Fahrenheit was a game unlike I’ve ever played before. It was dramatically engaging, difficult but fair in gameplay and revolutionary in my humble opinion. Never had I imagined that there’d be a similar game that could surpass it. I mean, come on, you could get laid in the game after all. TWICE. Bow chika wow wow. Which I did on my first playthrough by the way. I’m a player like that.
Yet here we are, years later and one game later. It’s kind of like James Cameron. Fahrenheit was the number one game in its kind for all these years and the only game to surpass it is this one.
So, without further ado, I hereby give to you:
As presented by Teh Pwn Shop,
A Puddle Jumper review of:
Heavy Rain: The movie, the game
An interactive drama of the top shelf, Heavy Rain is a videogame where you are given control of four different characters all tied together by a single person. This person is none other than the infamous Origami Killer who has been terrorizing parents for several years now.
Ethan Mars was a loving father and husband, until his oldest son was killed in a car accident. Two years have passed and now Ethan’s youngest was taken from him by the Origami Killer. The man then begins on a difficult and very challenging quest to reunite him with his son.
Madison Paige is a young woman who suffers from insomnia when she sleeps at her home. Upon going to a motel to get some well deserved sleep, she stumbles upon Ethan Mars. After which she is trusted in to the story that is unfolding before him.
Scott Shelby is a private investigator who was hired by the families of the Origami Killer’s victims. They asked him to find out who exactly the killer is before he kills again.
Norman Jayden is a member of the FBI who is one of the few people who gets to tinker with a new device called the ARI. Norman and his ARI are now working together with the local PD to hunt down this Origami Killer.
The rest of this story isn’t exactly written in stone. Sure, it’s not infinite, but it’s sure enough to make sure that only a few people will have the same playthrough as you. One thing is for certain however. No matter what you do and how it ends, you will have played one of the few must play games out there with a story worthy to win an Oscar, if those still mattered at all. Heavy Rain definitely belongs in anyone’s top ten list when it comes to videogame storylines.
Then there’s the graphics. So unbelievably good. The amount of details put in to the environment and the realistic nature of the people themselves. True, there’s an uncanny valley around the people’s mouths and there could be a few texture issues here and there, but in the end this is still one epic view to behold. What also impressed me is the detailed and fluid movement. From drawing an architectural design to shaving your bears, it’s all so beautifully detailed. That is, until like half an hour in when the game shoves a guy’s hairy ass in your face. Oh, sorry, SPOILER ALERT. There’s going to be a hairy ass in your face at some point.
This game is like a sensory overload, really. I mean, your mind is being boggled by the story, your eyes are being amazed by the pictures that appear on screen and then there’s the sound’s that perfectly matches or sets up the mood at all times. If this game could give me a blowjob, I’d be the happiest man alive.
Whilst the music and the sound effects are quite awesome, the voice acting … is not. Don’t get me wrong, there’s some quality acting going on up in there. But overall, there’s just too many accents that keep getting in the way. It’s quite obvious that these people are written to be American all the way, not just in nationality.
As usual, the meat of the game is the gameplay. Said earlier, there are a ton of different ways this game could play out. What’s also good to know before I go deeper in to this is that there is no game over until all four characters have died. Even if one of the characters dies, then the game still goes on if you do not reload the chapter yourself.
Tightly interwoven with the gameplay is the story. As with Mass Effect, Fallout 3 and other games like it, you get options during conversations. These options are displayed over the character’s head. Not exactly a good thing when you don’t have an LCD TV or an HD TV as the camera won’t always be close. Even if you switch it yourself. Meaning that if you think that you’re supposed to press circle, you were actually supposed to press square. Just a tiny complaint that many games have these days, but nothing to really stress about. Now, it’s not just in the conversation where you can get to make decisions. Some times you will have to make decisions like: do you go right, or do you go left? Then there’s the more difficult options like: do I go with the reaction command or do I go for a conversational option? Speaking of reaction commands, these are primarily used when in action scenes. Fights, for instance, are filled with reaction commands from start to finish, with a few decisions to be made as well sometimes. For those who prefer, reaction commands are also known as Quick Time Events. I just call them reaction commands because Quick Time Events are usually nothing more than a means for the developer to thicken the gameplay for no reason at all other than the cut scene was lasting too long or something, I don’t know. Then again, if done right, it’s quite an addition to the game. Like in Resident Evil 4. As with the conversational commands, you might have to lean in to the TV screen at times to see what exactly you’re supposed to press if you have an old fashion tube TV.
What’s most fun about this game is that also uses the controller’s motion functionality. Remember the guy’s ass up the player’s face? Well, you’re going to dry that puppy off by waggling the controller left and right and up and down and what not. Isn’t that neat?
Also available to the player is the option to interact with his or her environment. Want to turn on some tunes? Simply turn on the radio. Want some coffee? Then make it, damn it! You can do all sorts of things and many things aren’t even vital to the story. Though unnecessary in the big picture, they do add a lot to the story in a whole. It gives your character more personality, in a way. You get to find out what one character likes to read, which magazines he or she likes, what tricks they can and more things like that. Of course, all these actions are cued by a command and many times you even have to follow up on it.
I gotta tell ya though, you reaaaaaaally need to be finger magician if you want to play this game. At some points in the game, you need to press several buttons at once. That wouldn’t be a problem if they came in a good order. You’re already holding the controller in a certain manner because of how you got to point B, but now you need to get to point C by first pressing square, then circle, then cross, then R1 and then Triangle or something like that. Problem is, slip for just a second and you need to start all over again. You need to keep that sucker pinned down!
One last thing, and this is quite a complaint, they’ve made the control scheme in such a way that the only way for your character to walk is for you to press R2, which makes your character walk automatically. Yes, there’s a walk button. And yes, it’s quite annoying and clunky.
Heavy Rain in short:
The story is unbelievable. It’s now officially ranking as number 1 in my favorite stories list for games. It might pick up slowly, but when it does … wow. Just, wow. And it never seems to stop as well.
Graphically, there’s nothing much I can really say about this that isn’t in superlatives. I mean, come on, seriously. The loading screens alone, where you get to see a character’s face up close, is unbelievable detailed. And to think that their faces are like that in the game. The subtle changes in skin color, other imperfections in their skin, the color of their eyes and the red in their eyes, their hair and their eyelashes, the reflection in their eyes, the wrinkles, the bags under their eyes and the movement of their face. It’s … wow. But, sometimes the animation can be off like the uncanny valley around their mouth.
There’s nothing much to say about the sound but superlatives as well. Besides the voice acting. Though they might be good performances all around, they just didn’t cast the right people for many of the roles.
And gameplay wise, this game is amazingly addictive and smooth. Even if you mess up a few commands, the game is quite forgiving, offering another chance or just going on without punishing you that much. Whatever you do, the consequences will be clear later on. Either by scorch marks, bruises or something of the sort. Even though you need to a magician with your fingers at times, the controls are easy enough and adjustable, depending on your familiarity with the controller.
In the end, this game is a solid
9/10.
And since there’s no such thing as a 10/10, that’s saying a lot.
If you own a Playstation 3, and I don’t say this often, you must have at least played this game once. In the great debate between the 360 and the Trey, the 360 is still going to win though.
Trey: We have Blu-ray
360: We have Xbox Live
Trey: We have Uncharted
360: We stole Final Fantasy and Metal Gear Solid
Trey: We have Heavy Rain
360: I WAS FROZENNNNN TO-DAY
Trey: …
This has been Puddle Jumper with a review of the Playstation 3 exclusive: Heavy Rain. Special thanks to thatguywiththeglasses.com for so many awesome jokes like: I was frozen today! For more awesome content, go to the main page of Tehpwnshop.wordpress.com, Headshot Gaming or my very own blogger: Greyarch Entertainment.
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