Tech Blog

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Ever since news first broke about Heavy Rain a few years ago, many PS3 owners have been waiting patiently for the eventual release of this PS3 exclusive.  There are a few reasons for that.  One – because Quantic Dream is behind its development (these folks brought us the fantastic game Indigo Prophecy), two – early demos of character renders demonstrated incredible life-like graphics for the game and three – the game’s use of choice driven actions in determining the story’s multitude of possible outcomes is a truly unique concept.

After hearing and seeing so much of Heavy Rain in the past year, I finally had the much anticipated opportunity to demo the game when it was made available for download on the PSN last week.   The demo includes a tutorial along with two different scenes you can play through.   The tutorial’s job is to get you familiar with the control scheme and how to execute all of the key actions in the game.  Basically, you use your left analog stick to control your character’s direction and the right trigger to walk.  That takes care of movement.  The rest of the controls in terms of interaction are done through quick time events (QTEs) where you are prompted on the screen to press specific buttons, move the analog stick or use the controller’s SIXAXIS motion control to pull off a specific action. 

It seems simple enough, but at times – especially during intense situations, the QTEs present a good challenge.  In one of the scenes I played through, there was a fight sequence that lasted for good few minutes.  It really had me on the edge of my seat because there were a few moments of trial and error before I managed to string together a series of QTEs prompts without a mistake.  Just imagine – press this button, that button, this trigger, move analog down, shake controller up and down, move analog left with a quarter circle up motion, then press another button and so on.  You get the idea.  All in all, the controls are well executed and translate into smooth gameplay.

Visually, the game looks stunning.  No doubt about that.  It would appear that Quantic Dream has definitely utilized the PS3’s hardware to deliver top quality graphics.  Everything from lighting, textures, character and object models and movement look incredible.   For me, Metal Gear Solid 4 was the pinnacle for video game graphics, but after having witnessed the graphics in this demo alone, I’m starting to think that Heavy Rain will be the game to set the next standard for realism.

As mentioned before, this is a game where the choices and actions you make ultimately decide the game’s outcome.  In fact, Quantic Dream has claimed approx. 20 or more possible endings.  This is an exciting element for me because aside from the potential replay value, I also have the potential for a new experience in each subsequent play through.  Additionally, the way in which the decision making QTEs have been implemented is spot on.  When presented with a decision QTE, you’ll see a number of choices tied directly to a button on the controller.  These choices slowly swirl in a circular motion around your character’s head as it waits for your input.  The catch however, is that as you read through all of the choices and try to decide which is the best to execute, the choices eventually fade away until it ultimately disappears.  This means you need to think and act fairly quickly.  I think this is a perfect approach because you’re driven to instinctive decision making rather than being able to think about what might be the best choice for that given instance.  Again, adding to the game’s realism.

I had a blast playing the Heavy Rain demo and I’m certainly looking forward to its release later this month.  All I know is that I’m going to have to set aside some “heavy” time to play this game.  Expected release date for Heavy Rain is February 23^rd.