Review | Heavy Rain
Format: PlayStation 3 | Genre: Adventure | Publisher: Sony | Developer: Quantic Dream | Release date: 26/02/10 | RRP: £49.99
LETTING THE DAYS GO BY
And what of that story? Is it even important, in the context of everything that is happening around the game? Am I reviewing the form, or the content? Both deserve to be examined, and both become more important in relation to one another. On its own, the mechanics of providing the player with a somewhat contrived interface for interacting with the environment, while providing them with the option to alter the events that have so clearly been laid out in front of them, are stilted and interesting at the same time. You could insert any story into them, and it would be just as groundbreaking, because it’s the form that’s doing something new, rather than the story that’s being told.
But the story is important. It’s the message that’s being carried over, and if it were terrible than it would be all too easy to ignore Heavy Rain as an oddity that attempted, and failed, to do something new. The story props up the form, and the form carries the story. It’s a mutually dependent relationship that only grows the stronger for how they work.
I can’t help but think that David Cage is a fan of Talking Heads. Or, to be specific, their magnum opus ‘Once in a Lifetime’. In case you’re in the unfortunate situation of not knowing the song, let me explain it to you. Essentially, it’s a song about life. It’s about those brief reflective moments when you can look back on your life, at where you are, and realise that you’ve got no idea how you got here, or where you’re going. Then the moment passes, and you just go with the flow.
The subject of the song starts out with a wonderful house, a beautiful wife, and a fine automobile. By the second verse he’s wondering where the hell all these things have gone.
Ethan Mars is that man. The very first scene of the game is in his wonderful house, having his beautiful wife come home and enjoying a family meal together. Then things, inevitably, fall apart, and he loses it all. That each scene of the game provides you with a place, a time, and the rising level of rainfall, is just another subtle nod to the song’s themes. I could be getting it all completely wrong, but it colours the rest.
Because Once in a Lifetime isn’t just about the brief moments of clarity. It’s also about the growing inaction of life, and how we just allow ourselves to be taken from moment to 
moment, from situation to situation, without having any input. It’s only when something shocking happens that we’re able to take hold. This is mirrored in Ethan Mars’ situation, where he’s only able to shrug off the emasculinity of divorce when his son is kidnapped and he’s given a chance to save him. It’s not just him that’s provided with that chance, though; you’re just as led as he is, and you’ve got just as much power to throw off the shackles of manipulation.
As the game is constantly reminding us of the constantly rising flow of rain water, so too is Once in a Lifetime making sure we don’t forget about the flow of water, and the passage of time. There’s an urgency that’s in place, that we don’t get second chances, and we’ve got to make do with what we’ve got. And I think that’s the most important thing we’ve got to take away from Heavy Rain. It’s not a game that deals in second chances. What you do is what you’ve done, and short of starting the game again, you can’t do anything to change that.
ONCE IN A LIFETIME
That a game has come along that actually, truly, deals in consequences is astonishing. Of course there’s the option to restart a scene by turning off your console and restarting it, but you don’t want to, because you’ve not failed. You’re just continuing on the path you’re laying out, and that’s what’s important. That there’s at least ten hours of story right there, with no restarts or checkpoints, is incredible.
[Continues...]
Wow, that was an amazing(ly long) read. This reminds me of Jim’s “Counting for Taste” article on RPS — just how much “game” is Heavy Rain? I actually had a talk with a friend on something he said about the game — “infinitely replayable,” he called it. Though I haven’t played it, I said that it seemed more replayable in the sense that books and movies are rereadable and rewatchable rather than being “replayable” in the traditional sense of a game.
Now if only I had a playstation triple and could play it.
1. Be frustrated at MS not Quantic Dream. MS built an inferior system with same last generation DVD, 5.1 sound, no HDD standard – instead of pushing gaming forward. This is the result.
2. $299 for a long list of quality exclusives like this.
3. Thanks for the read. I plan to start playing it this weekend.
I don’t think Phill’s placing the blame on anyone, wiseguy. It’s nothing to do with console capabilities; it’s just that he feels this is a game that deserves to be played by as many people as possible, and its being limited to release on one format prevents that.
What he (Lewis) said…
Amen – the fact this isn’t multiplatform is nothing short of ridiculous. I hate to sound like a dictator, but I’m leaning towards a world of one console, as time goes on.
1. It has everything to do with console capabilities.
2. People can buy better products if they want better games. It’s really simple. Nothing to get frustrated about.
3. What multiple formats prevent is high quality games like this. You have it backwards. So if he wants more games like this he should be recommending people buy the higher quality consoles instead of misdirecting (unintentionally or not) that the problem is the game being on a single format. It would have been watered down to make it fit the limitations of the 360 and the publishers contracts that games be equivalent. IOW a race to the bottom. Go peddle that nonsense somewhere else.:)
I think you’re reading more deeply into the comment than was intended. You’re right: Heavy Rain is obviously very carefully tailored to the PlayStation 3’s processing power and control mechanism. All Phill – like myself, and Christos – is saying is that it’s a tremendous shame that people who don’t own a PS3 (can’t afford one, aren’t interested in its other games, whatever) won’t get the chance to play such an exceptional and exciting game.
If there was one platform there would have been no Wii motion controller that has expanded the market.
Not sure how any intelligent consumer can see less innovation and fewer choices as a good thing.
However I can see how corporate shills with monopolistic desires would be excited to push the idea of one console on the gullible. Under the current market they can’t get control with multiple consoles. So push for the idea of one console where they can.
Let’s get rid of Pepsi because we only need one pop. It’s so frustrating having choices. And really what’s the difference between Root beer and Coke. Is it really that significant. Let’s just have Coke while we are at it.
Nothing short of ridiculous is right.
No I understand and appreciate what your saying.
My point is I don’t think I would ever hear you say it’s a shame we can’t only have a Yugo instead of 6 different Hondas because some people can’t afford one or the other. It’s a ridiculous premise that I’ve only seen raised in consoles. Not phones, not cars. NOWHERE else would a person suggest thats’ a good thing. One Cheese?
The point is NOBODY would get a chance to drive that EXCEPTIONAL Honda because it would be a Yugo if one company controlled the market.
If they want to drive something exceptional then they should have the choice to vote with their dollars as to which product is exceptional and which is not. One console removes that choice.
[...] You can get it from here. And in a rare moment of fairness, here’s Phill Cameron saying why he dug the hell out of Heavy Rain which is an exciting game for the PS… wait! We’ve been duped! It’s a Trap! EJECT! [...]
[...] 4, 2010 by thomasdowd Phil Cameron over at Resolution Magazine has a lengthy review of Heavy Rain up that I pretty much agree with. Phil’s a little more effusive in parts than I am, [...]
Thanks for the review. You’re a good writer.
The reactions I’ve heard and read about this game are interesting. I haven’t played the game myself (which renders what follows quite hollow, but bare with me), but from what I’ve seen and read in reviews, Heavy Rain comes off as the most self-absorbed, pretentious piece of marketing strategy this console generation. Fahrenheit took that place last generation. I say marketing because this game has been hyped for about three years now, with the gaming press saying that Heavy Rain would redefine gaming, playing into the hands of the PR industry (hell, is there even a difference between press/journalism and PR?). And people are eating it up with a spoon, because, as it seems from my point of view, being told that “this is art, this is mature, this is unique”, a lot of gamers are going “ok!”.
If you construct a game around the premise of story, and that story gets mangled by the gameplay and looses its potentially “emotionally engaging” moments, how can that be considered art at all? What has been said, and did you really have any control, and if so, how did the game acknowledge that without falling apart? And here I come back to what I said about PR and journalism: how can you review a game like this without discussing its story, behind the mantra we’ve come to know as “spoilers”?
You mentioned whether you reviewed the content or the story, and kinda landed on acknowledging that the two can never be separate, which was very insightful. Yet you still come back that dichotomy over and over again. If the game is the story you make (like a lion in a big cage, right?) through decisions that either are smoke and mirrors, or completely mangles any credibility the story might have had, what game are you playing? Or more importantly, does it say something about the human condition; can we call this art?
There’s a difference in between being an “intelligent consumer,” as you so deftly put it, and being someone who’s simply sick of platform exclusives.
I am no fan of monopolies – in fact, a quick search of my name or articles, some even on this website, would have told you as much. My point was simply that it would be nice to have a console that, in a more utopian environment, was owned by everyone, and everyone published on. I wasn’t seriously suggesting we wipe out Sony and Nintendo, but there’s a line between diversity/choice and constant bitching about a console you hate simply because you chose one you’re feeling more than insecure about.
While you’re in the anti-corporate mindset, why not simply research into why one console might be a better idea in a future environment, rather than running with the idea that RIGHT NOW would actually work? I know it won’t, and I’d wager most people would agree. With one console, do you think massive – and imho, illegal – failures to meet customer rights, such as the RROD, would have existed for as long as they have? We live in a world where niche products are labelled “diverse” and are rife with customers suffering financially due to the possessive nature of platform manufacturers over new IPs, and where the only true unbiased platform – the PC – is still largely ignored because the idea of paying the amount X to keep a PC upgraded is ignored in favour of paying five times the amount, yearly, to buy new consoles and games on varying platforms simply because consumer choice stopped BEING choice once it became a weapon.
It’s all well and good to take up the mantle of the righteous consumer, but when you’re not willing to think any deeper than “those evil bastard CEOs” and research the opinions of those you challenge so self-righteously, it does beg the question: is one console not ALSO a choice, and by your response, are you not monopolising the ideals of those sick of controversy?
“Which renders what follows quite hollow”.
:P
A tremendous read, thanks for that.
But ‘innovative’? Weren’t the ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ books knocking about 40 years ago? Granted, you’re twirling a stick to represent fiddling about in your ear or something rather than turning to page 123, but it’s still the same principle.
Mind you, there’s something to be said for transferring the concept to this medium. It would be great if this proved to be as popular (if not as prolific) a medium of storytelling as film or books.
[...] Heavy Rain: http://vi.deoga.me.uk/2010/02/review-heavy-rain-ps3/ Resolution Review of Heavy Rain: http://resolution-magazine.co.uk/content/review-heavy-rain/ 1UP Review of Heavy Rain: http://www.1up.com/do/reviewPage?cId=3177883 Edge Review of Heavy Rain: [...]
I haven’t played the game yet either, and have been guilty of ’soapboxing’ about it myself, but asking a raft of speculative questions that you don’t even know are relevant… well it’s a bit silly. The proof is in the pudding, and I’m excited to play and find out for myself sometime soon.
well, we all know how valuable the opinion of people who think that “graphic quality = game quality” is.
If you think of games as you might books and music rather than cars and phones, the objection becomes a lot clearer. Sure, there are format issues in other mediums – VCR vs. Betamax, CD vs. vinyl, etc. – but games are uniquely tied to the platform they are targetting; there are no PS3 bootlegs for XBox. What this means is that people are limited with regards to what they can experience based on how much they’re willing to spend on consumer electronics, which is a boorish pragmatic consideration when faced with something that can change the medium.
And frankly, I think you’re putting far too much emphasis on the quality of the platform. Rarely is it the case that the technical differences between platforms have anything more than an incremental effect on the final product (with the exception of actual qualitative differences, like Wii motion controls, or online stores making smaller games viable). I don’t think the correlation between what is possible technically and what is possible artistically is as strong as you think.
[...] something grand. I’m not sure how presumptuous that is, but if things like Sleep is Death and Heavy Rain are indicators of the future, this is the best time to jump on the band-wagon, so to [...]
[...] But first, because I’m a shameless self-promoter, please, indulge yourself in four and a half thousand words that I had to write about the game in question, w… [...]