JBoc924
I have a lot of fond memories with Heavy Rain. It’s funny, because the game is pretty depressing. Like, one of the most depressing games I’ve played to this day. But I still had a great time throughout the entire experience. It was really immersive, and its story—despite some flaws with the writing at certain points—kept me hooked all throughout its presented mystery of the Origami Killer.
I’ll outright say that this is, as expected, the definitive way for newcomers to experience the game. But is it worth another buy from fans who already beat it on PlayStation 3 when it originally released? Keep reading to find out!
Ethan Mars is a happy man when the game starts. Happiness just beams out of him. It’s almost infectious. But, as expected, that doesn’t really last long. And I truly loved this approach to his character arc, and the entire story as a whole. Start off by showing the bright side of life, before taking everything downhill to the depths of a living hell for a man who loses his child in a horrible tragedy. Eventually, Ethan Mars finds himself wrapped up in the Origami Killer mystery, which also involves a few other playable characters. I’ll leave the story talk at that, because it really should be experienced fresh without knowing any of the major story beats (unless you’re a returning player, of course).
Sadly, no one character truly stands out, though. And it’s not because of screentime issues or anything related to that—they all just seem to be following the same path in the emotional spectrum, just with different occupations. There’s nothing really that makes one wholly unique. Ethan Mars sort of comes close, because of the way his story arc is handled. Having said that, I still found myself caring for them when they were pit in near-death scenarios. Oh, and speaking of which, the playable characters can actually die here. And, you know, not come back. To this day, after two playthroughs, I still haven’t had to experience more than one character death.
If you’ve played Quantic Dream games in the past, then you’ll know what to expect when it comes to gameplay. I’ll never fully love the way walking is handled. It just seems really weird to me. You have to hold down R2 to make the character move in a default direction, before steering them with the actual joystick. Maybe it’s just me, but I’ve always been a bit irked by that control method. Everything else, though, is satisfying and pretty intuitive. Heavy Rain is one of the games that does quicktime events right, which is very fortunate because the games relies exclusively on them when it comes to scenarios outside of walking around and examining things. And there are quite a few memorable scenes in the game that still stand as some of the best moments of quicktime events for me. And, again, as aforementioned, some of these could result in death if you’re not careful. One standout moment (one of my favorites in the game) involved Ethan Mars having to subject himself to pure torture. It was extremely intense and I was at the edge of my seat throughout the entire sequence. I won’t lie, I actually had to restart my game a few times to ensure my success in that part.
With this remastered edition of the game, you’re getting some pretty nice visuals that come close to matching some of today’s native current-gen games. Textures, lighting, and character models all look pretty damn good, but look deeper beyond that and you’ll begin to find some… well, here’s an example to illustrate my technical issues. In one early scene, Ethan is talking to one of his sons before bedtime. He tucks him into bed and has a full conversation with the boy. Sounds normal, right? Well, here’s the thing: the boy was talking with his mouth closed the whole time. Then, when he went to sleep, he slept with his eyes wide open. Scary stuff. There’s also some issues with background characters that just behave violently weird, glitching over one and another at times. This is more evident in highly populated scenes like the infamous mall sequence in the beginning. But, besides all this, the game is gorgeous, and definitely the definitive way to experience the game.
Heavy Rain is one of the finest examples of interactive storytelling in gaming. It doesn’t compare to the quality of writing found in some novels or films, but as far as a video game goes, this is truly one you should experience at least once. If you’re like me, you’ll be compelled to jump right back in once you beat it, since there are multiple branching paths and endings. Now, with both Beyond: Two Souls and Heavy Rain remastered and available on PlayStation 4, I can’t wait to play what Quantic Dream puts out next.
(8 / 10)
Great
(8 / 10)
