Heavy Rain (PS3)
Review by David Jenkins – This is a terrible video game.
It's also a bold and hugely ambitious experiment - and we congratulate developer Quantic Dreams for having the nerve to attempt it.
But their refusal to acknowledge the limits of current technology, their own scriptwriting abilities and exactly what makes an interactive experience interesting has led to near disaster.
To be fair Quantic Dreams make a point to describe both this and previous game Fahrenheit as an "interactive movie".
We'll get into exactly how badly it fails in both respects shortly, but the basic set-up is certainly intriguing.
Although you play as four different characters throughout, the main one is architect Ethan Mars whose first son is killed in a road accident and the second abducted by a serial killer.
The other three characters are a female journalist and potential love interest, a junkie FBI agent with an absurdly high tech pair of virtual reality glasses and a portly private detective.
Although they're all after the killer their paths only cross occasionally.
Apart from the virtual reality stuff there are no fantastical elements and the attempt at a serious movie style thriller is almost unique in gaming.
The concept behind the game is admirable but the problems become obvious within seconds.
Exploring the environment involves a needlessly awkward set of controls that have you stumbling around like a drunk PSone-era Resident Evil character.
Your only interaction with the game world is via quick time event sequences, where a twist of the stick opens a door or turns on a tap.
Unfortunately the game is absolutely obsessed with these two activities, which leads to the next problem: the total lack of complex interactivity.
There are no real puzzles and frustratingly few meaningful dialogue choices, despite all the characters.
Instead you're dragged through each scene by the nose, forced to pantomime onscreen actions as if you're controlling a virtual marionette.
The highlights of the game are the various chase and fight scenes but these normally drag on for far too long and none have the pace or urgency of gold standard QTE sequences such as the knife fight in Resident Evil 4.
Worse, despite the game pretending otherwise it's actually impossible to die in most of them.
This makes your participation in proceedings seem even more pointless.
The next issue is simply that the script isn't good enough.
If it were live action it would seem absurdly illogical and cliched, but performed by the game's mediocre voice-actors and mannequin-like characters it become downright laughable.
Which is not to say the graphics aren't excellent throughout, but they're still nowhere near good enough for the sort of serious drama this aspires to.
Perhaps the most egregious flaw is how the game actively distances you from the characters and their choices.
Scenes are often made more confusing because you don't know something the character clearly does and the twist ending hinges entirely on the fact that you don't really know anything about them and are never in full control.
You aren't playing the game, the game is playing you.
IN SHORT: An interactive movie where the gameplay is as basic and two-dimensional as the story and acting.
PROS: The background graphics are stunning and there's very little loading. Fearlessly ambitious.
CONS: The level of interactivity is ruinously low. Weak script, dialogue, voice-acting and flawed animation.
SCORE: 4/10 Out: 26/2 (UK)
