Heavy Rain Review

When Heavy Rain was first announced many people were unsure as to what to think about it. Was it a create your own adventure game? Would it be one giant quick time event? There was a lot of mystery surrounding the game and how it would play. Then just a couple of weeks before the games release a demo was released that gave gamers a taste of what Heavy Rain would be like. The only question that remained was how would the rest of the game play out as compared to the demo?

Graphics:

Quantic Dream should be given credit for creating what is arguably the most realistic and beautiful looking character models in a game to date. The facial features are astounding and the animations that the characters make are incredibly life like and realistic. There is a setback in that characters in the background look nowhere near as good as the main characters. Also some environments and objects look out of place when compared to the rest of the game. This is not to say that the graphics are bad but when the rest of the game looks so good it is much easier to spot flaws.

There were also some glitches that occurred during the game where characters would walk through each other. This was unfortunate as it would snap you out of the narrative for a moment but they are few are far between. Environments look great and there is a nice mix of creepy, dark, and beautiful settings. After all is said and done this is one of the best looking games out to date.

The character models are as good as it gets

Score: 9.5

Audio:

The voice acting is a mixed bag of goodies with some of the voices being near perfection and others feel way out of place. It also does nothing for the game that no one can say “origami” with any consistency. The dialogue also has some flaws at times where it seems to be not as well written all the way through. This creates a see saw game experience where some moments the voicing is great and others you wonder what happened.

The same cannot be said for the music though. The soundtrack is phenomenal all the way through and does a tremendous job of enhancing the mood. The soundtrack is so well done that you can actually download it on iTunes, which is rare for most game soundtracks. The music ques at the perfect moments and truly adds to the emotion and connections to the characters. You will find yourself humming some of the catchy themes long after you have turned off the game.

Score: 9.0

Game Play:
This is the big question on everyone’s mind. You could say that this game is one long quick time event but that would be an incredibly shallow way of looking at the game. First off there is no right or wrong in this game. No matter what you do the game continues forward. This can be a little weird at first since games have taught us we have to succeed in order to progress. All of the movements work well and are responsive and some segments will have you tying your fingers in knots. The game also has you do some actions slowly and others more quickly so for a game filled with so called button presses you truly do need to be focused.

One major issue with the game and possibly its biggest one is the character movement. In order to move you have to hold down R2 and hold down on a direction on the left analogue stick. This feels like old school Resident Evil controls and will have to walking back and forth at times causing great frustration. It does not help that many of the games moments require you to make decisions and act in a timely manner and nothing is worse than battling the controls when you need to get somewhere in a hurry.

One of the more basic actions but you never know, a cavity could be the difference between life and death!

Score: 8.5

Campaign:

Here is the meat of this game. In order to entice gamers to play a game with little control options there has to be something special about it. Fortunately Heavy Rain delivers a story that many games do not even come close to. I will be honest there are some issues that are never fully or explained at all but the story is told very nicely and has great pacing. Some will complain about the start of the game being to slow but I found it to be one of the better parts of the game. Yes at first you have to do things like set a table or brush your teeth but you will miss some of these moments when the game becomes one action set piece after another.

Speaking of the set pieces, they provide some of the most intense and rewarding experiences available in any game out today. So many times during my play through I truly felt connected to the characters and cared about what I was doing. There is also a multitude of ways to play out scenarios (even though you get a similar result nonetheless) that will have some gamers going back for more. The ability to select any chapter at will is a definite plus and allows you to kick start a game from any point in the story.

I do urge players on their first playing to resist the urge to restart the game if something does not go as planned. Doing this will only disconnect you from the experience. That is where there replay value comes in and experimentation can occur.

What happens next is up to you

Score: 9.5

Overall:

This game is not going to be for everyone and should not be played if you are a shooter or action oriented gamer. If you like great story telling and a game that delivers deep character development then Heavy Rain is for you. This is a game that is wildly unique and should not be missed by people that consider themselves to be gamers.

you brought a wrench to a gunfight…. bad idea!

Plus/Minus:
+ Great character models
+ Solid Soundtrack
+ Set pieces that are powerful and emotional
+ A story that ranks among the best in gaming
+ High replay value
- Some questionable voice acting
- Movement control issues that can really hurt certain moments

Score: 9.5 (not an average)

Bookmark It

Hide Sites