Review:
Heavy Rain

Since owning a PS3, I decided to go out and buy the critically acclaimed exclusive title, Heavy Rain. A game known for being able to determine your fate in accordance to whatever action you take. This game is one of a low populated genre of games; an interactive drama. For those that have been living in a bubble for the past year and a half and haven’t seen anything of this game, please don’t be put off by the tedious sound of the nature of the game. Heavy Rain is a welcome change from the adrenaline fuelled battery of the FPS or 3rd person shooter, and is instead thought provoking. This is a game that uses the storyline to capture its audience, as the player is an active role in the way it all plays out.

Describing the storyline is a little difficult for this game because it is designed to follow the decisions of the player, so I’ll describe the background in a simplistic form. The central character for the game is Ethan Mars. He seems to have the perfect life of an architect; a wife, two boys and a huge house in addition, but it all crumbles after his eldest son is lost in a car accident. With this tragic loss, this has forced Ethan and his wife apart, sharing equal custody of their second son, Shaun Mars. It then seems that Ethan has reached rock bottom with him trapped in depression and living in squalor, but darker times draw near as Shaun Mars disappears. Now that Ethan has lost everything, he has no choice but to go in search of Shaun, and later finds out that he’s been taken by the Origami Killer. The Origami killer is an infamous criminal known for the kidnapping of young boys, who then leaves them in a gated hole and waits for it to fill with rain water until they drown (pretty twisted I know). Ethan is then sent a package from the Origami killer containing several origami figures; within which is a task for Ethan to complete to get closer to his son. All of the pieces are ready to be put into place; what happens next is up to you.