Heavy Rain is a game that delivers in all the ways that it wants to and does it so very well. I have never been as attached to video game characters for so long. It feels almost odd how much I cared for each one.
But let me take it one step back before I talk about everything I love about this game. For those who don’t know what this game is about let me inform you. You play as several characters in a story who, in one way or another, have ties to the serial murderer named the Origami Killer. Each of the characters has their own reasons to go for this mad man, and how they go about finding out who the killer is depends heavily on your, the player’s, actions.
This game has a lot of cut scenes where you have to press a series of buttons in order to successfully catch a running criminal, fight a thug or even shave (yes you read it right … shave). What makes this different from other games though, like God of War where you have the same idea of button presses, is that if you miss a button prompt it’s not “crap now I have to start over”. Instead, the game keeps going so whether or not that missed hit cost you, the chance to catch someone with valuable information, save someone’s life or the cost to your own life depends on how quick you are on your feet … or fingers. Also, yes, your characters can die. That means if one of the characters dies, then that’s it. The story keeps going without that particular story arc, which makes for a lot of interesting outcomes. Now a lot of these actions may feel a little mundane at first like having to use the left analog stick to put your car in park, knock on doors, or even move under an object. However, it really helps to make you feel in control and feel like you are the one making every single decision, which helped me get sucked in deeper into this world.
