Before E3 2009, Heavy Rain wasn’t really on my radar. I had heard about it, and the mysterious game seemed to be getting some good early buzz, but all I knew was that it was a PS3 exclusive, and focused on some people hunting for a serial killer. After playing it at E3, I was completely intrigued. I still wasn’t entirely sure what to make of it, since the gameplay is, if nothing else, totally unique, but I knew I needed to play more. I had the opportunity to do just that last week, getting a look at more of the game. Heavy Rain is still kind of perplexing, and there will surely be some people who just don’t get it, but here’s what I do know: I really want to see this story unfold from start to finish.

While I waited to play Heavy Rain, I observed the person in front of me, who was guiding one of the characters through his daily morning routine: getting out of bed, taking a shower (complete with brief rear end nudity), and getting dressed. I’m not sure how early in the game that section is, but it seemed fairly introductory, like a way to become familiar with the controls without the fear of making a big mistake. Since I wasn’t playing, I was able to take some time and observe Ethan’s interactions with his home and his family. The realistic movements and appearance of the characters in this game really make it stand out. Developer Quantic Dream used actors for the motion capturing and voice work of the four playable characters, and as a result they are distinct and believable.



When I finally got my hands on the controller, I jumped to a different section of Heavy Rain, and found myself in a sleazy, run-down apartment building. Even though I had played the game before, I needed a minute to get used to the controls again. Unlike pretty much any other game, Heavy Rain uses R2 to walk, with the face buttons mapped to the characters’ thoughts, and the right thumbstick utilized to interact with the environment. I was Scott Shelby, a private detective hired by the families of the Origami Killer’s victims. The Origami Killer, a serial murderer still at large, is what ties together the four playable characters in Heavy Rain. They are all trying to find and stop him, but have their own reasons for doing so. As Scott, I made my way into the apartment building and up the stairs, paying a visit to a prostitute, the mother of one of the victims. She wanted nothing to do with the investigation at first, and I had to convince her to help. There were multiple ways to go about it—I could have been compassionate, but I chose instead to use guilt, reminding her that if the Origami Killer wasn’t stopped, other mothers would have to go through the same painful experience of finding their dead children. That seemed to get through to her.

After leaving the woman’s apartment, Scott passed a man in the hallway who proceeded to bang on the prostitute’s door. I stood there with my back to the door, watching as he demanded to be let in. After some arguing, he went inside, and for a second I was unsure about what to do next. Should I just go downstairs and leave them alone? Should I check up on the woman and make sure she wasn’t in trouble? I turned around, knocked on the door, and forced my way back in. The man was an angry, persistent john who didn’t take kindly to rejection, and we engaged in a fight. At this point, commands popped up on the screen, and I only had a few seconds to hit the right button, or move the thumbstick the correct way. If I was successful, it would be reflected onscreen with Scott grabbing command of the fight. If not, he would take a beating. These Quicktime events can get kind of hectic, especially since you sometimes only have a second to react. It definitely helped capture the tense feeling of the situation. I managed to beat up the john, but had to wonder: what would have happened if I had simply walked away?



This is only one of many questions I still want answers to, but I will likely have to wait until Heavy Rain is released early next year. I think this game is going to invoke some very mixed reactions, with some people disliking it, and others loving it. The gameplay is definitely not traditional in any sense of the word, and it’s also difficult to fit Heavy Rain into any pre-existing game genre. At the very least, it should be an interesting experience with a compelling story, but I am hoping for a lot more. Heavy Rain is a hard game to describe, but one thing I can tell you is that I am definitely going to be playing the full version in 2010. There is a lot of potential for this game to tell a story in a new way, and as a gamer, it's really exciting to see something new, intriguing, and different. I just hope it lives up to my expectations.

Heavy Rain comes out in the first quarter of 2010, exclusively for the PlayStation 3.

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