Heavy Rain is a popular recently released Playstation 3 game that plays out as sort of an interactive movie. You make choices that affect what goes on in the game and, ultimately, how it ends. It’s got a runtime of around nine hours altogether – time enough to explore all the details of the plot and develop the characters to a point where you actually feel for them.
But how would this work in a 2-2.5 hour-long scenario, on the silver screen?

Well, while probably not in the near future (if at all), we might just find out. The development company that made the game, QuanticDream, Inc., made a deal with New Line Cinemas back in 2006, giving them rights to a full-length movie, based around the happenings of the game.
This, of course, takes out the whole interactive aspect, and makes it a much more linear experience. Which is why I’m wondering whether or not it would work.

I’ve only played the demo of the game so far… I might be picking it up soon to give the whole game a run-through (you can probably expect a review soon after I beat it), but until then, I really don’t know how great this plot is. Do you think it could hold itself up as a decent movie?

Obviously, nothing’s concrete yet… This just means that New Line has the rights to it, so no other studio can product a Heavy Rain movie. But hypothetically, if it were to happen, I’m not quite sure if it would be a worthwhile endeavor.
This game isn’t widely hyped for its great gameplay, it’s hyped for the great story it can tell. It’s hyped for you being able to actively contribute to the story, and for being able to actually affect people emotionally and force you to make tough decisions.
The only part of that that would stick with a movie is the story. And while I’m sure the story in the game is great, I bet that the main reason it’s so great is that you have something to do with it. You control what happens in that story, and how it ends. I’m not sure it would be nearly as satisfying just watching it on a screen for two hours.

What are your thoughts?

See larger image Heavy Rain - Greatest Hits (Video Game) List Price: $29.99 USD New From: $27.89 In Stock Used from: $16.98 In Stock Release date February 23, 2010.

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Heavy Rain is an upcoming PS3 exclusive title that’s causing waves of discussion across the Internet. The game is somewhat shrouded in mystery, but everybody knows that it has a great story to tell.

Today, the demo was released on the Playstation Network and I got some time to sit down with it. It was a bit disappointing, however, as it only contained a tutorial, and two unrelated missions that don’t hint much at the story and also don’t give you a good idea of the brevity of your decisions. This game is more of an interactive cinematic experience than anything… Like a long movie, where you make the choices. Or one of those “choose your own path” kind of books (I used to love the Goosebumps ones).

Because of this, a demo cannot really do it justice… The choices you make affect you for only a minute, and they don’t affect any characters you’re familiar with or have connected with, since you’re just thrown in their shoes. This is why I’ve decided not to be disappointed by the lack of any real substance in the demo. Instead, I’ve used it not to judge the overall game as a whole, but to get a feel for how it’s played.

Some describe it as a long quicktime event. This isn’t entirely true… Quicktime events rely on you quickly tapping buttons as they pop up on-screen to progress in a sequence. Most of this game does just have you pressing buttons with no predetermined function, so they’re attributed to actions as they fit, but you have choices, eliminating the quicktime event feel of the whole thing. (That said, it is obvious that there will be some quicktime-like events in the game, but they are pulled off fairly well. In the demo, you get in a fight with somebody, and quicktime your way out of the endeavour. However, you still get choices sometimes as to what exactly to do, so you have some pull on the overall experience.)

All I know about the story so far is that it revolves around finding a killer, dubbed the Origami Killer. You play as three different characters (only two in the demo) to cover many different parts of a huge story, spanning over nine hours, from what I’ve read. There’s also a good bit of replayability in the game, seeing as the choices you make affect what happens in the big picture.
Apparently, whatever you choose to do doesn’t much affect the story in the short-term, but can lead up to one of many different endings of the game, making you want to play through and do things a bit differently to see what else could have happened.
One thing that I’ve also read that I really love about this game is death… If you die, there’s nothing that tells you you’ve failed. No “game over” screen, no restarting the level. It simply means that that character is dead, and the story will progress without them.
This means that some parts of the story will remain unseen, if they had a part to do with it from that point on. I see this as a fantastic idea from the developers, as it really adds a weight to the decisions you make and what you choose to do.
Oh, and I forgot to mention… This game is absolutely stunning, aesthetically. One of the best titles graphically I’ve ever seen. Everything looks fantastic.

All in all, this is shaping up to look like an impressive title. Don’t get discouraged by the demo, as I feel that it’s just meant to show you how you control things and how things work than anything else. This game feels like it has an epic story to tell, and it’s not one that I want to miss.

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