No one can deny that Heavy Rain is a divisive game. Some would even go so far as the argue that it isn’t even a real game thanks to its focus on storytelling over traditional gameplay. I personally found it to be one of the most tense, enthralling, and emotionally engaging titles I have played in a long time. So when downloadable content was announced for this brilliant game I felt compelled to get my hands on it.

Rather than continuing after the events of the main story, The Heavy Rain Chronicles are the equivalent of DVD deleted scenes, taking place at different points in the game; perhaps thinking of them as lost chapters would be a more suitable comparison. The first downloadable chapter, The Taxidermist has resident journalist Madison Paige investigating a potential Origami Killer suspect, a Taxidermist named Layland White, that lives out in the suburbs. It is never really said why she suspects him of being the Origami Killer, all we know is her editor says he is a suspect and that’s it.

Upon inspecting White’s front door, and finding it to be locked, with no signs of anyone home, it’s up to you to find a way to break into his home and conduct your own investigation. As with the rest of Heavy Rain, there are a number of ways this downloadable content can go. Ideally, you want to explore the house and leave no signs behind that you have even been there. Upon securing entry to the ground floor you can open cupboards, examine the contents of the fridge, and his fireplace. Other areas to explore include the secluded garage, and the upstairs of the house, which holds a gruesome secret.

The Taxidermist's home has that perfect Psycho feel to it

Of course, as you would expect in a thriller, just when you find all the evidence you need and are about to make your escape, the Taxidermist returns home. As fun as the exploration and mild detective work is, the real tension in this add-on comes from your attempts to escape the house without the Taxidermist discovering that you are there. On my first attempt I failed miserably. Having decided that the best course of action was to hide myself inside a large wardrobe, which was performed by holding down several buttons at once, I soon developed a painful cramp in my hand and had to let go of the buttons, which caused me to fall out of the cupboard at exactly the wrong time; just as the Taxidermist was walking past the room. After a brief chase, in which I ran down a dead end, the Taxidermist quickly gutted me, which brought an end to the expansion.

The terrible secret is pretty obvious from the outset

At this point the game reveals that the way in which I had just completed the game was merely one of five possible outcomes, and invited me to load up a check point in order to try to obtain a different ending. Two of the other endings were fairly obvious, while the final two took a little bit of exploration and logical thinking to figure out. If you are the sort that prefers not to tax the logical side of your brain too much, then a quick google search should turn up a guide. There is also a slight issue with detachment; anyone that is playing this add on will probably already have finished the main story and already know who the killer is. As such, this search for the Origami Killer, who we already know is not the Taxidermist, comes across as being a bit redundant.

Review Round-Up

Graphics: 4/5 Much like the actual game itself, the graphics range from the sublime to the shockingly bad in places. The design of the Taxidermist’s house is incredibly atmospheric and gives off an incredibly creepy vibe.

Sound: 4/5 The music is reminiscent of your typical Hollywood thriller, and is successful in enhancing the already tense atmosphere.

Gameplay: 3/5 As with the rest of Heavy Rain, the game is a cross between a sort of old school point and click adventure, and fast paced quick time button presses. The first two sections of this add on are fairly straight forward; section one has you exploring the outside of the house in order to find a way in, while section two has you snooping around the Taxidermist’s home. The real meat of this expansion comes in the final segment, in which you must try and escape from the Taxidermist’s home.

Longevity: 2/5 While there are five possible outcomes, on my first play through I had completed the add on within 10 minutes. Subsequent play throughs took less time, as I knew exactly where to go in order to trigger the Taxidermist’s return home. While you can explore every nook and cranny of the Taxidermist’s home, there really is little reason to beyond the first play through.

Overall: 3 Stuffed Owls out of 5. While this add on exemplifies everything that is right with Heavy Rain, it also features the same weaknesses. Although there are five possible endings, most may not bother searching them out, if only because the add-on feels a little detached from the main game.

[starreview tpl=16]

*This review of Heavy Rain does NOT contain any spoilers*

Heavy Rain as swept across the globe! No silly, I’m not talking about the weather, I’m talking about Quantic Dream’s latest PS3 offering, Heavy Rain. A game which is as impossible to review as it is groundbreaking. It’s near impossible to review because not only is it extremely hard to talk about this game without revealing any spoilers (whilst also trying to avoid sounding like a pretentious d*ck) it’s also nigh impossible because well, you could say Heavy Rain isn’t really a game at all.

Sure, it’s sold in games stores and it comes on a blu-ray disc, but Heavy Rain is much more than a game. This is an experience, and it’s one that will stay with you for the rest of your gaming lives…

In fact, as a game you could say it’s quite flawed. The character animations leave a lot to be desired and the controls for moving your character are a little bit clunky. You will often find it quite difficult to look in the direction you want and during some of the more intense, adrenaline pumping moments it becomes incredibly frustrating. Graphically the game is all over the place too, which is a bit of a rare thing to say about a PS3 game. Especially considering they’re on blu-ray and all that. The game seems unable to make up its mind; switching from absolutely stunning one minute, to lacklustre PS2-style graphics the next. The game is also quite buggy; littered with glitches and bugs all over the place. There have been occasions when the characters randomly disappear off screen, making the game unplayable. The game itself has also completely frozen at times. It must be noted that there was an update on the day of release, and hopefully with a few more updates and patches, the bugs and glitches can be eradicated.

Thankfully however, if you are willing to be forgiving and look past the obvious issues, Heavy Rain is absolutely solid gold. Finally we have a PS3 exclusive to be excited about. Despite the clunkiness of the movement controls, the rest of the controls are incredibly interactive and intuitive and all skepticism the game garnered before release about it being “just a game made up of QTEs” (that’s Quick Time Events for you people who don’t yet speak da lingo) has been completely quashed.

This is the first PS3 game that actually utilises the 6 axis controller well, hooray! *lets off a party popper* The controls are so well done that you feel completely immersed within the world of Heavy Rain as you live out the lives of the characters you play. Unfortunately, this makes for an incredible boring and mundane first few hours. Personal highlights include making the main character, Ethan, take a dump and…wait for it…brush his teeth!

The first hour or two is quite educational for... you know... people that aren't potty trained and can't tie shoelaces or brush their teeth.

However all of that is basically an exercise to get you used to the controls and the pace quickens soon after that. Very quickly you begin to feel that every move the character makes, is directly influenced by you. It is as if you are an actor playing out these roles yourself.

A growing trend in big budget game releases is the move towards a more cinematic approach and Heavy Rain is probably the closest we’ve come so far to a film/game cross over. It takes far more influence from movies such as Se7en and the Saw franchise than it does any other game, so the idea that you are acting out the different characters isn’t so out of place after all. You control every movement and even every thought. You invest so much of yourself in each character that real emotional bonds are created; which is incredibly important to the whole experience.

Looking at it, Heavy Rain is a landmark title in many ways. Not only is it one of very few PS3 exclusives to be genuinely excited about. Not only is it the first PS3 game that actually uses the 6 axis well. It also presents a landmark in game story telling.

The narrative is nothing short of incredible. Every little thing you do can affect what happens next. Every player’s story is personal to that player, meaning this is brilliant for forum discussions because it makes people exchange experiences and stories with each other. On the other hand, this isn’t so great in certain respects, as it seems the the perfect formula for plot holes. There’s also some terrible voice acting, but this is the first story since Final Fantasy 8 that has got me so emotionally involved. So much so that I actually cried at the ending… Very few games have done that to me.

To make up for the frankly shoddy voice acting however, the soundtrack is absolutely perfect. It is constantly reflecting the mood and enhancing it to help keep you drawn in. It makes the highs of the story feel higher and the lows just that little bit more negative. Pairing with its story, which I have been stalling on for this entire review so far because i’ve been trying to come up with ways of not spoiling it, the game soundtrack delivers one of the most emotional experiences you’re ever likely to have.

But enough stalling, what makes Heavy Rain so special? The story. As I said, slightly marred by plot holes and some bad voice acting, Heavy Rain centres around the lives of its 4 main characters; all from different backgrounds, all with their own vices. The lives of the four protagonists come crashing into each other around the investigation of the Origami killer, a serial killer who targets young boys, drowning them and leaving them with an orchid on their chest and a piece of origami in their hand.

This might all sound pretty grim, but that’s because, well… it is. Heavy Rain is definitely targeted at the more mature gamers out there, it’s got everything from sex, love, murder, death, suicide, dismemberment, drug abuse, corruption and betrayal. This game has it all. There are so many twists and turns, yet on your first play through you never really see any of them coming. It’s all incredibly intricate, yet still manages to avoid even a whiff of pretentiousness. You’ll be fighting for your life one minute and pimp slapping some dirty, perverted night club owner the next!

Pimp slapping has never been so much fun

There are very few gripping and compelling story driven games out there and this is going to sound incredibly corny, but the game will literally have you on the edge of your seat the whole time. Knowing that any of the characters you play can die at any time; with the story continuing without them, coupled with the fact that you become are so invested in them, means that the particularly tense sections, are ramped up incredibly. I have never felt such an intense gaming experience before.

You know what? Enough of this review. In all honesty, describing what makes Heavy Rain such an incredible game is never going to do it justice. All I’ll say is, thanks for reading. Don’t worry, I haven’t spoilt anything for you, go out there and play it. If you’re a PS3 owner, buy it. If you’re not, make a friend who owns a PS3 buy it and make let you play it. You need to play this game.

Review Round Up

Graphics: 4/5 – There’s so much potential because there are moments when everything looks incredibly life-like. However, bad character animation lets it down.

Sound: 4/5 – Voice acting is very bad in some places, but the soundtrack is genuinely brilliant.

Gameplay: 4/5 – Movement controls are a little clunky, but the rest of the controls are incredibly intuitive.

Longevity: 4/5 – Inevitably you will want to play the game through again to see what would happen if you made different decisions, but I advise you don’t. To make the experience that much more special, play it through once and keep your mistakes, don’t try and correct them. DLC support is out with more on the way in the form of prologues but I personally want to keep the story as it is, so I won’t be picking it up. Longevity in the bigger picture? This game is a landmark in video games, not only does it revolutionize the way stories in games are told, but it shows that you can make a mature game without having to pack it completely full of shock value. Please, more games like this.

Overall: 5/5 – As a game it’s probably a 3 or a 4 out of 5, but as a complete experience it gets 5 drops of rain out of 5. A flawed masterpiece. Not only is this an essential purchase for mature PS3 owners but I think every mature gamer should play this game at least once.

Heavy Rain... it's actually better than real heavy rain.

And Another Thing….

Mr Luke Mears aKa Mightyles writes.. “Heavy Rain is far and away one of the most interesting games to come out in a very long time. This game is almost 100% narrative driven, with no superfluous side missions or collectibles. Everything you do contributes towards the progression of the narrative. While detractors will proclaim that it is little more than an interactive movie, I feel that they are missing the point entirely.

This game is superior to any movie in terms of immersion, simply because you are entirely in control of what happens. There is no single predetermined course of action, rather the events of the game play out because of the way you react to any given scenario. For instance, if you fail to escape a death trap then your character is dead for the rest of the game. Likewise, if you expertly escape said death trap your character’s story continues. The key thing here is that rather than punishing you or praising you for your performance, it all feels perfectly natural to the story.

As important and impressive as this game is in terms of artistry and storytelling, some gamers will be put off by it. I’m talking about the person that instinctively reaches for the start button whenever a cut scene starts to play. You know who you are, and shame on you. If you play your games to shoot fools and blow shit up, then Heavy Rain probably is not for you. If you’re looking for a mature, well written experience that rivals any Hollywood thriller, then do yourself a favour and pick up a copy of Heavy Rain.”

[starreview tpl=16]

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