From the moment you first pick up the controller, it is apparent that Heavy Rain is not like other video games.
Michael Denny, senior vice president of Worldwide Studios Europe, prefers to use the term, "interactive drama" to describe Heavy Rain. It is an apt description; you aren't controlling the game as much as you are controlling the flow of action as time moves forward. The closest comparison would be to a "choose-your-own-adventure" book that makes the reader decide between several options that lead to many possible outcomes.
The story itself is a noir murder mystery that revolves around the search for the illusive "Origami Killer," a murderer whose victims are boys drowned with a small origami figure found nearby. The player follows the stories of four initially unrelated individuals: the father of a boy kidnapped by the Origami Killer, an FBI agent investigating the case, a private investigator hired by the families of past victims and a journalist caught in the action. As the plot progresses, their stories become increasingly interconnected, and the direction in which the story goes is essentially up to the player controlling the action.
In Heavy Rain, most player input comes from quick-time events that require you to press a button in a certain way in a specific amount of time. You also are given many choices about how to direct the action. Choosing to show compassion or contempt when questioning a witness, or even something as drastic as pulling the trigger or not, are examples of this. If you fail to hit a button fast enough or make the wrong choice at a crucial point, it can result in the permanent death of a main character.
Death in video games is usually just a minor inconvenience. It forces you to start a level again, or at worst, lose some experience points. In Heavy Rain, though, death is final, and the resulting story can play out very differently depending on which characters are left alive. Because so much rides on your actions, the tension in Heavy Rain is unlike anything I had ever played before. You feel real fear when the characters' lives are threatened, and although you could cheat and reload an earlier chapter if you make a mistake, the real brilliance of Heavy Rain shines through when you force yourself to live with the consequences of your actions.
As impressive as Heavy Rain is, there are a few minor problems that keep it from achieving perfection. The control scheme is a little odd, forcing you to hold down a trigger and a stick just to walk, and some of the voice acting is uneven. Neither of these issues noticeably detracts from the overall experience.
Taken as a whole, Heavy Rain is a must-play for anyone with a PlayStation3. Even if you decide that it's not your cup of tea, Heavy Rain should be applauded for bringing something new to the table and advancing the case for video games as more than mindless entertainment.
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