Heavy Rain is nearing release!

[The Queen]

 

Yep it's the game many Playstation 3 gamers have been waiting for, which can only be Heavy Rain. I personally have preordered the special edition from HMV when it was a bit cheaper as it has gone up in price due to demand as it includes a couple of extra things such as the first DLC free and so on.

 

For those of you who are thinking "Huh? Heavy Rain, what game is that?" Well you should be shot three times and left to be eaten by dogs. Nah, I am just kidding but it has been everywhere recently from adverts on the internet to adverts on television and even adverts in the street on billboards. :cheeky:

 

Anyway heres a quick summary of what the game is about just for those who are unclear.

 

Warning : MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS

 

Heavy Rain is a PlayStation 3 video game developed by Quantic Dream.

 

Plot

 

Director David Cage has stated that Heavy Rain would be "a very dark film noir thriller with mature themes", without any supernatural elements, and that "the real message [of the game] is about how far you're willing to go to save someone you love."

 

In an interview with Belgian magazine Chief in 2008, David Cage gave a brief overview of Heavy Rain's narrative and ambitions. A translation was then made on Kotaku, which read as follows:

 

"Heavy Rain is about normal people who have landed in extraordinary situations. I wanted a much more personal story. The first thing that came to my mind, as a father of two little boys, was that the main theme should simply be a father's love for his son. This is not a game about saving the princess or the world. It's purely about a father's love. The main story will revolve around four different characters, and we're putting the spotlight on their perceptions. The question 'what is good and what is evil' is the key here, that will be just a matter of viewpoint...I believe heavily in moral choices, I'm going to use them A LOT. They're not about being good or bad, but about finding the right balance."

 

In the same interview, Cage commented on the setting by saying, "I don't want to do a big free-roaming city like GTA, because the flow of the story will then be hard to control. Nevertheless, I do want to incorporate big sets, with a crowd, heavy populated areas like a mall and a subway are going to be in there. Of course, the gameplay has got to make use of that aspect too." All playable characters are looking for a serial killer known as "The Origami Killer".

 

Characters

 

There are four playable characters.

 

* Ethan Mars: Played by French actor Pascal Langdale. Mars is a young architect living on the east coast of America. In 2009, he lost his eldest son in a car accident that left him in a coma. Once a successful and happy family man, Ethan is now grief-stricken and depressed two years later, separated from his wife and distant from his other son, Shaun. Still suffering from the after-effects of the accident, Ethan is thrown into a nightmare when he discovers that Shaun may become the next victim of the Origami Killer. He will be forced to confront just how far he is prepared to go to rescue his son, and, in doing so, he may be able to finally find redemption from the guilt and grief he feels.

 

* Madison Paige: Played by model Jacqui Ainsley. A twenty-seven-year-old photographer living alone in the city. Suffering from crippling insomnia and nightmares, she often finds herself checking into local motels for the night. Seemingly, the only place she can rest and relax. Though she has no apparent connection with the Origami Killer case, she will soon find herself unexpectedly drawn into the investigation. When she does, she will show courage and commitments, placing herself in great danger to find out the truth.

 

* Norman Jayden: Portrayed by British actor Leon Ockenden. Jayden is a dedicated and thorough FBI profiler sent into this unfamiliar city to support the police force with their investigation into the Origami Killer. Jayden specializes in utilizing an experimental device called ARI, short for “Added Reality Interface,” which allows him to investigate crime scenes and analyze evidence in a unique way. With the local cops resentful of both of his methods and his very presence, he struggles urgently to piece together the evidence before it is too late and another victim is discovered.

 

* Scott Shelby: Played by actor Sam Douglas. A forty-five-year-old cop-turned-private investigator after twenty years with the local police department. Two decades on the streets have left him tough and cynical, but, despite his sometimes hard demeanor, he has a sense of honor and compassion that shines when under pressure. Shelby has been hired by the families of previous victims of the Origami Killer and is now conducting a parallel investigation into the case, searching for clues and leads that the authorities may have missed.

 

Gameplay

 

According to a demonstration given to Edge magazine, the game will use a unique control scheme. A trigger button on the PlayStation 3 controller will move the character forward. It will take advantage of the button's analogue function, allowing the user to control the speed of the character's movement by pressing harder or softer on the button. The left analogue stick will control the movement of the character's head and the direction the character moves in relation to where the character is looking. David Cage explains that this frees the movement of the character from the perspective of the camera. The rest of the game is played using a series of context sensitive actions such as picking up a bottle in a grocery store and hitting a robber on the head with it or pressing the "X" button to call the player character's son, Jason, and quick time events, normally for chase and combat sequences. Players are able to bring up a selection of their character's current thoughts by holding the L2 button and pressing corresponding buttons to say or do what they're thinking. These thoughts will sometimes blur, and selecting them at the wrong time will affect the character's reaction, causing them to say or do something in the wrong way.

 

Action sequences, such as when the player is being attacked, will be played out as quick time events. Players will be presented with various symbols, requiring them to either press buttons, move the right analogue stick in a certain way, or shake or tilt the controller. Failure to execute these commands take the story along a different path, and certain mistakes will lead to a character's death. For example, in one scene, Norman Jayden is interrogating a suspect named Mad Jack when he starts to suffer from withdrawal symptoms and button prompts will show up. If he fails to take his drugs, he will be taken to a scenario in which he will have to escape from a car before it is thrown into a crusher, killing him. In scenes like these, a 'timer' scene (a portion of the screen that is devoted to show the player how long he or she has until their time runs out, or another event is scripted to occur, which is shown through several different camera angles) is shown at the bottom of the screen, indicating how long the player has to escape from his predicament. If a character dies, the game does not end, and play control switches to another character, with the events of the previous character's death affecting the story. In the event that all four characters die, there is a proper conclusion to the story and the game ends.

 

Development

 

Quantic Dream started working on Heavy Rain in February 2006. It was announced at E3 2006, where a tech demo entitled The Casting was presented to the media and general public. The graphical user interface (GUI) of Heavy Rain has been created with the middleware Menus Master by Omegame. This interface, which appears when the player uses specific equipment, is an in-game three-dimensional HUD. Fully integrated in real time within the game world, this GUI behaves like a portable holographic projector within the character's field of view.

 

Some game physics will be made available by the use of PhysX by nVidia. It is used for console physics in general within the game. Originally for the PC, there were going to be two separate versions of the game to handle either the presence or lack of an appropriate physics processing unit on the computer. However, the game has since been announced as a PlayStation 3 exclusive. In the demo, the physics of the hair made use of the AGEIA technology.

 

In an interview given to GameDaily.com, Quantic Dream co-CEO and executive producer Guillaume de Fondaumière insisted that characters would be true virtual actors capable of showing highly realistic emotions.[citation needed] In September 2009, Quantic Dream released a gameplay clip revealing a scene in which one of the game's playable characters, Madison, performs a topless striptease for another character.

 

Source : Wikipedia

 

 

So who else is in with the hype then? Post your comments below. ;)

[t.]

Am I correct in saying this is from the guys who brought us Fahrenheit? I really enjoyed that game, I would probably pic this up but for the exclusivity.

[The Queen]

Am I correct in saying this is from the guys who brought us Fahrenheit? I really enjoyed that game, I would probably pic this up but for the exclusivity.

 

Yep that's right. If Fahrenheit is anything to go by then this will be much much better. :D

[Tool831]

blah, Already know the storyline to this game. Advertising different parts of game play an intro's all made sense so its ruined me from trying this game now.

[MrEvo]

Had this on pre-order for ages and got it on release day. Been playing it to death, gone through it once and i am now going a different path through the game. But what a game, it was a big risk for the developers to bring this style to the PS3, and i think it has paid off. Looking forward to tomorrow 4th when the first DLC becomes available.