Heavy Rain

All of Quantic Dream's games have a very clearly defined, innovative, and, in my view, interesting design philosophy underpinning them. From Fahrenheit onwards, they've effectively pioneered a distinct form of immersive, non-linear film-making, using video games as a platform. Not only this, but each new release has felt like an appreciably more sophisticated and fully realised technical execution of this experimental vision. I'm slightly divided on whether I think they use the medium to its fullest potential, but I can't deny that each time I play one of their games, I'm struck by the interesting ways that Cage and his team use interaction to ground the player in the events of a story, and directly immerse them in the experience and dilemmas of characters.

Despite having commendable intents, however, I think it's fair to say that, up to this point, most of QD's games have felt more like showcases for an interesting design vision than fully successful works of fiction in their own right. At their best, they can be atmospheric and compelling thrillers with a few distinct aesthetic and narrative ideas fleshing out their well-worn archetypes. At their worst, they feel like painfully stilted genre exercises, with character writing, performances, and production values that veer towards being unintentionally comical. In some ways, Heavy Rain feels like the quintessential Quantic Dream game, in that it embodies both these tendencies, and does so in more-or-less equal measure.

Taken as a whole, Heavy Rain hasn't aged particularly gracefully at all, even by video game standards. Its performances are very uneven - notably worse than those of its predecessor in places - with some being downright abysmal by modern standards. This isn't just a minor issue, either – it seriously undermines many of the story's most dramatically important moments. The characters themselves are also fairly flat and lifeless in writing, with their interactions rarely feeling fully natural, something that isn't helped by infamously awkward animations and mechanics. Indeed, the game's technical execution in general has aged pretty horrendously, with crowd sequences in particular being hilariously uncanny. It's not a good sign when scenes that are meant to be impactful keep reminding you of Tommy Wiseau's The Room. Personally, I've always enjoyed the game's meditative pacing (I'm a fan of slow-paced works in general), but I can definitely understand why some would find a lot of its sections drawn out to the point of banality, especially in the early game. And then there are the major plot-holes and inconsitencies.

Yet, despite all of the above criticisms, there's one factor that, for me, makes Heavy Rain arguably Quantic Dream's most interesting game to date, and one that I might cautiously recommend, albeit reservedly, to newcomers. In my view, it's the most narratively and thematically focused, and just generally 'complete' feeling, work that Quantic Dream have made so far. That isn't saying much, given how all-over-the-place Fahrenheit and Beyond Two Souls are. But, nonetheless, it still surpasses its peers in this respect I think, even Detroit: Become Human, which is undone by its overly malleable, visionless plot.

To elaborate, I've always felt that the narrative-altering choice mechanics could have considerably more artistic intent behind them than they in fact do in most of Quantic Dream's releases thus-far. Whereas games like Deus Ex: Human Revolution or Telltale's The Walking Dead have used their choice and consequence systems very deliberately to meditate on themes (the parent-child relationship in Telltale's The Walking Dead, for example) or to force players to confront the philosophical and ethical complexities of different decisions (Human Revolution's ending choice, for example), the ways the player can change the narrative in Quantic Dream games often feel a bit arbitrary and aimless, to the point that they risk impairing the ability of the work to say anything meaningful. This issue was at its worst in Detroit: Become Human, I felt, where player choice is so extensive that you can effectively undermine every message the game might want to convey, and shape the plot into a fantasy where everything ends perfectly (or terribly) if you play your cards right.

The above issue is definitely one that Heavy Rain suffers with as well. Take the way that key characters can die pointlessly early in the story, for example, which severely affects the narrative's cohesion. But, overall, I think Heavy Rain is more successful in its use of choice than any other Quantic Dream game to date, mainly because its use is more thematically focused. Indeed, most of the game's scenarios only employ story-altering choice at key moments to force the player to grapple with the underlying ethical theme of the plot: the question of how far you might be willing to go to protect your child, and how you might justify the choice that you make. And that theme is definitely interesting, even if its impact is greatly undermined by the weak writing and overall execution.

I'm also inclined to think that Heavy Rain is probably the most aesthetically interesting and memorable work Quantic Dream have produced, excluding the first half of Fahrenheit. Its overall execution is awkward and clumsy, but the film-making is arresting, and there's something undeniably haunting about its dark, neo-noir narrative vision. If it had better writing, production values, and, above all, better performances, I might have it as my top Quantic Dream moment. As it is, it's probably tied with Detroit: Become Human and Fahrenheit, with the former having far better overall execution while being just as hackneyed and having less conceptual focus, and the latter having a great first half (arguably Quantic's finest hour) undermined by a very weak second half. It's a shame that I can't just recommend one game definitively, as I'm not convinced most people need to bother playing more than one, but there you go.

Normally, a work as questionable as this would deserve a fairly low review score, but, until Quantic Dream produce a game that's notably more successful, I think I have to give it three stars, just for its ambition alone. If you're someone with an interest in video games as works of fiction, this, Detroit, and Fahrenheit are probably worth playing, but you might need to adjust your expectations before going in.

The game could be much much more than what it is if not for HUGE plot holes. The idea is very good, the execution is horrible.
The plot holes are so big, it's actually unbelievable the game was released.
When I'm immersed into such type of games, I'm more emotional than analytical, so it's easier to feed me poor logical decisions, some plot holes. But not on a such scale, because I simply can't ignore the fact that there's no reason for Ethan to walk around with origami in his hand if he has nothing to do with it(...unless he had telepatic connection!! wowzers!!). At first I had a theory that the psychiatrist was aware of some personal features of Ethan's mind and used it that way to make him believe he's a killer. But it's actually all much more simple... all those lunatic origami episodes are just for the 'fashion and style' out there, just like lots of other little senseless things in the game.
It had potential. Good idea, but HORRIBLE execution. Atmosphere is good and I still had sympathy to some characters despite all the huge flaws. I can see how this could be a great game, but there are just too many things that ruined the game.

Do not look at the average rating and absolutely recover it, even though the commands on PC with mouse and keyboard are impractical and bordering on delirium and there is some flaw or improbability in the plot.
Lacerating and emotional, a cult.

Heavy Rain was really the game that put Quantic Dream on the map, taking the same concepts and gameplay mechanics of Indigo Prophecy but delivering a tighter story and showing a higher budget. I remember this game being quite lauded when it launched, no doubt hyped up due to its ps3 exclusivity as well as being a "return" to the long absent adventure genre. Nowadays people talk about Heavy Rain more as a meme, and its really no wonder, this game has never been good and it has aged badly.

Heavy Rain sees you playing through 4 different characters in small chapters. In these you interact with the world with quick time events, as well as occasionally choosing dialogue options. The majority of the interactions follow a linear sequence, though some offer consequences that will remain for the rest of the game, including the death of the main characters. Its an interesting concept, though at times its easy to see the manipulative wires and how the game tries hard to mask its illusion of choice.

The button prompts are annoying for the most part, even more so with mouse controls. Fortunatly you are given some margin of error in the time sensitive ones, so you wont automatically fail a section (and kill a character) if you miss a couple of buttons.

The narrative is interesting when looked from afar, I mean the story of a father who is taking on these sadistic trials constructed by a serial killer in order to find his son is intense to say the least, as well as the ways the other main characters interact into that story. Unfortunatly the writing is really bad, and when combined with the very aged and poor character animations, the game really takes on a comedic effect at times. Even more so when it tries to be so edgy and tragic, with the very grey setting and suffering of the main characters.

No matter how bad it is, the fact is that I was pretty much glued to the seat and finished the game in 3 sessions. Its akin to a car crash that you just cant look away from. Its better than Indigo Prophecy, but not nearly as good as Detroit Become Human, and its not a good adventure game by any means.

Playing this game is like watching a very campy neo-noir. Controls are clunky sometimes, major plotholes in the story, but just the right amount of camp. Norman Gang 4 Life!

As a twelve year old when this game released I had never played anything quite like it, and at the time it was engrossing enough for me to platinum it.
For all the laughable acting and gaping plot holes, there are many surprisingly endearing moments from these faux American accented puppets, and as a whole the game can be compelling if you enjoy basic thrillers/mysteries. It's noticeably more focused than Cage's earlier and later works, although this isn't saying much. Sure, the plot holes and red herrings are glaring, and the twist is literally baby's first detective novel/trope, but I sure didn't see it coming back then.

I think Quantic Dream should stop trying to make American/international games and embrace their country of origin. Everything in their games are about as American as the house in RE7 is from the deep south, though you could argue this adds an unintentional uncanny quality to the game which elevates it.

Heavy Rain's biggest flaw asides from that which I've already mentioned, is that it doesn't embrace the psychology/backstory or go deep enough on characters like Norman and especially Madison, as they're only interesting on a surface level.
For all the time you waste about with Ethan in the first hour or so, the character development is seriously lacking. Still, I can't help but love it... and yes, the music is great.