Quantic Dream - 2010 - PS3
I had been meaning to play this game ever since I got a PS3 and I finally got around to it this year. Heavy Rain is really more of an interactive story than a game. You rotate control between a cast of four characters, all of which are trying to determine the identity of the mysterious “origami killer”, a serial killer who kidnaps young children, drowns them in rainwater, and leaves behind a small origami animal as a memento of each kill.
The gameplay of Heavy Rain consists mostly of watching cutscenes and waiting for “Quick Time Event” button prompts to appear on the screen. I’m normally not a fan of QTEs in video games, they seem like a lazy and outmoded design mechanic in most games to me. So I was a little afraid I wouldn't like Heavy Rain since the gameplay is so QTE dependent. But I quickly found out there’s really no fail state in Heavy Rain if you mess up a QTE. It’s not to say that the QTEs in Heavy Rain are meaningless, it’s just that there’s never a “Game Over” screen if, for example, you miss a QTE in a fight scene to block a kick. The kick hits your character and the story goes on, maybe a little differently than if you had successfully blocked the kick, but there’s never a “you lose the game” scenario.
Depending on QTEs and some decisions you’ll make in the game, the story will branch in different directions resulting in different endings or outcomes at the end of the game. I spoke to a friend who had played the game shortly after I had finished it, and although we had both defeated the origami killer and rescued the hostage, the details of our stories were wildly different, which was pretty cool.
This game is definitely not for everyone and does have its flaws though. There’s a lot of scenes where your character will just make breakfast or take a shower or get dressed or something mundane like that and it’ll depend on whether this works for you in terms of setting the mood and atmosphere, or if you’ll just find these events tedious and boring. There’s also a few scenes in this game which I thought didn't contribute to the overall story or progress the plot in any way, and also for a game that leans so strongly on it, the voice acting and animation are “meh”.
Summary:
If an interactive story sounds like your thing, I’d recommend Heavy Rain. I enjoyed it quite a bit and am looking forward to playing Beyond: Two Souls, Quantic Dream’s latest game.
The gameplay of Heavy Rain consists mostly of watching cutscenes and waiting for “Quick Time Event” button prompts to appear on the screen. I’m normally not a fan of QTEs in video games, they seem like a lazy and outmoded design mechanic in most games to me. So I was a little afraid I wouldn't like Heavy Rain since the gameplay is so QTE dependent. But I quickly found out there’s really no fail state in Heavy Rain if you mess up a QTE. It’s not to say that the QTEs in Heavy Rain are meaningless, it’s just that there’s never a “Game Over” screen if, for example, you miss a QTE in a fight scene to block a kick. The kick hits your character and the story goes on, maybe a little differently than if you had successfully blocked the kick, but there’s never a “you lose the game” scenario.
Depending on QTEs and some decisions you’ll make in the game, the story will branch in different directions resulting in different endings or outcomes at the end of the game. I spoke to a friend who had played the game shortly after I had finished it, and although we had both defeated the origami killer and rescued the hostage, the details of our stories were wildly different, which was pretty cool.
This game is definitely not for everyone and does have its flaws though. There’s a lot of scenes where your character will just make breakfast or take a shower or get dressed or something mundane like that and it’ll depend on whether this works for you in terms of setting the mood and atmosphere, or if you’ll just find these events tedious and boring. There’s also a few scenes in this game which I thought didn't contribute to the overall story or progress the plot in any way, and also for a game that leans so strongly on it, the voice acting and animation are “meh”.
Summary:
If an interactive story sounds like your thing, I’d recommend Heavy Rain. I enjoyed it quite a bit and am looking forward to playing Beyond: Two Souls, Quantic Dream’s latest game.
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