Heavy Rain: Simply Superb!

Platform: PS3
U.N.Owen's Rating: 4/5

"Pitter-Patter - the Origami Killer is coming for you"

After countless shooters,RPG's & action/adventure games, Heavy Rain seems to be a rather pleasant welcome to the world of gaming. Developed by "Quantic Dream", this one is not your average "button-smashing" game. Heavy Rain is a mystery/drama which uses "rain" as its main theme.In the game,you can play as 4 characters,each with their own stories & missions (there aren't any real missions!). The game revolves around the hunt for the "Origami Killer"  who drowns his/her victims (mostly young boys) using extended periods of rainfall. Now before the game starts, I guess you need to update your PS3 version (well that's what happened for me) which can be rather long & tiresome. But the nice thing with this game is that you get a paper along with the game & they give you instructions on how to make an "origami" while the game is loading. Very nice touch QD! I usually go get a juice or something while its loading but this is the only game in which i was immersed in creating my first origami! Well once the loading is done & your set to go, you will notice that the ambience of the game is very dull,dark & gloomy, similar to a rainy day.Another brilliant touch by the developers, the feel & environment is very important for a game.

You start of as "Ethan Mars" who loses his elder son while shopping in the mall.Depressed, he refuses to let go of his memories & in the process distances himself from his younger son.Soon you find out that his son maybe the next victim of the "Origami Killer". Enter character #2, Madison Paige who is a photojournalist & lives alone. As the game progresses, Madison's & Ethan's worlds collide - she feels sorry for him & decides to help him in his search for 'Shaun'. Scott Shelby is another playable character who is a retired cop & helps in the investigation of the "Origami Killer". The last character, Norman Jayden, is an FBI profiler who helps in the investigation as well. Now I don't want to go into the details further as I would be spoiling all the fun for you gamers eagerly waiting to get their hands on the game.

The controls are relatively intuitive but  the "timed-events" can be a bother at times, a real pain if you ask me. There is no "Game Over" if your character dies (make sure it doesn't happen in the first chapter!), you just lose the character & continue on with the others. The graphics are top notch but "tearing" does occur at times, a little hiccup.Now onto the cons: replay value is low - you could restart the game & see what entails if you did things differently but the identity of the serial killer remains the same. The game isn't that long lasting over 2 days, 5-6 hours each thanks to the controls which can be annoying & time-consuming for beginners.

Verdict: This is the first noir-mystery game which is out on a leading console & its a winner in every way. The graphics & story-line is everything, which this game possesses.It truly deserves the Game of The Year (at least a nomination!) award.With an eery ambience & brilliant voice-acting, it would be tough to ask for more! Would I buy  Heavy Rain 2: NO! I doubt they can continue with the story but I would love to see more game developers & companies coming out with such daring & innovative games & story lines. I say BUY IT!!