Heavy Rain is a videogame thriller developed by Quantic Dream and released in 2010 exclusively for the PS3 home entertainment device. It follows the lives of four seperate protagonists as they endeavour to catch the Origami Killer, a serial kidnapper who has been kidnappin' it up all over town.
The game opens with decidedly average looking hero Ethan Mars lying half naked on his bed after what I presume was a long night of "self-exploration". At that moment a large arrow appears over weirdo Ethan's head as if to say 'Hey, I'm an arrow, deal with it'. You see in this game you have to follow on-screen button prompts in order to make the characters perform actions, in this case I had to move the right analogue stick up to make old self-loving Ethan get up and out of his bed, clever no? no.
It's the same control scheme that Quantic Dream used in their last master-piss, the fallible Fahrenheit, or Indigo Prophecy as it's known in the Americas, but while that game asked little of the player, Heavy Rain demands constant attention, barely a moment goes by when you're not being bombarded with prompts, be it chasing a bald guy through the streets, partaking in the difficult act of love making or just making some scrambled eggs for a freshly bathed prostitute. Basically Heavy Rain is real life, videogameized.
Just like real life, sometimes tragedy strikes. While out playing with himself in the park, Ethan has a blackout and awakes to find his son Shaun missing, it's later revealed that the Origami Killer has kidnapped Shaun and has hidden him in a secret location that will be revealed to Ethan as soon as he completes a number of 'trials' set up by the killer. These trials are designed to push Ethan to his limits to truly test his love for his son.
The supporting characters in Heavy Rain are as interesting as they are well rounded, all of the usual suspects are here; the charming private investigator who likes to have a drink, the sexy motorcycle-riding journalist and of course the bizarrely accented FBI agent with a penchant for Walter White's special cocaine mix. There are a number of scenes in which you play as one of these characters as they investigate their own leads in the Origami Killer case. The scenes almost always end in a nail-bitingly tense fist fight where the character could actually die if you fail to follow the prompts correctly!... Holy-moly!
If you're a fan of plot holes and inconsistencies then you'd better stay away from this b**ch, Heavy Rain is a plot hole free zone, the killer's motives are NOT ridiculous, it IS possible to kill a store owner, search his filing cabinets, call the police and get rid of your prints all in under six seconds.
Everytime Norman Jayden speaks an elocution tutor dies.
Heavy Rain is an utterly compelling game, I didn't put the controller down once from the beginning to the end credits, there are a few major holes here and there and one case of blatantly cheap misdirection but I was too busy enjoying myself to really care at the time. Pick this one up.
"Many video games catch not only great commercial attention but remarkable critical attention as well. We have seen games like Heavy Rain, The Last of Us Part II, and even entries in the Metal Gear series described as fantastic interactive experiences, even heralded in the same way as Hollywood's greatest films.
I would suggest that not only is this an unfair comparison but also a harmful one. Video games, by their very nature, are an intricately different medium and should be weighed against one another rather than another form of media," Phillip writes for GF365.
I think Hollywood films will becoming increasingly more like video games in the future, especially as the world embraces the "new normal" from the pandemic. It makes sense, as games like Spider-Man: Miles Morales showcase just how realistically we're reaching in graphical capabilities, as well as showcase extreme action sequences in spectacular ways. And as time goes by, it'll get easier and cheaper to produce such "art", as well as create new star "actors" that never age, never die, never complain, never gets involved in scandals, etc. Technology is amazing and we're only just getting a taste of what it'll eventually be.
No. For the money spent, a quality game provides far more entertainment value than a quality movie. Especially when looking at what is going on in the world, and how a studio can attempt to pilfer from consumers by charging 30 dollars for Mulan via streaming. Ridiculous. There is no comparison....games all day.
What exactly is the David Cage experience, and is it of value? We examine two classics, Fahrenheit and Heavy Rain, to find the answer.
Quantic Dream has announced a new video series to celebrate the 10-year anniversary of Heavy Rain. Check out the first part here.
Have you played Detroit? While it’s my personal favorite, I fully understand many preferring Heavy Rain more. I’m glad you enjoyed Heavy Rain too.
Glad you enjoyed the game! Yes, Detroit is a masterpiece of a game, and their best work to date “in my opinion”
Wow, 10 years...and yet, still one of the best/most emotional/thrilling gaming experiences I’ve ever had.
So grateful to Sony for believing in Quantic Dream’s vision for this game, and giving them a chance. I’ll never forget David Cage saying “We want to challenge the player, but not with the controller, but mentally, with their decisions of “How far would you go to save someone you love” Well, they broke my emotional gamer heart lol.
My teenage son refuses to play this game, because I’ve told him in little detail the emotional impact it had on me all those years ago. Maybe one day he will.
Still have my origami crane they teach you how to make when you're installing for the first time.
it's been 10 years? wow, that was so fast, I feel like this console gen went fast as well although it hasn't. I really look forward to the PS5 this holiday season though.
Ups
Terrific atmosphere.
It's a pretty long game.
It's very hard to put down.
Downs
Almost pointless to play it a second time.
Some of the voice acting is just awful.
Hold R2 to move......
I reviewed the game a while back, and review in nearly identical to how I felt, same score and all :)
It's a great game, but when you make a game like this presentation has to be flawless, meaning top notch graphics, great voice acting, and great story. It did good on all fronts except voice acting -_- Ugh, they were hollow (a better audio engineer), and some were just terrible even the main characters.
Your review doesn't make the game sound like it's worth an 8...
I digress, I disagree entirely with the negatives you mentioned about the game. I thought it was flawless in an overview, while it did have some things that needed to be worked on in a critical standpoint.
The review is good and tongue in cheek. I especially liked the part "It's the same control scheme that Quantic Dream used in their last master-piss, the fallible Fahrenheit".
I swear I read it first as masterpiece, which it isn't of course :)
The game is great I think. And I fuckin love it. It's the closest thing to the movie "Se7en" which is one of my favourite movies of all time. I have played many many games and Heavy Rain is definetely the most mature game out there. The atmosphere is top notch, the graphics and art design are also great.
As for the negatives, the story is not very good, is rather cliche and it has several plot holes. If this story was adopted for a movie, it would be laughable, but as a game it works. It's more of a B-movie quality.
The music is nice but I wish the melodies were more diverse, not just the same theme music repeating every time.
Heavy rain is really one of a kind videogame now. I hope we'll see more of this kind of games in the near future.