Heavy Rain is the type of game that normally appeals to a niche audience. It’s slow, calculated, and there are no aliens to shoot. Many people have trouble engaging with this type of gameplay, and thus don’t give adventure games a second glance. I’ll admit that I fall into this category. I’ve never found a game in the genre that had both fun gameplay and an interesting story. I haven’t looked that hard, either.
Luckily, I don’t have to look. Heavy Rain is the most hyped adventure game I’ve seen in a while. And I’ve been skeptical of the game since I first read about it. A game that describes itself as a series of moral decisions can’t possibly be fun, can it?
The control scheme of Heavy Rain has a learning curve. At first it can be confusing exactly what you are supposed to be doing with the button in question. But once you get the hang of it, I found it to be pretty intuitive.
I was literally on the edge of my seat the whole fight.
Based on previews, I thought the game would move forward by walking around talking to people or looking for clues. Naturally, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself in the middle of a fight. It was pretty intense. What’s really crazy is the fight has seemingly endless possibilities. These aren’t quicktime events where you hit several buttons correctly in succession to win. If you press the wrong button or don’t hit the right one in time, you’re going to get punched or slammed against something and the fight continues. I don’t know how quickly you can end it, but it took me somewhere around twenty actions to finish. It seems quite possible you can even lose the fight and still continue the story.
As far as graphics are concerned, everything I saw was great. The detail of the world and the characters is pretty high up there on the scale of “1 to great!”. It’s not perfect, but nothing is (yet), so any flaws are easily forgiven.
The character actions and interactions are very well done. In fact, the way you interact with Heavy Rain doesn’t feel like you’re playing a game so much as you’re watching a movie in which you can customize every scene based on what you wish the character would do and say. Remember back in the 1990′s when “choose your own adventure” books were all the rage? This is like that, only every other choice doesn’t end up in your death. The little bits of the story you get from the demo set the stage right before kicking you out of the theater. Tickets to get back in cost $60, but you get to rewrite the script each time you watch the play.
Bang, bang. You're dead.
To answer my own question I posed earlier because I’m “that guy”: yes, it can be fun. And it is.
I don’t need to recommend this demo to avid fans of adventure games because I’m sure I’m only preaching to the choir. I write this not for the believers, but for the doubters like me. This PS3 exclusive game is in stores as of today. Even if you think you have no interest in Heavy Rain, I urge you to download the demo and give it a try. I have no doubt you’ll become a convert.
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{ 5 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m a doubter.
I like adventure games so naturally I’m pretty excited for this one. I can’t really afford to buy it new though, so hopefully it sells well and then I won’t feel as guilty buying a used copy on ebay in a couple of weeks.
I dug the Demo. I know it’s a play once then done sort of game though. So Rental for me.
Depending on how “into” the story you are, it seems like there are a vast number of different endings. You can play through several different ways at 8-10 hours a pop and dramatically change the end. Or so I’ve read.
This ability to branch the story out in so many different ways is part of what really intrigues me.
Also, I like the Digital Hors D’oeuvres series. Keep it up!