HEAVY RAIN REVIEW

story by Mike Gas

SHIT'S JUST TOO DAMN LOUD.

The infamous Maddison Page shower scene from Heavy Rain which was subject to many censors outside of its North American release.

There’s no reason for a shot to be framed like this other than to titillate the player. And to his credit, that's exactly what David Cage wants to do. The problem is it's the only thing he wants to do. He wants to titillate, not ask any hard questions, just make the player feel something. If they're not being hit with a shotgun blast of emotion every other scene then he's failed his, as Cage would call it, raison d'etre.

Despite being met with critical acclaim upon its release, Heavy Rain today has the reputation of “game you play with your friends while drunk," more so than it's even discussed with likes of so-called "oscar-bait video games" still talked about today like The Last of Us and Bioshock Infinite. There’s a reason why the only thing everybody remembers from Heavy Rain is something like this:

And nothing from its gameplay or supposedly "heartrending" story. The combo of the shoddy naturalism and its badly written narrative only serve to amplify how hyperreal and uncanny the game’s world and characters truly are.

I expected to at least get something out of Heavy Rain, prehaps a laugh or some mindless entertainment, and I actually did—— the only caveat being that it was with the Japanese version of the game: HEAVY RAIN 心の軋むとき.