Heavy Rain (Director's Cut)

This interactive drama features four playable characters who are trying to solve the mystery of the Origami Killer's identity. This serial killer is known to gradually drown his victims, all young boys. No one knows his motives and he leaves very few clues.

In the opening act of Heavy Rain, the player is introduced to one of the four characters, Ethan Mars. He is a happily married architect with two sons. During a visit to the mall one of the kids, Jason, went missing. When he did find Jason, the kid tried to run back to his father and did not notice an oncoming car. Ethan ran to save the child but was too late. Ethan himself suffered a coma which probably causes the blackouts he later experiences.

Two years after the accident, his remaining son, Shaun went missing in a park. Ethan had another blackout episode and did not know how the child disappeared. When he went to file a report at the police, he voiced his suspicion that the Origami Killer might have taken his son. Unfortunately he was right when he discovered a letter directing him to a series of trials to save Shaun.

The Director's Cut edition includes PlayStation Move support, The Taxidermist DLC, game soundtrack, videos, concept art, and themes.

Ethan Mars

Norman Jayden, an FBI profiler sent to help in the investigation. He possesses the Added Reality Interface or ARI, which help him in gathering data about the killer. He is addicted to triptocaine and has constant arguments with a police lieutenant.

Scott Shelby, a private investigator who is also looking for information about the Origami Killer. He suffers from asthma. He later met Lauren Winter, mother of one of the victims of the serial killer.

Madison Paige, a photojournalist who suffers from nightmares and insomnia. She meets Ethan later in the game and becomes involved in the investigation of the Origami Killer.

Although a game with multiple possible endings is not new, the choice of the story is unusual. As a fan of a certain suspense writer and stories about serial killers, I had high expectations of the game. If you're familiar with dating games, the mechanics are quite similar---choices affect later scenes and dialogues. But Heavy Rain allows for more interaction with the environment and the characters. In the first few scenes, the controls seem easy. When you get to the fight scenes however, it gets trickier. If you enjoy quick time events, this won't be a problem. I think the more difficult part of the game is the ability to make choices (sometimes with a limited time and option). The choices do not really have to be just the responses in the conversations, but also which items to interact with in the environment.

I also love the details they put into the animation and graphics. The facial features of the characters alone are worth looking at.

As I've already mentioned, I had high expectations of the game's story. Sometimes when you have read too many books and watched too many TV series or movies of the suspense and/or detective genre, most of the stories become predictable. I did notice some details later in the game (before the culprit was finally revealed) that I did not care to look at in the beginning. One character's involvement in the investigation became questionable to me as the story progressed, but his first appearance in the story was maneuvered cleverly so as not to draw suspicion on him immediately. They also made all four (and even some of the supporting cast) look like the possible Origami Killer by adding some flaws to their character and background.

It's easy to empathize with the four characters because you're not distracted by the usual superpowers and magical beings. You also get to observe closely how the characters organize their thoughts and manage their emotions.

The game is worth playing because the concept is new, the graphics beautiful and the story engaging.

Rating: 10 out of 10