating around that you can pick from, but you can also just clam up and not talk at all if you don't want to. You can direct fights in such a way that your character gets the upper hand, or loses (with varying degrees of consequence), and the results of doing so will follow you through subsequent encounters (a character who falls in the mud will retain mud-covered clothing until he or she can change, someone who receives a nasty burn will wear the bandages until the burn heals, and so forth). It's like playing a game and directing a movie all at the same time, and it's an enormous amount of fun.

Unfortunately, there are also some game-breaking bugs floating around out there. The first thing you're asked to do upon inserting the disc (if your system is hooked up to the 'net) is to download a 225mb patch, but there are reports out there of the patch actually doing more harm than good. I've personally had the game lock up on me between chapters, which corrupted my save file and necessitated a restart of the game from the very beginning, wiping out some eight hours' worth of play, which was very annoying. Others have experienced the occasional graphics glitch or inability to interact with a necessary item. All told, this is very disappointing when you consider that the game is $60 right now, so be aware if you decide to take the plunge, you might find yourself having to re-install the game, re-download the patch, or delete your save game and start over again. Frustrating? Absolutely. Is the game still worth buying? Absolutely.

Try to play without spoilers or a walkthrough the first time through. The experience is like no other game you've ever played. The story is very well-written, the voice acting is good, the graphics are absolutely stunning, and it's easy to let yourself get swept up in everything. Well worth it in my opinion.

*huggles*

Areala

[Data]

Sony is having a problem with their network. It seems games that feature dynamic trophy support are not allowing you to play online or off. I read this on Kotaku from member Luke Plunkett. He said his copy of Heavy Rain took him to this screen and wouldn't let him play.

[Areala]

Yeah, this is a problem that the PSN is suffering from at the moment. The Playstation homepage itself has been hacked, apparently, with a demand for Sony to enable Flash or Javascript and "quit wasting my time". Lovely, eh?

*huggles*

Areala

[Data]

Wow I didn't know they got hacked.