gamecca • review
searching for clues and leads that may have been overlooked by the police. Norman Jayden is an FBI agent who fights against addiction and hostile colleagues to see justice done. And Madison Paige is a photographer who stumbles across the case and soon finds herself in over her head. The player gets to control each of these characters through the course of the game, although ‘control’ isn’t really the right word. The player makes them walk around and makes decisions for them, sure, but it’s almost as though the player is more of a ‘voice of conscience’ than an all-powerful world shaper. The reason for this is simple; Heavy Rain has a story to tell, and the story will be told regardless of how well (or how poorly) the player performs prescribed tasks. Even if a character were to die (which they can do) the story will carry on regardless, with a branching plotline taking on subtle changes as a result. There is no real way to ‘win’ or ‘fail’ in this title, The player is swept along by the plot, towards one of numerous endings. And those endings can be the result of the most subtle differences in player decisions, or the most
gamecca review • issue 9 • March 2010
sweeping. The player might not notice changes in the bulk of the story with several play-throughs, but the endings will likely be different, if they made alternate choices for the characters. While the game is very slow to gather pace (we’re talking a few slow hours of play at the beginning) slogging through the initial few chapters is well worth it. When the plot starts grabbing the player, it does so in a big way, and Heavy Rain becomes emotionally charged, edge-of-theseat stuff. It’s a gripping thriller that is well crafted and believable (for the most part, at least) that fills the player with a wonderful sense of accomplishment. But enough about the story – we don’t want to run the risk of spoilers! Two things that are highlighted most often when people talk about Heavy Rain are the control scheme and the graphics. Let’s begin with the former, because it is the hottest topic. The control scheme is nothing if not unique and, in some instances (particularly at first) it feels pretty clunky. But once you get the hang of it, it really is quite simple. The control scheme is a combination of event activation sites
73