Heavy Rain, or as I like to call it, My Personal Punching Bag
Anyway, Heavy Rain is probably MY most hated game that came out in 2010. The demo came out a couple of weeks before it's release, and my first point is of course the control scheme. Is it necessary? Well after playing for awhile I discovered it is. Heavy Rain is like many of those old Sega CD games, it's just an interactive movie. Quicktime is the name of the game, so much so I thought Apple developed it! Okay, you can hate me for that lame joke. Let's start this eventually hated review with a statement, I have played Indigo Prophecy, and I can't really see myself liking that game either. It's much better than this game, but it's basically the same thing. Okay, I just got REALLY off track, let's start the review...
Heavy Rain starts with Ethan Mars, walking around his house doing everyday activities, and we're controlling him at this point. I almost fell asleep at this point. I understand this part was just to get us used to the fact that we can't just walk and that we hold down R2 like it's a driving game (which I think was a statement from Quantic Dream) and that it's just a game where you push and hold buttons, and sometimes, if you're lucky, TAP BUTTONS! Eventually you get into a lightsaber fight with your son, then lightheartedly play with them one by one. This is just to build you up to the ultimate death of Jason, one of Ethan's sons. It's 2 years later and we're introduced to a world where nobody smiles and subtitles float in the sky. This is Heavy Rain. I seriously wanted to quit at this point. Nothing, NOTHING, has made me this sad before, to the point where I wanted to open a vein. But there is a lighthearted joke here. I personally think who ever was the voice actor for Shaun, Ethan's other son, did a horrible job. He said every word like it had five syllables! Whatever, lets get back to the story. The Origami Killer has now taken Shaun, because this guy has some sick obsession with father's helping their son wether they have to take their own life. This is one of the best motives I've ever seen for a killer, as it's original and it makes sense.
By now, if you've never played Heavy Rain, you're thinking the game is a boring, depressing turd and you never want to play it. Well, that's not entirely true. There were some exciting moments in here that almost made me call Heavy Rain a "game." But most of the time is was either back-and-forth between cops or some not-so-tough moral choices. If you thought those choices were hard, you just haven't made enough decisions in your life.
Now lets go over the story. You play as four characters, Ethan Mars, our hero. He's the one doing any actual work, and has to endure the most hardships. Norman Jayden, who is a cop who cheats using glasses the use basically a virtual world to help him solve cases. It helps, but making a choice between taking some meth to calm you down almost made me want to let Norman die. If you have to take drugs, stop using the damn glasses man! Then we have our rushed love interest, reporter Madison Paige, who is basically a whore. First thing she wants to do with Ethan is have sex! Oh well, don't take that comment too seriously Team Madison. Finally we have Scott Shelby, who is a P.I who goes around and talks to the moms of the victims of the Origami Killer. He's not very needed at the moment, but it served as a pretty awesome twist ending.
Actual entertainment value, none. I did say there were some exciting parts, but I generally wasn't impressed too much. I have one statement to the haters thumbing this review down right now, Child-killing, do you consider that entertainment? I know it's fake, but it's something I don't want or need to see. Now you could just say "Turn off the game if you're so squeamish!" Well I could but I really wanted to share my entire opinion, so I played the game through completion. Of course I got the best ending because I'm a good person and can never make a decision regarding to take someone-or something's-life. Army of Two: 40th Day taught me that. There was one scene I want to talk about. One challenge for Ethan involved chopping off his finger, which then followed that the GPS for Shawn was right beneath the table. I'm thinking, what was the point? To make us cringe as he cut off his own hand for something hidden right beneath him? Quantic Dream, you're more imaginative than that, Indigo Prophecy proves that.
My final statement, I was originally going to give Heavy Rain a 3.5 out of ten, but as I typed this review, I realized, Heavy Rain isn't that bad. I have played both of Quantic Dream's games and I have to say I felt like I was watching a movie. A goofy movie at best, but at least it was accomplished. I have also played the Move version, and that version gets an absolute 0 out of 10. It was useless and not needed. Just released to either promote the Move or get Quantic Dream money, I think the first. I generally respect this company for going out of the norm and basically being outcasts in this recent sea of bland shooters and basically bad ideas. It might sound like I absolutely love Heavy Rain and Indigo Prophecy, but when I say I feel like I'm watching a movie, I mean it should've been a $15 dollar movie, not a $60 game.