Monday Morning Pathfinder: Heavy Rain- PS3

By now you probably have figured out that I'm an avid fan of the Playstation 3. As such I consider it my sworn duty to educate the general public about the goings on in the PS3 world.


Heavy Rain is currently in development and slated for a February 2010 release. It is developed by French studio Quantic Dream, makers of Omikron and Indigo Prophecy. Quantic Dream specializes in rather abnormal games, and Heavy Rain is no different. The story is based on the pursuit of a serial killer and set in a small city. There are four playable characters each interwoven into the story. Don't expect a shooter, this game appears to be a mystery suspense game. It looks similar in feel to the Silent Hill series, however, the story remains grounded in reality and shies away from the supernatural.

The game also alters traditional movement, using the PS3 triggers to control movement speed. This will be an interesting use for the "squishy" triggers of the PS3, and we will look expectantly to see how the system performs.

The gameplay will focus on the search for clues and pursuit of the killer, and the themes are supposed to comment on the price and value of love and how far someone is willing to go for love. There also will be included a system where the player can bring up potential thoughts of the character and follow the lines of thought in a certain way. Using certain lines of thought at wrong times will lead the character down a dark and dangerous path, and ultimately will result in action scenes which will rely heavily on quick time events to resolve, so if you aren't a fan of quick time events, you may want to steer clear. However, unlike shooters which throw random quick time events in just to mess with you, here the events seem to fit with the suspense and reaction, the system looks fairly fluid and apparently there is some sort of timer system to guide you. However, there is no second chance for messing up.

One of the unique things about this game is the progression of the game. You begin by playing as one character, if your choices and actions lead you to an untimely death, there is no red screen of blood and the the words "loading", rather, the game continues and you assume control of a different character, and the story adapts based upon the death. If all four characters wind up dying, the story resolves and the game ends. It present a fluidity and continuity to the game that has rarely if ever been seen before. No doubt this will exasperate many gamers who simply want to rush a bunker and blow away the bad guys, but if you are the type who enjoys the more psychological thrillers, Heavy Rain seems like one of the more interesting games to come along in a long time.






As always folks, enjoy your Monday if you can, and check back in with us tomorrow.



-Latin