First Impressions: 'Heavy Rain'
The gaming world needs more murder mysteries. Not necessarily just action-oriented games that feature a murder mystery as the underlying plot, because we've already got plenty of those. "Heavy Rain" for the PS3 finally seems to be doing the concept justice.
It combines some quick reflex-based mechanics with a heavy focus on watching and paying attention to details. Yet it never approaches anything resembling a combat-oriented action game, nor does it come off as "one giant cutscene" with which I get to interact minimally. I quickly came to understand the meaning of the term with which developer Quantic Dream chose to label this game: "interactive drama."
After three hours, I can already tell some decisions I have made will drastically affect my path on the way to discovering the killer's identity. In a genuinely jaw-dropping moment, the game successfully "faked me out" when my FBI agent character was holding a suspect at gunpoint. As my partner attempted to handcuff him, the suspect quickly spun around and attempted to stab him with something. I panicked and pulled the trigger. Dead. And it turned out that he tried to "stab" my partner with a blunt wooden cross. That dead suspect probably had some valuable information, too. But the show must go on. I had to begrudgingly come to terms with my loss and let the chips fall where they may.
I can see many people putting the controller down on this game for good within the first hour, however. You'll feel many things from the outset -- tension, tranquility, even paranoia -- but you probably won't find straight-up "fun" in that group. Unless your idea of "fun" involves controlling an adult male while he gets dressed, brushes his teeth, and mopes around in his dreary little house.
Yes, playing "Heavy Rain" gets awfully boring and lacks any sort of instant gratification, but it still managed to suck me deep into its world as if two arms reached out of the television and pressed my head against the screen. I have never experienced anything like its approach to connecting its players with the characters they control. Your emotions and the characters' emotions are one and the same. You feel listless because your character does. You feel stress and anxiety because your character does. Games aren't supposed to make people feel these ways, at least not intentionally. In this sense, "Heavy Rain" feels like it fell out of a time warp from the far-flung future, in which humanity has developed the technology to manipulate the human brain into experiencing specific emotions at will. In 2010, it's nothing short of impressive.
It also rides on the cutting edge of graphics technology. Getting immersed in the world becomes easy when the world is rendered with impeccable photorealistic detail. Even the loading screens show off the graphical muscle by showing close-ups of the characters' faces, pores and all. It might not transcend the uncanny valley, but it succeeds how a photorealistic game should succeed: convincing me that all of these people, places and things could be real.
I, for one, will happily allow this "interactive drama" to take me on its ride while I gently influence its course. Some may find it boring, but thus far, "Heavy Rain" is nothing if not unique.
