Preview: Heavy Rain

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October 8, 2009 - If I were to ask you to name me an upcoming game with the following key aspects; rich story, beautiful graphics and a ground breaking cinematic experience, you will most likely spit out the name of the much anticipated Playstation 3 exclusive, Heavy Rain.

Are you wrong in assuming these characteristics are present in the title? Absolutely not, they are all there—but what else is present to possibly plague the experience? Allow me to be the first to Heavy Rain on your parade. (Yes I just wrote that, and I do not regret it).

There is no doubt that the game has a very cinematic feel to it, however I believe as though the developers missed the mark in making it as appealing as a film or television show. In visual mediums we have our hands held and we are lead through the interesting elements of story and we progress at a fast pace so that we are always engaged in what is going on.

In Heavy Rain you simply watch cut scenes, take control of the key character in a segment and then proceed to clumsily walk around the environments in search of interactive items and things to advance the plot. In concept it works, but in reality the result is not only tedious, but quite boring to play through.

With very tight environments and film-style camera placements, walking around can be a chore. To make matters worse, characters move in a static, emotionless way that completely kills any realism or interest that the cutscenes and story had built up.

Perhaps I am jaded from recent titles moving away from the overall direction in which Heavy Rain is heading. My ol’ trigger fingers flinched and anticipated an immersive experience… what they got was some disappointment and a little rest time.

I may be alone in this school of thought, but I found Heavy Rain to play very much like the boring elements of horror-survival games with heavy emphasis on environmental exploration, such as the Silent Hill franchise. However, in those titles there is an element of suspense and you’re always preparing for something to turn the game in a new direction and introduce action and immersive gameplay.

Without the instant reaction to button pressing (outside of timed button commands), Heavy Rain is a passive experience which never successfully hooked me into its world. While I respect the adult attitude and differences from the rest of the games on the market today, I can’t help but expect a lot more from the title with the amount of hype and praise it had been given thus far.

There is still time for the game to see polish and improvement, so I will not count it out. As of right now however, I will say that my first impressions left a sour taste in my mouth.

How will this game fare in 2010? I for one am interested to see.