Heavy Rain Releases Tomorrow

Tomorrow sees the South African release of the PS3 exclusive Heavy Rain, developed by Quantic Dream and published by Sony. Most retailers will start stocking the game from about 20 February. Tomorrow the demo for the game will also be available on PlayStation Network.

Heavy Rain promises to be a very different type of game, according to the developers, and from what is known it appears this end will be achieved.

Players will assume the role of four characters in the game – Norman Jayden, and FBI profiler; Scott Shelby, a private detective; Ethan Mars, an architect; and Madison Paige, a photo journalist. All four of these are on the hunt for a serial killer who is known as the “Origami Killer”.

David Cage, Quantic Dreams CEO and director of the game, said in an interview with the Belgian magazine Chief in 2008 (translated by Kotaku) that he has employed the use of moral choices heavily in the game.

"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," he says.

What's interesting about this is how it will resolve in gameplay. From what is known, players will be able to control their character's thoughts in conversations or situations, and whichever thoughts they choose will affect the way the character will react.

In fact, if a player leads a character to their death, the game will not end, but switch to another character instead. The choices the player made in the previous character's life will affect the rest of the story and the new character. The game will end when all four characters die, but offer a proper conclusion in this event.

"The real message [of the game] is about how far you're willing to go to save someone you love,” Cage said in an interview at Shacknews.

The narrative will flow through actions, not cut scenes, says Quantic Dream, which is a French studio. Many french filming techniques have been applied to the game, and the control scheme will take advantage of the PlayStation 3 controller's analogue function, allowing players to control the speed of movement of their character through either pressing harder or softer. It all sounds incredibly interesting.

In a story released earlier this month, it was also revealed that gamers will be able to play as the Origami Killer in one of the downloadable content (DLC) packs that will be made available for the game.

Heavy Rain will be available for about R600 at retailers, and a special edition is also available that packages the game in a special 'rain-effect' slipcase. Included with this comes PlayStation Network code for the first DLC which follows the story of Madison Paige more closely (allowing for gamers with the Special Edition to play it before it becomes available on PlayStation Network) and the Heavy Rain official soundtrack.

Heavy Rain has an FPB rating of 18+ and contains violence, nudity and language.