Heavy Rain. “An ambitious project” is the label that many have applied to this title. Many others have asked “what the hell is this about?”. I was one of the latter, not understanding the big deal, until I saw it this past weekend at the Eurogamer Expo in London.  Wow is all I have to say. At first I walked by it as people played the demo, it looked amazing graphically and many people were glued to their screens, with many more equal entranced looking on over the players shoulder. Then I went to the Quantic Dream developer presentation lead by David Cage, which sent me from interested into wanting intensely.  Finally, I got my hands on it.  You ready for me to tell you about it? Hit the jump to find out.

Heavy Rain is graphically outstanding. No doubt about it, the game looks beautiful. The loading screen alone had people inspecting the screen as to if it’s a picture or computer generated. In game the standard is the same fluid, smooth, and natural imagery. I loved it. The sound is quality, something that shined through even on the loud exhibition floor. The characters voices carry inflection, the environment echo’s sounds of the real world and together it feels like are watching a movie, everything deliberate, everything there to bring you closer in. But what exactly are you getting closer to?

The premise of the game is a simple question. How far are you prepared to go to save someone you love? The player controls four different characters through a plot of hunting down a serial killed named “The Origami Killer”. The storyline is not fixed, as you play each action you make impacts the story and how it plays out. In the demo you are playing as a private detective trying to obtain information from a convenience store clerk. Needless to say shit goes sideways and the place is getting robbed, what you do impacts how the game plays out. You can help save the clerk or let crook run out with the register. If you help the clerk you get information from him, if not, oh well figure it out yourself. If you get into a fight with a large black man with a gun and you lose guess what, the game isn’t over. The story just continues without that character. Shocking to the video game world but I hate to break it you, when you die the world keeps on turning without you.

The controls are like the game, different than most others you have experienced, but it works extremely well once you get acquainted with them. Forward motion is controlled by R2, pressure sensitive to determine your speed. Direction is controlled by the Left stick, which controls your head and in turn your body. The camera is fixed in one of several positions which you can cycle through. Interactions are primarily through the Right stick at various prompts. Occasionally you will encounter sequences similar to quick time events requiring use of the gamepad face buttons, failure to properly execute changes the outcome which changes the story. If you get lost click the Left stick to hear the characters thoughts and inner monologue which helps point you in the right direction.

The gameplay is 100% story driven. Think of a quick on the fly choose your own adventure book, but in video game format. You control your characters movement, actions, and dialogue. When in conversation your dialogue options are presented as single phrases moving around the screen. The more frantic or tense the situation the quicker the options move about, blurring and making it difficult to select. Time is of the essence when selecting as the demo will choose for you. The demo was two scenes, each with a different lead character. One of which as an drug addicted FBI Agent using ARI, an augmented reality interface to spot DNA traces and other clues similar to the Batvision in Batman: Arkham Asylum. I won’t go into any more of a walk through because it will be different for everyone.

This game is something very different. I see this as becoming a main stream story driven title, people will play together or separately but it will be discussed extensively. Character driven, highly engaging, something original, and presenting many different experiences in one title. I eagerly await Heavy Rain. This is only my impressions, but as you can tell I was extremely impressed.  Heavy Rain stole the show at the Eurogamer Expo, and my heart.