As I became more accustomed to the controls I began to find that they added tension to the game. Where in a normal game quick time events come as a jarring change of pace, in Heavy Rain they are the standard. Indeed it quickly becomes hard to view the onscreen cues as anything other than contextual button presses thanks to their prevalence. Frustrations from mistakes are also tempered because failures do not result in dead ends, but merely another branch in the events playing out onscreen. As in real life, I soon found myself failing not because the system was unfair but because I was not capable enough at what I was trying to do. Cues always gave me enough time to react and it was only my own nerves or misinterpretations of the icons displayed that lead to my failures.

 

 

It is something most gamers are not used to, failing because the game requests we do things that are impossible to predict, but it does make sense. I could no more predict my response to many of the situations in Heavy Rain than I could a real life event, and while it may well be artificial it still conveys the randomness of what may occur.

 

On only a few occasions in the game though I did feel cheated by the mechanics. These tended to be when my character themselves were under pressure. In situations where the protagonists felt stressed their emotions affected the icons indicating the actions they should taken. Given that these actions could slow movements, held buttons and rapid tapping, any alterations to these icons can prove unclear. On these few occasions I felt my inputs were the result of my directions being unclear as my characters panic made icons that should have looked like solid symbols (a hold the button cue) appear to be pulsing icons (implying rapid taps). I couldn’t tell you honestly if my mistakes were the result of my own panic affecting my reading of the directions of the display its self, but at a few key points it had me yelling at my character because of their stupidity.

 

 

Director, David Cage, evidently had a very clear vision going into the project of how he wanted to mesh the interactive experience with the narrative. To facilitate these ideals a heavy emphasis was placed on creating a game engine that allowed the characters to clearly emote their feelings, and an interface that further accentuated these emotions.

 

Whether Heavy Rain was successful in David Cage’s goals is a matter of opinion. It is fair to say that it is one of the best looking games to date but the realism also creates a strange disconnect, as any flaw instantly removed me from any immersion I was experiencing. But problems surrounding Heavy Rain’s appearance pale in comparison to the issue of its plot holes and cinematic framing of the story.

 

 

While plot holes would be a dangerous area to approach the need for the cinematic styling is an issue safely addressed. Forcing a character with a set agenda on the player automatically causes a conflict of interest between the player and their avatar. Often I found myself trying to act out what I though my character would do, but on occasion I was faced with a situation that was transparently a crossroads in the game. While I felt my character would act one way I wanted to see the other outcome. I wanted the ‘best’ and not the ‘real’ outcome to the story.

 

Allowing me the choice in some situations destroyed the character the game presented. Certainly the ability to affect the life of my protagonist was the only thing making this a ‘game’, but it did make me wonder if some of the effort that was put into making the narrative interactive wouldn’t have been better spent making a story better suited to player manipulation.

 

Perhaps the final stumbling block in David Cage’s story is that of poor casting. With the game set in America many of the European talent mimicking US accents felts wooden, a problem in no way helped by poor scripting. While it offered me little cause for concern, I could see how someone more familiar with the accents being imitated it could be distracting, especially with the stilted children’s voices.

 

 

"Heavy Rain" is a fascinating experience. Any one interested in games as a story telling device or wanting to inform themselves of a broader understanding of the word ‘game’ should defiantly experience what it offers. Honestly I would even recommend it to those usually uninterested in these aspects of the medium to better inform their understanding of where (at least one branch of) it could go in the future.

 

But my recommendation to play does not translate to a belief you will enjoy the experience. While the reasons may be different, Heavy Rain could be compared to the movie Schindler’s List as something that should be experienced, but may not be enjoyed.

 

 

 

+ Some of the best graphics on the system
+ An involving interface
+ Creates a real sense of character and emotion