Info
Developer: Quantic Dream
Platform: PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4
Release date: PlayStation 3: JP 18 February 2010, NA 23 February 2010, EU 24 February 2010, AUS 25 February 2010, UK 26 February 2010
PlayStation 4: WW 1 March 2016, UK 4 March 2016
Genre: Interactive drama, action-adventure
Mode: Single-player
Spoiler: Plot
The game's prologue opens with Ethan Mars, spending time with his family for his son Jason's 10th birthday. While at a busy mall, Jason wanders off and Ethan frantically searches for him, soon finding him outside on the street. Jason runs back to Ethan, unexpectedly into the path of an oncoming car. Ethan jumps out, trying to save Jason. However, the car crashes into Jason, killing him, while Ethan himself is injured and falls into a coma for six months. Two years after the accident, Ethan is suffering from severe depression, agoraphobia, and blackouts that last for several hours. He is estranged from his wife, and his remaining son, Shaun, is distant with him. While at a park with Shaun, Ethan has another blackout, and wakes to find Shaun missing.
Shaun's disappearance is soon tied to the serial murders of the 'Origami Killer'. The criminal's modus operandi is to abduct a young boy during the rainy fall season, after which their bodies are found several days later in a remote location, drowning being the cause of death, along with an origami animal figure in their hands, and an orchid on their chest. FBI profiler Norman Jayden, having come to assist the police with the Origami Killer, concludes that the child is locked in a location where, after 6 inches of rainfall, their bodies will be completely submerged and they will die from drowning. They realize that they have less than three days to find Shaun.
Ethan retreats to a motel to avoid the media. He receives a letter that directs him to a locker, and finds a shoebox containing a mobile phone, a handgun, and five origami figures. The phone instructs him to complete a set of trials written on each origami figure to display the lengths he is prepared to go to in order to save Shaun.
Spoiler: Gameplay
Heavy Rain is an action-adventure game, requiring the player to move the character and have him or her interact with the objects or other non-player characters on the scene to progress the story. The game is divided into several scenes, each centering on one of four playable characters. The choices the player makes or the actions performed or not performed will affect later scenes in the game. For example, it is possible that a character dies or becomes detained, and will not be present in a later scene. There is no immediate "game over" in Heavy Rain; the game will progress to a number of different endings depending on the sum of the player's performance even if all the characters become incapacitated in some manner. Once the game is complete, the player can return to earlier scenes and replay them, possibly altering the events as they play through other chapters.
Within most scenes, the player can control the main character by moving them around the environment; they can also hold down a button to see what thoughts are going through the character's mind, and trigger them to hear an internal monologue on that thought. When the player is near an object or another character they can interact with, they will be presented with a context sensitive icon that represents what control they need to do. These controls include pressing a button on the DualShock controller, moving the analogue sticks in a specific manner, or rotating the motion-sensitive controller in a specific way; in the version with PlayStation Move support, further actions based on the Move controllers are also present. These actions may lead to additional actions to fully complete the interaction. Some scenes impose a timer on the player, requiring them to complete the necessary actions in time to avoid the death or incapacitation of that character. In other scenes, the player does not have full control of the character but must instead be prepared to respond to these icons in the manner of quick time events, such as during a hand-to-hand fight or while driving frantically on the wrong side of the road.
Additionally, the game includes a difficulty level functionality that the user can change through the menu at any point during the game. While adjusting the level will not alter the storyline of the game directly, a higher difficulty will influence the prompts, for example, requiring more inputs during sequences in order to avoid a failed action.
Trailer:
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