Last week an add-on chapter to Heavy Rain was made available for those who received a pre-order voucher or saw it on the Playstation Store. Supposedly picking up where the main game ends, the new chapter features the sexploited, insomniac reporter Madison Paige who is investigating – one assumes since this is never made clear – a lead implicating a local taxidermist as the mysterious figure in Madison’s ending.
The Taxidermist adds an element of gameplay Quantic Dream seemed to feel was lacking from the main game: stealth. This new dynamic doesn’t so much add to the overall experience of Heavy Rain as it does add to the list of persisting problems. Serving as a median between the exploration and action sequences of the chapter, the stealth aspect accomplishes the opposite of Quantic Dream’s intent and puts an even larger spotlight on the game’s unrefined controls. During this segment I had more trouble navigating Madison through the house (see my review on Heavy Rain) let alone to a safe hiding location. In the end I decided wrestling with the controller to move Madison was a pointless endeavor and opted to forgo stealth by running directly into the antagonist’s field of view. Speaking of which, the Taxidermist must be the dumbest criminal mastermind in the history of serial killers. I hoped this extremely thick serial killer would notice every door in his house had been opened in order to speed up the horrible stealth segment, but the only differences he seemed to notice were disturbed items on the storefront counters. Even the door to the room with the rotting corpse being ajar didn’t phase his determination to ignore my presence in his house, making the absence of quality control painfully obvious yet again.
Once again the action proved to be a matter of deciding between survival or failure, press the button or don’t, and just like the main game these QTE choices determine the final outcome of the chapter. Due to my quick reflexes I was able to subdue and eliminate my opponent thanks to a conveniently gassed up chainsaw in the garage. The ending that followed conveniently ignored the fact that Madison broke into this house and killed a person with no witnesses, yet she’s revered as a hero once her story breaks. This was only one of about six to eight endings, as far as I was concerned I had received the full gaming experience from just playing through one ending.
Playing this new chapter put a sour taste in my mouth with regard to the Heavy Rain experience as a whole. All of the elements I found compelling and worth exploring in the main game were curiously absent from the add-on chapter: compelling storyline, a plot no error in gameplay can falter and a colorful cast of characters. The Taxidermist chooses to ignore all of these strengths in favor of everything I hated about the main game. Honestly I was hopeful this new chapter would be an improvement on any of the list of problems which plagued Heavy Rain, instead I was forced to endure more of the same without the creativity which made the main game a great experience.
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