Heavy Rain
Heavy Rain was officially announced at E3 2006 and is scheduled to be released in early 2010 under the genre of interactive drama. It is developed by Quantic Dream and published by Sony Computer Entertainment for the PlayStation 3 game console. The game runs on a PhysX (game physics) engine and is directed by Quantic Dream’s founder and CEO David Cage who wrote and directed the studio’s two previous games as well. According to the director, Heavy Rain will be “a very dark film noir thriller with mature themes”, without any supernatural elements, and that the “real message (of the game) is about how far you’re willing to go to save someone you love. In terms of the setting, the director has confirmed that there will be no big free-roaming city like GTA, as the flow of the story will then be hard to control, however there will be big sets, with a crowd, heavy populated areas like a mall and a subway, with the gameplay making use of those aspects too. There are four playable characters in the game, comprising of an FBI profiler named Norman Jayden, a private detective named Scott Shelby, an architect named Ethan Mars, and a journalist named Madison Paige, all of which are said to be looking for a serial killer known as “The Origami Killer”. Unlike other games, Heavy Rain will use a unique control scheme that includes a trigger button on the PlayStation 3 controller that will move the character forward, as well as take advantage of the button’s analogue function, allowing players to control the speed of the character’s movement by pressing harder or softer on the button. By having the left analogue stick control the movement of the character’s head and the direction he move in relation to where he is looking, the character’s movement will be free from the perspective of the camera, with the rest of the game played using a series of context sensitive actions and quick time events.
Reviews
Heavy Rain is a game that insists that you live out the lives of its characters by putting you in the shoes of its cast and letting you live every moment of it. It aims to send across the message of “How far are you prepared to go to save someone you love?” as Quantic Dream works hard on trying to blur the distinction between a video game and real life by making a title that will play with your emotions, raise the level of story telling and expand gaming. David Cage tries to “create experiences that engage players emotionally, explore the potential of interactive story telling and create new formats for adult audiences”, as seen in their previous projects like Omikron: the Nomad Soul and Indigo Prophecy. Heavy Rain is said to revolve around interactive story telling, meaning that the story will change based on the actions and choices of the player, with various consequences based on what the player happens to select, providing players with an emotional journey based on the fact that “you tell the story, not through the cut scenes, but directly through your actions” according to Cage. The game is intentionally designed to set the player on an emotional roller coaster that will have depth and meaning and will be original and innovative. In contrast to other typical games, death in Heavy Rain is aimed at giving an introspective moment to players. The game also features non-linear scripts that are spread out over ninety separate scenes, including the various actions, consequences and choices that could potentially occur within each scene. Not only that, cut scenes are also kept down to a minimum and only used when absolutely necessary.
“From what we’ve seen so far, this is shaping up to be a game that will keep gamers talking until the shipping date. Quantic Dream has been very careful about keeping the story secret, and from this latest demo, the story and experience can only get better. In our brief adventure with Madison, we already felt like we were a part of the story in the way that the action, dialogue, and sound were handled. Visually, the characters come strikingly close to looking real, not just in terms of the graphics but also in how their movements and voice acting enhance that sense of realism. Even though it is a single-player game, watching the events unfold is just as intense and exciting for an audience.” (GameSpot, 2009)
