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| Source // MobyGames |
As technology progressed, video games started to look more and more like movies, not just in the graphics department, but in the storytelling, too. They're both visual mediums, and the language of film and television can easily be brought over and used in cutscenes. But what happens with the gameplay? Can gameplay be cinematic, or is it jarring to watch a scripted scene and then be dumped back into a first-person shooter, for example?
Again, technological progress can allow your gameplay to look identical to your cutscenes to help blend the two together, but can we do better than that? Can we create the ultimate interactive movie and truly blur the lines between cinema and gaming?
Well, David Cage has already tried it with Fahrenheit, and the next attempt is with Heavy Rain, which follows the case of the Origami Killer. Will he be caught before he kills again? Who is he anyway? What other horrors must our heroes face? Popcorn optional.
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| Source // MobyGames |
Fond Memories
When Heavy Rain was shown off, it was new and different for a great many players who didn't have a clue that interactive movies were a thing, myself included. I was swept up in the hype and couldn't wait to get hold of this... oddity... this statement that video games can be much more cinematic, and that storytelling can take place without jarring gameplay getting in the way.
Without the hype, I probably wouldn't be interested in Heavy Rain. The story mostly centers on Ethan Mars, a father who has lost one son to a traffic accident and is about to lose another to a serial killer. It's not an entertaining story full of jokes, is it? But the gameplay... there was just nothing like it.
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| Source // MobyGames |
Fun Times
Heavy Rain begins in the master bedroom of architect and family man Ethan Mars, on a typical sunny day like any other. Your first objective is to get out of bed, and you're not going to be sat watching, you're going to be participating.
A gentle push of the analogue stick slowly fills up an on-screen indicator. When it's full, the animation is complete, and the story progresses. Fill it up quick, fill it up slow, it's your call. You can even be silly and make him do squats or something.
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| Source // MobyGames |
As you get dressed and grab breakfast, do a bit of work and play with your kids, you'll be introduced to the kinds of inputs the game will ask of you. Sometimes you've got to be delicate, other times you need to hold multiple buttons at once, and, yes, there are timed inputs where every second counts.
A trip to the shopping mall is the order of the day, but sadly for the Mars family, it is a day they'll never forget.
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| Source // MobyGames |
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| Source // PlayStation |
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| Source // MobyGames |
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| Source // MobyGames |
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| Source // MobyGames |
Losing eldest son Jason in the crowd, Ethan is too late to stop him from running into traffic - or did he dive in between the car and child and was then unlucky? I think so. Anyway, whatever happened resulted in losing Jason, and his life is turned upside down as a result. He's split from his wife, he lives in a messy apartment, and is distant from his younger son Shaun.
Thoughts swirl around your character's head from time to time, and if one interests you, pressing the corresponding button will reveal what the character is thinking, or will get them to ask a question or turn the conversation this way or that.
You're also often free to explore the environment, too, interacting with various objects you come across. Do you sit down, or leave Shaun to watch some TV? While the back of the box says "Your smallest decisions can change everything", you're pretty safe to not make a decision if you feel it isn't in your best interests to do so.
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| Source // PlayStation |
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| Source // MobyGames |
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| Source // MobyGames |
I say characters because Heavy Rain follows the story of four characters, and there is some crossover so that we approach the overall story from multiple angles. Up next (if memory serves) is Scott Shelby, a private investigator on the hunt for the Origami Killer, a serial killer who uses the rainy season to drown his child victims.
He may look like a fridge, but he can fight his way out of some trouble if it comes his way. As you can see, the various input requirements appear next to whatever it is that the action relates to, so you'll have an idea of what you've got to do if you simply keep looking at the action unfolding before you.
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| Source // MobyGames |
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| Source // MobyGames |
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| Source // MobyGames |
Character number 3 (or 4, it's been a long while since I played it) is Norman Jayden, or 'Naahman' as he pronounces it, a detective with sci-fi augmented reality shades that allow him to analyze crime scenes for traces of fluids and scents, like Batman or something, as well as turn his crappy office into any kind of landscape that takes your interest. A forest, the surface of Mars, a couple more.
While he has his own story outside of his desk, it is here where he pieces all the evidence together and collates his cases notes to try and track down the Origami Killer. It sounds like you might be spending a lot of time in here, but if anything, you seem to have a look at the available evidence, come up with an idea, then just run off and investigate like normal. Looks different, though, doesn't it?
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| Source // MobyGames |
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| Source // MobyGames |
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| Source // PlayStation |
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| Source // MobyGames |
Finally, there's Madison Paige, a reporter who hallucinates that her home gets violently invaded while she's in her underwear, and who tarts up to have a little chat/torture session with a club boss, among other events that involve the fact that she is a woman and all men are perverted bastards.
I can't recall any controversy regarding her depiction at the time, but there is an interactive shower scene that does (or did at one point) feature nudity. To be fair, we all get to stare at Ethan in the shower, too. I'm sure both scenes were absolutely essential to the plot.
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| Source // MobyGames |
What is the plot, then? Each character is involved in a different aspect of the Origami Killer case, none more so than Ethan himself, who is regularly sent text messages that get him to prove himself a good father and do anything for the safety of his son, and Heavy Rain means anything.
In one infamous scene, you get to cut the tip of your own finger off. If you don't, it becomes harder to find the location of your kidnapped son. If you do, you get to do it in such graphic detail that you have options available to you for how you want to do it.
The smartest players out there will look around the house for objects that will allow them to perform some basic first aid afterward, even to the point of cauterizing the wound to stop the bleeding.
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| Source // MobyGames |
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| Source // MobyGames |
As the ridiculous challenges for Ethan continue, Madison becomes his only support in a will they/won't they relationship. Is Madison just using Ethan to get some juicy scoops? Shouldn't Ethan be focusing on nothing and nobody but his son? Are the sex scenes going to be awkward? Yes, they are.
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| Source // MobyGames |
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| Source // MobyGames |
Shelby manages to foil some robbers at the store and takes care of a baby while its mother lay in the bath with slashed wrists. I can't remember if she survives or not now. I've written that I can't remember a few times now, so I should explain that a bit more.
I've still got Heavy Rain for the PlayStation 3, but once you go through it and see what it's about, and then go through it again on a trophy hunting run to view the multiple endings, you have seen it all and there isn't really a reason to go back and do it all over again.
An argument could easily be made that, well, clearly I've forgotten the details and maybe I should go back and jog my memory. Repeated viewings will also let you see things with the benefit of knowing where the story will go, and now various scenes make more sense or tell us something else about the character that you just wouldn't know on first viewing.
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| Source // MobyGames |
Frustrations
The big problem with going back and playing Heavy Rain is that I know how it ends, I know who is who, and it's not a fantastically memorable story that you want to revisit.
It's been written like a TV show where you learn a little bit here and there across a few episodes, which is all well and good, players slowly uncover the truth as the game goes on - it's just that the truth you end up finding isn't Earth-shattering, there's no "Holy moly" to it.
I suppose there's some on the first run-through, sure, but if you take that story and compare it to other serial killer mysteries in whatever form of media you look at, Heavy Rain's story is alright. It ticks the boxes, but that's about it.
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| Source // PlayStation |
Ethan is a man who will do whatever it takes to get his son back, which you think would be inspiring, but at no point do you really root for him. You're controlling his every action, literally driving him forward, but you feel like an observer, and what you're looking at is a man who you don't really care about. You want to know what happens, more than you want to make something happen if that makes sense.
Norman is the strangest character of the lot, suffering from some kind of drug addiction and trying to function nonetheless, but again, did I care about him? No. I was just controlling him through his scenes so that I got to the next bit of information needed to progress the plot.
The nature of this interactive movie format is that while there are multiple ways to get through the story, because it is so structured it's not really a story that you are creating and influencing. You're just along for the ride, even when there are multiple endings.
Final Word
I've seen everything that Heavy Rain puts in front of players. All the endings, all the branches. I've failed tasks and I've flawlessly succeeded them. I know what happens (or what is meant to happen, of course) and know that I won't get anything more out of the story were I to play it again.
But what about the gameplay itself? That's pretty novel, isn't it? There's even a PlayStation Move version that changes up the inputs to better reflect the action on screen. Either version must surely be experienced even if only for a short while?
Well, yes, I think you should definitely play Heavy Rain because even if the story falls a bit flat, you've probably never played anything like it. The 1001 list had us play Fahrenheit, the previous interactive movie from David Cage's brain, but Heavy Rain kicks everything up a notch - better story, better inputs, better presentation. It's well worth getting your feet wet with it.
But it's not perfect, and interactive movies still have a way to go. Beyond: Two Souls and Detroit: Become Human would bring in recognizable actors, but would still be met with mixed views by critics and consumers, despite continuing to improve the genre.
Heavy Rain is well worth a look at, and you should see it through to an ending at least, but it is unlikely to elicit a strong response other than "Ooh, this is different."
Fun Facts
Games can tackle some heavy subjects if done right, but Microsoft didn't want to take the chance with Heavy Rain, rejecting it because of its child abduction theme. Time to pitch the idea to Sony instead...
Heavy Rain, developed by Quantic Dream, first released in 2010.
Version played: PlayStation 3, 2010, via memory.