Heavy Rain -- Initial Impression.

I have a little over a week before my next day-one game arrives so I'll be filling the time with a more recent title from the backlog. That game is Heavy Rain. Heavy Rain was developed by France based Quantic Dream and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. The game was written and directed by David Cage who heads up Quantic Dream. Heavy Rain has a history worth noting. It started because of the studio's previous effort Indigo Prophecy had such a galvanizing impact on gamers. Those who loved it and those who despised it were paying attention to what was to come next, Heavy Rain. And of course, Sony used early shots of Heavy Rain to sell the power of the PlayStation 3. Like Killzone before it, Heavy Rain's reality didn't quite graphically live up to those early shots. It also didn't help that David Cage was there being rather vocal about how he didn't like referring to Heavy Rain as a video game. As he saw it, Heavy Rain was to be something beyond a mere video game. It was to be interactive drama. It was to be the future of entertainment. Heavy Rain is a third-person adventure that features four playable characters that are all swept up in the events surrounding a serial killer known as the Origami Killer. I've played through the first few chapters. From the time I've spent with the title so far I can assure you that it is definately a video game no matter what David Cage might think. The adventure aspect relies entirely on quick time events. Everything from brushing your teeth to all out brawls are handled by quick time events. Initially most of the quick time events feel intuitive. However walking around does not. Holding down R2 to walk will take getting used to. Graphically the game looks rather good. The character models work well. The voice acting seems off. It's off because most of the actors' native languages are obviously something other than English. And some of the writing has a European flair. Americans do not refer to vacant lots as wastelands. I'm finding it creates a subtle disconnect. The game uses an auto save in the strictest sense of the concept. The game is obviously branching based on your decisions. Decisions you have to live with because of the auto save. In fact, your characters can die, and the story will adjust and continue. Initially Heavy Rain is quite intriguing. It's all going to come down to how extreme the quick time events become and if Heavy Rain's story and characters come through. It's clear early on that the game is trying to draw true emotion from you. It's clearly trying hard. But is it trying too hard?