While compiling my thoughts on Heavy Rain I came to an extremely difficult crossroads. Having played through the project the first time, I was coerced into immediately diving into a new game to get a more thorough look and to explore the depth of the the choice system. Greatly anticipating alternate routes I could direct the playable characters toward, I was under the impression the choices I made for the characters in the story would have a profound impact on the way those characters perceive situations, the variety of choices they provide to the player and even they way the story as a whole is presented. Unfortunately I discovered none of what I was looking for in either of my games yet discovered something unique nonetheless. What I had just finished playing was not so much a game as an interactive narrative pretending to be a game. After making this discovery, I can't in good conscience review Heavy Rain without separating the narrative from the "game".
Reviewing the gameplay on this game is quite possibly the easiest reviewable aspect of Heavy Rain: there is no gameplay. The entire game is composed of scenarios in which you have to provide acting queues for the one character, among four, which the player navigates through the story. The term "linear gameplay", if it were to have a dictionary definition, would have a picture of Heavy Rain next to it. The player is literally dragged from scene to scene with no choice or option regarding what lead the current playable character pursues or to what area the character travels to next. You are thrown into a situation that will always have a clearcut solution and are expected to play your part to see the scene unfold based on a handful of choice-commands. Apart from the input the player is able to make, the storytelling is set in stone making in-game decisions only determine which path of scenes will be unlocked to continue the story or what injury to paste on the character model. Depending on particular choices you make determines if the player will see some scenes as opposed to others but the main story scenes remain identical.
On the few opportunities the player is able, controlling the actors felt like trying to dance with a toy dog. Getting a character to move in the intended direction on the controller proved to be extremely difficult even through my second game. I found myself running around in countless circles because my character decided I pressed the circle running direction instead of "right". This proved especially frustrating when I failed one of Ethan's trials spending too much time attempting to go every direction except the one I was directing him towards. Again when I had to escort Ethan through traffic to evade police, Madeline interpreted movement as: "Turn around and walk back to our pursuers" every time I touched the analogue stick. Outside of sloppily navigating the game's characters there is no way to perform actions apart from quick time events. Quantic Dream decided to simulate actions on the PS3 controller such as "shake controller" to push away an enemy. Every scene which there was action had me more focused on where the quick time event command box would pop up rather than actually paying attention to the game. I got into this habit mainly after failing to notice or enter the correct quick time command in my first game, something undesirable would almost always befall the character involved in that scene. While playing my favorite character I happened to miss three stupid commands in a row and the adversary I was up against killed me, end of scene. Additionally the way the quick time events require execution had me contort my hands to hold the controller so uncomfortably I thought I was holding an Xbox controller at times. The real difficulty only arose in trying to bend my hand around the controller to hit a button repeatedly while holding down four other buttons so I could prevent my character's skull from being caved in or worse.
The last element of the game which had me hopeful was the choice system. To my disappointment every choice you make outside of action scenes are virtually irrelevant to the game as a whole. One notable choice came in the chapter following the introduction: Ethan has just brought his son home from school and it's up to the player to care for him. In my first play I neglected to insist Ethan Jr. do his homework which resulted in the teacher yelling at him, making him sad. I decided to make things right the second time around, but to my dismay it didn't make a difference. Instead of yelling at him for not doing his homework the teacher yells at Ethan Jr. for being late to class, making him sad. Through the rest of my second play through I continued to make a discernible effort to do the opposite of what I did the first time, but the only instances these choices and decisions seemed to impact the story differently were when they were in conjunction with me failing, (or willfully neglecting), quick time events. It is true you make decisions for the characters not involving quick time events, the only story changing decisions you make come in the form of "yes" or "no" situations; do I pull the trigger to kill this guy, do I jump to save myself, do I kiss and engage in awkward shiny 3d-model fondling. Instead of enlisting quick time events the game's combat and action sequences may have benefited from using something more similar to the main game mechanic: choices. In an action sequence, instead of the player being faced with a command to press why not make it a series of commands appropriate for the situation? Since the way the action is constructed involves the player reacting to a given situation in an appropriate way, a more viable translation between video game character and real person may have been, "a man throws a punch at me, do I: (circle)Duck (x)Block (square) Evade", instead of "a man throws a punch at me, press x to evade or don't to get hit". Something along those lines could have easily been implemented due to certain split-second decisions which must be made, and the game's already existent method of punishment for not choosing, (or declining to input), a command.
I could continue to list the flaws of this game, (including sound, loading and graphical issues), instead I'd like to examine what this game does right because as much as I'd like to, I can't say this game is a complete waste of time. The narrative Heavy Rain tells is unexpectedly compelling and artistically brilliant. Despite the fact that I got tired of mindlessly finding buttons to press or hold down during action sequences, consequences of these sequences and the never ending will of the story to push forward were enough to keep me playing. Even after losing my favorite character on my initial play through, discovering how the game would compensate for losing an integral character and still wrap up plot elements helped me resist deleting my save file to start from the beginning. Although the choice system didn't showcase as much depth as I expected, allowing me to decide for myself the character's actions and path through the game created a connection to the characters unlike any I've ever experienced in a game. In a scene were I was faced with the choice of stripping or eating a bullet, I found myself trying to preserve my character's dignity instead of shamelessly stripping my way out. Through these tiny glimpses of brilliance I was able to see a game that should have been the released version of the game. Sure, the entire cast is a cookie cutter assortment of modern film noir stereotypes, each one with a convenient affliction to simulate "depth", and yea, there are some significant plot holes. But the way the scenes are presented and the atmosphere the game creates forced me to scorn my previous complaints in favor of experiencing the game.
Overall Heavy Rain is an ambitious project gone awry. The game gives the impression that too much attention was given to graphical detail and the presentation of realism at the expense of actively incorporating the player into the gaming experience. Decision making in the game assumes only physically dangerous and morally ambiguous situations can resonate serious consequences and changes in plot, merely serving as a gimmick instead of a core element of the game. The story is presented in an incredibly artistic and stylized fashion, but redundancy in gameplay and unreliable controls pull focus away from its inner artistic beauty. Heavy Rain even with its flaws is a truly unique gaming experience, one that will invariably continue to draw me back in.
