"Heavy Rain" will soak you to the core

Heavy Rain has been described among posts on the wide webs of inter-networked computation machines as one of the most story oriented video games to date. “Interactive movie” was one phrase tossed around a few times. So I tried to avoid exposure to spoiler monkeys, as I do in regard to movies… and jungles.

If you haven’t played it yet then stop reading now and go play, I’ll wait for you.

If you are uninterested in video games or wouldn’t be able to understand how a game could invoke real emotion then leave, I won’t wait for you.

I am not going to give away the ending but I will discuss points of the story that are best played as surprises.

The story line in Heavy Rain is a four playable character revolution around the hunt for the Origami Killer, a serial killer who kidnaps young boys and then drowns them after a few days.

Penny Arcade’s Tycho posted that the game experience is heightened if you are actually a father. I borrowed a PS3 to play the game and should have tried to borrow a child, I suppose, but if I were going to do that I would have liked to just get them both from the same guy; unfortunately his wife isn’t done making their first child yet, so I had to go without.

Luckily I have a niece and nephew, each easily transposed in the chambers of my heart as my own child.

Ethan Mars, the tormented father character, lost one son at the beginning of the game and has his remaining son kidnapped by the previously mentioned killer. Unknown to others in the game Mars is given tests to discover the location of his son, who is trapped in a cage filling with rain water.

In one quite sadistic test Mars is told to cut off one of his fingers at the first knuckle in front of a web cam to get his next clue.

At this point I was deep in what I will call “game drunk.” It had my complete attention and I shuddered at the thought of losing part of my pinkie. But for real life nephew or niece I’d chop away, so off it went.

Through use of date and time, inches of rainfall, music and heartbeat vibration in the controller the game has a sense of urgency. This is especially true in heightened situations like fights or escaping from danger where precise button combos mean succeeding or failing.

This is where Heavy Rain stands alone with one of the best features of the game. “Old” games, ones released before and after Heavy Rain, no matter how open had a linear story line. Complete A to get to B, if not try A over and over and over.

Heavy Rain works more like life; try A if you can’t get it then you’ll have to find a different way to B. The story adapts to your screw ups, even when you die. The game will continue if one of the four characters falls into an industrial chipper.

It took me a little while to get used to the idea that failing didn’t mean Game Over.

The controls can be a little like wrestling a bear sometimes, even when just trying to walk in a house, and I had issues with audio glitches holding up game play, but those two things aside Heavy Rain is the new gold standard for story oriented games.

Yes, the graphics are amazing, the interface is very unique and the presentation is done well. But the story is gripping and intense. That even feels like an understatement, glue is gripping, this story has claws that will dig into your face and hold on until you finish.

Sure, it’s just a game, but it is just like a good movie or book, you are immersed. Heavy Rain might not be a long swim, but the water is deep and after you get out you feel soaked and cold for sometime.