I’ve Been Playing.. Heavy Rain

HEAVY RAIN

The. Best. Game. Ever. The graphics are top-notch, the gameplay is interactive, and I’m completely speechless about the storyline. Breathtaking and chilling and stunning and excellent are all understatements even if combined.

Completed the storyline in a short 4 days, but there are 18 different combination of endings waiting for players who have completed 1 ending to unravel. I didn’t play another time simply because I cannot see the characters in a different light after the way I’ve shaped them to be in my first game.

You guys can check out the IGN review video below, though I think that reviewer is a douche for marking the game down for ‘a slow start’. That reviewer clearly doesn’t understand the importance of an expository for the gamer to adapt and settle into the game. Personally I would have rated the game 9.5/10. That missing 0.5 simply went to the notion that nothing’s perfect in the world. Anyway, credit to IGN for rating the game as the Game of the Year 2010, along with many other gaming sites.

In a nutshell, Heavy Rain is an interactive game-movie where there is absolutely no gameovers. This means to say if your character happens to die in the middle of the storyline, the story continues without that character. There are countless  decisions you’d have to make, and every different choice you make brings about completely different consequences and outcomes. Thus, you shape your own storyline with your own choices throughout the game.

There are 4 main playable characters; Ethan Mars, a father of two who lost his first son in a car accident partly due to his fault; Scott Shelby, a private detective who focuses on the case of the Origami Killer; Madison Paige, a journalist who’s been suffering from insomnia, Ethan’s love interest if you played it that way; and lastly Norman Jayden, a FBI officer who’s addicted to a certain drug, and will (or will not) kick his addiction eventually depending on your decision.

Plot synopsis, filled with spoilers

What I felt.. [Spoiler alert]

Right; The first chapter in which Ethan Mars loses his son Jason, who eventually dies, in a crowded shopping mall.

The game base itself on the slogan, “Everything I did, I did for love”. Throughout the course of the game, you would find yourself being integrated into the characters’ life, especially Ethan Mars’.

Ethan Mars lost his son Jason on his birthday to a car accident. He later separated from his wife and took care of their second son, Shaun. Throughout this period, the severe melancholic setting, mood, atmosphere of the game would start to creep into you. I won’t wanna go through that same scene ever again. Haha. As the title of the game suggests, it will rain every game day heavily until the very end. After that, a mysterious child abductor/murderer called the Origami Killer got hold of Shaun after Ethan suffered from a sudden black out, a phenomenon he has experienced since Jason died.

As Ethan, you have to now locate and rescue Shaun before he drowns to death, while combating your own mental state – Ethan, for a period of time, suspects he’s the Origami Killer himself. The Origami Killer sends Ethan a box filled with 5 different origamis, containing 5 ‘challenges’ he has to succeed in order to get the location of Shaun. The most chilling challenge was the one that requires the gamer to cut off one of Ethan’s fingers. The gamer has the option of choosing any equipment in the run-down apartment (butcher knife, razor, scissors, saw, etc) ans whether to use antiseptic wash after chopping or not. There’s also an alcohol bottle which offers the player to drink,  making Ethan a little drunk so as to reduce the pain. Nonetheless, there’s an option available for the player to give up on the challenge and leave. (Failing 1 mission wont affect the chances of rescuing Shaun greatly)

It sounds kinda simple, but I can assure you it’s a pretty hard decision for a player to make. By this time, you would have treated his own finger as your own, and you WILL feel his pain when you decides to chop off his finger.

Left; Evil iPad says, “You have 5 minutes to cut off the last section of one of your fingers.”

Right; Using the butcher knife, and the series of controls we have to do. I used the scissors with antiseptic, to unlock a trophy. Hahah.

You see the picture on the right, the last icon shows a controller within a box and an arrow pointing down below. That icon means that we have to swing our controller down with strength, with Ethan simultaneously swinging the knife down to chop off his finger. This is why I said the cutting isn’t as straightforward as it sounds like. Difficult, difficult..

As the story continues to unfold, the Origami Killer is revealed to be one of the 4 main characters (find out who yourself! hahaha). Though this revelation may seem predictable to some, the real killer’s motive of partaking in the ‘investigation’ of the serial killer is both chilling and creepy.

In the last scene, Shaun’s fate will be ultimately decided by the decisions you’ve made thus far. In this last scene, any of your characters can die. From getting shot by the stupid FBI, to dropping off an elevated roller and into a crusher. Also, whether or not the villain dies or escapes scott free is also determined by your decisions towards the ending. Oops, did I unintentionally revealed the killer? Hahaha

So Scott Shelby, that sick PI is the Origami Killer. Throughout the game, you’ll see him looking up for past victims’ parents to collect the letters/boxes/etc they have received from the killer (which is him) as evidence to aid his investigation in nabbing the Origami Killer. But why would he do so? As it’ll be revealed, such an act is merely to help himself. The truth is, he collects those evidences to destroy them.

Ultimately, there are about 3 or 4 or 5 possible endings for each character, making about 18 possible permutations of overall ending.

The happiest possible ending (still with a tinge of sadness), achieved by making Ethan, Madison & Jayden alive:

1. Ethan starts afresh with Madison and Shaun, after successfully rescuing Shaun.
2. Jayden gets promoted with his drug addiction kicked.
3. Madison becomes a national heroine for her efforts in covering the story.
5. Shelby dies at the last fight scene after getting minced into pieces by the crusher.
6. Lauren (mother of a victim), who co-worked with Shelby for his investigations in attempt to personally take revenge on the killer, visits Shelby’s grave and spits at it.

The sadist of all sadist of all sad endings (I’d have killed myself if I’ve played to this ending. Sadness beyond measure):

1. Ethan survives the last playable scene but fails to rescue Shaun. Shaun drowns to death.
2. Madison survives and visits Shaun’s grave with Ethan, who told the former he needs some time alone. He shoots himself in the head in front of Shaun’s grave, with Madison running towards him crying to him. OR Ethan is sentenced guilty of being the killer. Ethan, completely confused himself, hangs himself to death in the cell, which is filled with origamis folded by him.
3. Jayden survives the last fight scene, but eventually resigned due to his failure of nabbing the Origami Killer. He eventually succumbs to the drug and die to no one’s knowledge.
4.  Madison’s life is back to the originally horrendous state, in which she constantly suffers from insomnia and nightmares. OR Madison becomes a famous journalist and book writer following the incredible coverage of the Origami Killer. However, she remains guilt-ridden by making use of the now-dead Ethan Mars to attain her fame.
5. Shelby walks away scott-free and continues his revenge on incompetent fathers.

The saddest ending doesnt necessarily mean all good guys dieing in the last playable scene. Of course, Ethan, Madison and Jayden can all die during the last playable scene, meaning completely different endings altogether. There are many many more individual endings, I only named the happiest and saddest possible endings.

What a long post, but I still have so much to say about this brilliant game. Marvelous experience playing this game.

Official Trailer

IGN Review: