I guess the game's substance was washed away with the rain.
Presentation is one of the major selling points of this game, at least according to the various reviews strewn about the web. Many claim that the game has excellent graphics, haunting music and a compelling ambiance. I will grant one of those four. The game does have a compelling ambiance; a compelling urge to turn the game off. The presentation in the game can be pretty good in some places. At some integral parts in the story you are left in awe of the power Quanticdream was able to pump out of the engine. At the same time, there are a number of times in the game where there is a heavy grain effect. This is evident during interrogations of some suspects, meandering through residential areas and other important plot points. Heavy Rain is a mixed bag when it comes to presentation. In addition, and it may merely be from my PS3, there are a number of times when the frame rate would dip or the game would freeze. This was a particular pain due to the lack of quick save and the long time between auto-save points.
In addition to my qualms with the graphics, there were times when bugs would ruin the suspension of disbelief. Early in the game when the story is supposed to be dragging you in, I was assaulted by a glaring bug in which an important character was just standing there staring at the player. It ruined the immersion as the player couldn't seem to find someone standing right next to them. These minor bugs continued as the game advanced as characters would occasionally clip through environments. I can usually forgive these annoyances, but they were of particular concern in a game which relies so heavily on suspension of disbelief.
Dragging out this concept of suspension of disbelief, the story had a number of different problems. The pathos for the main characters weren't very well established by the end of the game. Without ruining anything, it felt like I couldn't understand the reasoning for the antagonist's actions, and seemed to completely contradict how I had been playing the game. Granted these problems may come entirely out of how I played, but one would assume that the developer would have tested all possible scenarios to make sure the story didn't come off as a campy, procedurally generated mess. There may be some path out there that made sense, but mine sure didn't.
Aside from the problems with presentation, bugs and exposition I also had problems with the control system in the game. At times, you wouldn't be able to see the commands as they popped up on the screen. They would be hovering off the side of the screen and I would often mess up important game segments out of no fault to mine own. I do not understand how a developer could expect you to see a microscopic X on an object twenty feet away; something that could cause serious story repercussions. Also, one concern often levied against the Wii applied here. You could often get away with waggling the analog stick to get out of most situations. There was never a 1 to 1 ratio between movements on the joystick and actual in game action.
I could continue this tirade against the game. However, what has been said so far will suffice to give gamers an accurate representation of why I disliked Heavy Rain. I was promised the definitive adventure experience of this generation. My expectations may have been inflated due to hype, but even without these expectations I don't think I could have given this game a very high score. Problems with presentation, persistent bugs, plot problems, and generally inconsistent controls ruined the overall experience. You would think that a game so focused on story would have a keen grasp of all of the above. At the end of the day, a pox on that Gamestop employee.