Difficulty:

Hard

Time Spent:

10 Hours or Less

The Bottom Line:

"Immersive"

People with children will often tell you that they'll do anything for their kids. Others will say that you never know what you'll do until you're put in a situation. Heavy Rain eases you into the situation and puts this theory to the test.

Heavy Rain is a story that is woven through the experiences of four different characters that you control. The main character that you play as is Ethan Mars, a proud father of two boys, a husband, and an architect. When life changing events unfold, Ethan's parental and moral limits are challenged. Along with Ethan, you play as Norman Jayden, an FBI profiler with an interesting skill set, Scott Shelby, a private investigator, and Madison Paige a journalist. To say anymore about the story would risk spoiling a compelling story that your decisions effect.

The decision system is one of the most compelling parts of the game. The widely varying decisions are made by using the controller in varying ways. Want to sit in a chair? Press the right stick down. Want to avoid being punched in the face? Jerk the controller to the left. Got punched in the face? Gently move the right stick to apply ointment. Although there are limited, indicated places where you can make these movements the consequences are final. So, if you decide to intervene in an altercation and you get whooped you will see that play out as a part of the story. If your character dies, then they are dead, period.

Although the decision system is a lot of fun to use, the controls some times really hamper your decisions. Because a character can die, due to you not executing a proper button mash sequence or controller tilt, it can be frustrating when you moved the controller and it did not register. Also, the controls walking control looks and feels somewhat "boxy." Nevertheless, Madison's swaying hips are pretty delightful to behold. And the fights and other action sequences are a frantic treat to experience.

The graphics are downright beautiful. Heavy Rain displays some of the finest lip syncing seen on a video game to date. The characters facial expressions are noteworthy as well. In fact, the load screens are highly detailed closeups of the forth coming character which clearly show individual hairs, imperfections, and a gloss on the eye balls.

While Heavy Rain certainly has a rough controls, the multitude of areas done right are done very well. If you consider yourself a Gamer, and in your life you will easily play, say, 200 videos games Heavy Rain's, dazzling graphics, compelling story, hot chicks, varied experiences, and difficult decisions will definitely rank among the most memorable.