"How far are you willing to go for love?"
This question is the center of Heavy Rain. One of the most stressful, upsetting, thought-provoking and GREATEST games I have ever played.
There is a serial killer on the loose. All the police know is that he kidnaps children and several days later they turn up dead, drowned in rain water, with an origami animal and an orchid on their chest. This time he takes a boy by the name of Shaun Mars. Will you be able to save him in time?
You play as four characters. Ethan Mars, the father of Shaun who has already lost one of his sons to a tragic accident. Ethan receives trials from the Origami Killer challenging him to see what he's willing to do to save his son.
Norman Jayden an FBI profiler called in to help with the case. Norman has special experimental glasses called ARI to help him investigate crime scenes and struggles with some problems of his own as throughout the game.
Madison Paige a photo-journalist who suffers from insomnia. She accidentally gets herself deeply involved with the case.
Scott Shelby a retired police officer who works as a private investigator. He's currently looking into
the origami killer case.
With these four characters you slowly unravel the story and work toward a common goal. Save Shaun Mars.
The most stressful thing about this game is that every decision you make effects the outcome. Your characters can die and the story will continue without them. Every choice you make matters. Every mistake counts.
There were so many moments in this game where I had to pause and really think about what I wanted to do. The choices they give you are extremely hard to make, and caused many heart-pounding, cold sweat inducing moments. And each time I finally made my decision I was terrified it was the wrong one and that;
a) I just got Shaun killed
or
b) I got one of my own characters killed.
The reason this game is so compelling is that it's very personal. From the moment you start playing you are put in these characters lives. You're not playing as a bystander, somehow the creators manage to pull you in and make you as much a part of the story as the characters. You feel the character's emotions. Their pain, their fear, their hesitation.
The visuals are gorgeous. As I played through this game I felt more like I was watching a movie instead of playing a video game. The body language is great, the voice acting believable. Every once in awhile something might look a little funny, but it's rare and quickly fixes itself as you move on.
There are a few downsides. I had the game freeze a couple times. Nothing a restart won't fix, and since the game autosaves you shouldn't be too far off where you were. Still frustrating nonetheless. If you're not a hardcore gamer the controls can be a tad frustrating at first (even set on easy.) However, like with everything, it gets much easier as you move on.
This has to be one of the most original games I've played in a long time. There isn't anything quite like it out there. I highly recommend this game to anyone who enjoys games with deep story lines, fans of psychological thrillers/mysteries, or someone looking for something completely different.
I have one other note. This game is not meant for children. Not only is there language, violence and sexual content, but the story itself is very deep and at times can be disturbing. It's not something to be taken lightly.
Till next time.
