potcha

User Score
9.0

Presentation - 10
Gameplay - 8.0
Value - 9.0

O

Heavy Rain is almost hard to call a game. It is more like a deep, interactive movie. They of course, wouldn't call it that, for fear of being associated with the terrible 'interactive dvd' era. Rightly so, because Heavy Rain is so much more then that.

I am going to keep this review spoiler free, and give you only basic details. You play as one of four main characters. A architect/family man with 2 kids and a wife. A seasoned cop turned private detective. A fbi agent/psychiatric profiler and finally a attractive ffemale journalist. All of these characters, in one way or another, have interest in the oragami killer, ; A serial killer who has been drowning people.

You never control one character for more then a chapter or two. You use the L@ button with the right analog to move around and then you are prompted in different parts of the story to use certain button presses, or stick movements, or even controller movements to direct your characters actions. These are done very well and make sense. Things sich as moving the analog clockwise to open a door knob, or moving it from right to left to swing a lamp to hit someone. It all feels very natural.

Heavy Rain is visually stunning as well. The character models are done almost flawlessly. Everything from the movement of lips, to the sway of the journalists hips when she walks, all feels natural and realistic. You will notice a slip up, or a weird twitch here and there, but you only notice it because it does such a good job of making the focus on detail.

The voice acting is also done very well. The detail in it really helps immerse you into the story. Helping you feel really connected with the characters. There are a few instances where you might catch a out of place accent or two, but 99% of the time, it is spot on.

Every dialog choice, and every action has an effect on the story. Early on in the game, it might just be a change in a small part. It might make your wife snap at you rather then be happy with you. Or it might change some dialog in the future, where a character refers back to a choice you made. However, later on in the story, it could be the difference between characters living and dying. Several times when I was playing, I would pause the game to think about what I did, or what might have happened if I did something differently, or said something differently. It really gave me the feel of control over the story.

A nice feature in this game is being able to go back to any chapter and replay it. You can see what would happen if you make those different decisions without having to save and 'cheat'. This adds a nice amount of replay value as well.

Overall, Heavy Rain is a huge step forward for the gaming community. It has already enjoyed a nice amount of hype, and with everything in it being done so well, it should see quite a nice amount of success as well. This is a must have for ps3 owners. You would be doing yourself injustice not to, at the very least, rent this title.