[Review] Heavy Rain

For every action, there is a reaction. Whether we go to work and get paid, or don’t study and fail an exam, everything we do has an impact on the future. This is one of the first lessons we learn in life, and it’s the main theme of French developer Quantic Dream’s latest title, Heavy Rain.

Quantic Dream has released 2 other titles in the past (1999’s Omikron: The Nomad Soul, and 2005’s Fahrenheit, released in North America under the title Indigo Prophecy), but Heavy Rain is the developer’s most ambitious project to date. The question is though, does it sing in the rain, or flow into the sewers?

The story at its core is one of love and what you would do to save a loved one. For some time, someone has been kidnapping young boys who are later found drowned in rain water, with an orchid on their chest and origami in their hand. This causes the culprit to be called The Origami Killer. The main characters are in search of the killer for their own reasons. As with any game, expect plot twists and surprises. The story’s strong the entire game, and it does a great job of tying up loose ends.

The story is split between 4 playable characters, all of whom you get to control, one per chapter. However, it is not like an RPG, wherein you have a group, or “party.” The 4 playable characters in Heavy Rain are separate for most of the game, and yet in some way are connected (think six degrees of separation). These 4 are: Ethan Mars, an once-prosperous architect whose son is abducted; Madison Paige, a photo journalist covering the Origami Killer story; Norman Jayden, a FBI agent working on the Origami Killer case; and Scott Shelby, a private investigator asked by the victimized families of the Origami Killer to find the culprit and bring him to justice.

Every aspect of Heavy Rain is top-notch, from the music and voice-acting, to the graphics and animation. In my opinion, they are on par with Hollywood movies.

The music, which was recorded in London’s Abbey Road Studios, was composed and conducted by Normand Corbeil (Ashley Judd & Tommy Lee Jones’ 1999 film, Double Jeopardy). Every single track invokes a strong sense of a specific feeling — sadness, suspense, even happiness. The music is just one thing that makes the game leave such an impact on the person playing.

The voice-acting is phenomenal. Heavy Rain‘s voice cast is one of the best I’ve heard in any media, and that’s saying something, as I’ve heard a LOT of voice casts in my time. All of the characters are incredibly well-rounded and life-like. This stems from the fact that a lot of people auditioned to be in this title, 457 to be exact. Of those 457, only 90 were selected. So that’s 90 characters with at least one line of dialogue. In regards to acting, out of the 4 main characters, my favorite is Norman Jayden. Leon Ockenden, the actor who voices Jayden, lays everything out there. You can just feel the emotion radiating from his acting.

I’ll say it right now. I think the graphics and animation are a cut above other games, including Final Fantasy titles, which are renowned for looking gorgeous. This is because most, if not all, of the game was motion-captured (mocapped), including movement and the dialogue. The shooting

took 172 days and within that time, they recorded 30,000 unique animations. That’s a lot of mocapping.

The graphics are so life-like, and yet there’s still that tiny bit that keeps them looking CG. Faces in particular look very realistic, because Quantic Dream made virtual actors (the real actors had their heads scanned to create digital computer models thereof). The textures are what you’ve come to expect from 360 and PS3 games, they’re incredibly detailed. Even on my SDTV, I can see a lot of detail.

Heavy Rain itself plays out more like an interactive film, rather than a game. It’s hard to explain why; it just does. In this case, it’s a major plus. It pushes the limits of story-telling from most other games.

One of the main things that sets Heavy Rain apart from other titles is its choice mechanic. Almost every situation can be approached in a number of ways, including dialogue. You can choose whether or not to stop a robbery, in addition to the way you stop it. One scenario of this instance is that you can knock the robber out with a bottle of liquor from behind, or you can talk them into just leaving. You can control when or if your character asks a question, and the manner in which they ask it. Almost every one of the choices you make affect the game from that point on, although some events occur no matter what you do. It is also possible for any or all four characters to die, so choose carefully.

Heavy Rain also features a thought system that lets you hear what the character is thinking at almost any given moment by holding a shoulder button. This is an unique and interesting feature that I’ve yet to come across in any other game.

The controls… Whew, boy, there’s so much to be said about them. I’ll start out with these 2 comments: 1) The game does use motion-control, and 2) your difficulty setting determines how prominently it’s used. One example is: During a fight, on Medium, you might have to shake the controller up and down to escape someone’s grasp. However, during that exact same fight on Easy, you just have to mash a button to escape their grasp. The difficulty does not affect all motion prompts though, as some are universal throughout all 3 difficulties.

While not as groundbreaking as the motion controls were at the launch of the Wii, Heavy Rain‘s motion controls are very intuitive. They really shine when doing little things, such as shaking the controller to shake an OJ carton, or moving the controller downward to crush something into a desk. Quantic Dream really put thought into the motions, instead of using random ones.

Movement is controlled by holding R2 to move and using the left analog stick to turn. When not holding R2, holding the left stick controls which way the character is looking. Flicking the left stick in a specific direction while the character is standing, makes the character turn in place and face that direction.

Dialogue is chosen with the face buttons (Triangle, O, X, and Square). Each button is a specific response, which vary depending on the situation.

During action sequences, we’re treated to quick time events (QTEs), where you have to follow the onscreen prompts (ie: when a ‘X’ come up, you press X, when an arrow appears, you push the right stick in that direction).

Interaction with objects is handled by holding a button and/or moving the right stick. These movements can be as generic as pushing the stick up, or they can be as unique as moving it up a quarter-circle.

There are times when you have to hold multiple buttons. These can be as simple as holding X and O, but other times, they’re insane. I call those ones “Controller Twister,” because you have to hold something like R1, L1 and shake the controller, or even Square, L1, Triangle, R1, O and mash X. Those are fun… Not.

As a disabled gamer, there were only 3 times when I needed help, because the prompts were mandatory (I was stuck at R1, L1 and shake the controller, for a couple days, because I had no one to help me).

After 2 less-than-stellar attempts, Quantic Dream has returned with an outstanding game, one that I’m proud to say, made me buy a PS3. Heavy Rain is a game unlike any we’ve played before. The graphics are amazing, the music and acting are on par with Hollywood movies, the story is so powerful and engaging, and the controls are just awesome. Without a doubt, I say Heavy Rain is worthy of a Game of the Year award. I highly recommend it to anyone who has a PS3.

Rating: ***** (5 Stars)

Heavy Rain was developed by Quantic Dream, and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. It retails for $59.99 USD new, and is rated M for mature. In addition, Sony is offering a printable alternative box art.