Game review: Heavy Rain

I started playing this game and am already halfway through. Now you may wonder, why write a review now without completing it? Well, because I already have tons of things to say. Mostly good ones, but not all of them. And I don’t know, does it really matter whether I’ve finished the game or not? I don’t think so. So, without further ado…

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As a child goes missing, his father tirelessly works to rescue him, while a journalist, an FBI agent, and a private detective try to identify his kidnapper known only as the “Origami Killer.”

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Throughout the game, you have two forms of ‘communication.’ One is by the thoughts of the character you’re playing as and the other is when they’re actually having a conversation with another human being. Mostly, those choice options float around them, making it sometimes hard to see which button to press in order for them to say it. That does annoy me at times because you have to make a quick decision and because of them floating around, I don’t have enough time to properly read them all and make my decision.

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The controls aren’t that hard. At least, not the normal ones. But the walking and camera part, that’s so annoying. Suddenly you have to use R2 to walk, and I’m not used to that. And the camera angle is sometimes really sensitive and therefore annoying. I do actions I don’t want to do because I’m using the stick to look around and move, but then it also registers an action they assume I want to take. The QTE’s aren’t actually that hard, depending on which difficulty you play at. I am playing on the second one. And I do love the scenes having QTE’s! They’re so ‘on the edge of your seat’ type of scenes. Which is something I really love in games!

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These are all the controls used in the game. It’s a lot, but I do like the diversity of it. The slow ones are kinda tricky though. I sometimes move so slow, and still, it says I move too fast. I have no idea if that’s a game glitch, but it’s not too bad. I do like the controller movements, by actually tilting your controller or moving it up or down for a sudden action or QTE.

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You’re playing as four different characters throughout the game, as listed above. Ethan is trying to save his son, Shaun, while he meets Madison, a journalist. Then we have Norman, who’s an FBI agent and a private detective named Scott. At the beginning of the game I got a little confused as to why we played like so many different people. But the deeper I got into it (and the more I will get deeper into it) I realize they’re all gonna be connected to one another. I do have my likes and dislikes for each character, but I’m not gonna go too deep into that. Also because I haven’t finished the game yet and therefore don’t know everything about their personal development.

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Sometimes you have split screens, either showing you the way or what’s happening elsewhere in the same scene. Or simply showing someone’s face when you’re talking to someone in your character, and they’re looking off-screen. I in one way like this function, but I also don’t. It sometimes confuses me, while on the other hand, it also helps me to understand a scene much more. I’m caught between two opinions on this way of displaying. Am I going for platinum for this game? Absolutely.

I shall give Heavy Rain, 4 out of 5 stars! 

Have you played the game?  

Love, Deem ❤

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