As soon as we arrived at Eurogamer, the team and I headed for the first developer session of the day, that of Heavy Rain. David Cage, founder and CEO of Quantic Dream - and the mastermind behind the brilliant Fahrenheit – was there to start us off by telling us all about the new title.
First off, he treated us to a bit of insight into the game’s story. As a ‘dark thriller’, the game is set in an unfriendly neighborhood on the east coast of the US, where a serial-killer known as the ’Origami Killer’ has been picking people off, his calling card being a piece of Origami that is left in his victim’s hand. Why he does so is unclear, no doubt important to the plot later on. Cage stated that the main theme of the game was ’love’ and the ultimate question:- Just how far would you be willing to go to save someone you love?
As with Fahrenheit, the plot involves you, the player, taking control of the game’s multiple protagonists, as the story unfolds and no doubt brings them together to the plot’s ultimate conclusion. There are four characters you will be playing as in total – all with their own stories to tell. Firstly we have Norman Jayden, an FBI profiler with a drug addiction, who apparently has some special glasses which can be used to spot forensic evidence and such. Secondly, there’s Madison Paige, a photographer with insomnia. Scott Shelby is a private investigator, a tough guy hired by the parents of victims of the murders. Lastly we have Ethan Mars, a parent who lost his son in a fatal car accident, filled with depression and guilt for letting it happen. Mars’ second son was apparently kidnapped, and he knows he has only four days to find him before it’s all too late.
As you can see - the game has a rather mixed bunch to play with, no doubt giving room for plenty of crazy happenings and jumpy moments. Cage made a point in saying that the game will operate with a lot of varied gameplay, so it’s likely all of these characters will have their own aspects, such as Jayden’s forensic work and dealing with Paige’s insomnia.
Cage then took us through a demo himself, playing as P.I. Scott Shelby to give us a glimpse of the title. Set in a rather realistic looking shop, he enters to question the shopkeeper, who had himself suffered a loss thanks to the Origami Killer. As the dialogue is spoken (by the equally realistic characters), the player can press corresponding buttons to key words floating on the screen in order to decide how to respond – not unlike the speech system used in Fahrenheit, although perhaps looking more fluid and natural. It seems the man is unwilling to talk, and after Cage finished attempting to pry information from him, he ended the dialogue to continue.
Unsuccessful, Shelby decides to purchase an item from the shop - but whilst he picks it up, an armed man attempts to hold up the store manager and make off with his cash. This is where the real decisions kick in. Now – although this game resembles Fahrenheit in a lot of ways, the game’s actual system has been completely rehauled into something different. Whereas Fahrenheit operated most interaction with the analogue sticks, and used mini-game style co-ordination for the action sequences, Heavy Rain works in a way that seems to give the game a lot more realism and depth – each item that can be interacted with has the corresponding button highlighted on it, and every action depends on what exactly you are doing – for instance a door handle with a symbol hovering over it indicates which button to press, and action sequences require QTE-style timing that matches the movements – sort of like the game is one giant quick-time event which you can walk around in, and also including the use of the PS3’s six-axis. Movement is apparently controlled by holding R2 to walk, while you select your choice of direction with button presses – reminding me somewhat of Killer7.
Whilst the robber screamed and threw abuse at the poor shopkeeper, Cage explained that the game works in such a way that almost anything can happen without resulting in a game-over – you can choose how you wish to resolve a situation, and your actions will decide the outcome – apparently even the death of a main character will not end the story, only add to the game’s overall plot and even perhaps open up new scenarios, such as a key event at a funeral which would further the story yet again, possibly even offer something special. In this case, he suggested that you could ignore the confrontation altogether and hide at the back of the store – but that wouldn’t be very heroic! Instead, he showed us three different ways of trying the scene.
Firstly, he snuck up one of the aisles, moving slowly to not draw any attention to himself, the robber unaware of his presence. Having a quick jovial shock as Shelby almost knocks a cereal box off of a shelf, he carefully pushes it back quietly with a careful set of button movements. He then proceeded to pick up a bottle, and sneakily smash it over the thugs head to knock him out. In the next scenario, Shelby is caught trying to sneak up to him, and tries to talk his way out of it. Like the previous dialogue, key words hover on the screen depicting different responses, only Shelby’s nerves mean that this time they are more frantic, flashing and moving, making them harder to read. After calmly talking his way out of it, he convinces the thug to leave, the conflict ended. On the third run, Cage showed us how Shelby could upset the thug by being aggressive, finally responding with a quicktime-like fight sequence, and taking him down in an impressive struggle. After removing the threat, the shopkeeper offered Shelby a box of useful clue items – although Cage stated he would be able to play the scene in ten or more different ways, and not necessarily resulting in gaining the shopkeeper’s respect.
In this way, Heavy Rain looks to create a lot of options and possibilities in its outcome, making it an incredibly intriguing game – although it bears similarity to Fahrenheit, it looks like a complete evolution on a whole other level – the gameplay looking immersive, especially with its realistic design. Cage stated that he would ideally like each player to play the game once, making it their own version and experiencing it their way – but of course, if you want to there’s no stopping you playing it to see all of the possibilities! The game is supposedly going to really reflect how you are as a person, testing your morals and ideas, and at the same time connecting you to the characters, feeling what they feel, providing empathy toward them.
Apparently the game will offer a few difficulties, ranging from complicated, fast paced gameplay to a simple one button style, as to please all audiences and allow even non-gamers to enjoy the game’s storyline and choices without the complexities of gaming – without stopping dedicated gamers from having the option to challenge themselves. It seems the game will include some more heavy action sequences, as we saw video clips of Ethan in some sort of police chase – so it looks as though there will be a mix of everything – although apparently it’s possible to miss some scenarios entirely depending on your decisions.
Cage stated that being an 18+ rated game, he felt no reason why he couldn’t include anything in the game – he believed that both gore and sexual content were perfectly fine, so long as they were in no way gratuitous – I agree with his choices, and he himself expressed his frustration for bad parents blaming others for what their kids get hold of! But enough of that – he did make me smile nevertheless. But in case you were wondering – yes, there will be nudity and sexual scenes, just like Fahrenheit.
All in all, I think that Heavy Rain is looking fantastic – with believable characters, a very intriguing plot and beautiful graphics, the title really looks to push the limits of gaming today and come up with something truly immersive. I’ll definitely be giving it a shot – it looks to be an experience that shouldn’t be missed. Oh – and if you hated the end of Fahrenheit (which many did) he says that they’ve done a better job this time.
Heavy Rain will only be released on the PS3, and is due for release in early 2010. It looks to be a winner.
-Leon
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