What could be worse than killing innocents for the sake of revenge or satisfying old grievances against a cruel fate?? Perhaps when children are dragged into this only because they fit certain criteria. Gender, age, origin. Anyone who thinks out to the smallest detail a series of brutal murders of children for his own personal purposes can fully be considered an inhuman monster. Children in the hands of such a cruel creature become simply material for some kind of revenge. And the objects left on their bodies, say, snow-white orchids or paper animal figures, are just an attempt to convince oneself of repentance. What a pity indeed is the life taken away. But I think that after the third or fifth time this feeling turns more into a ritual, building a killer style. This obsession wanders from one child’s body to another in a desperate search for an answer to the difficult question: how far will you go to save the one you love??
It was this phrase that became a recognizable slogan for a large-scale presentation and advertising campaign of an incredibly popular and successful game project in its time. He was able to win the hearts of players, despite large and frequent plot holes and logical inconsistencies in many moments, and also received very high ratings from critics, editors and news sources. The game has become almost a symbol of the year, and was also named a pillar of the gaming industry by Igromaniya magazine.
You get imbued with the main characters and minimally empathize thanks to the high-quality and lively performances of the actors, from whom they took their appearance and facial expressions so that the emotional scenes felt more realistic. The oppressive tense atmosphere, the gloomy color palette, as well as the stunning lively soundtrack with the participation of a whole orchestra – all this simply cannot leave the player indifferent, even if you yourself notice how the logic of the plot is torn at the seams at certain moments.
Get your umbrellas and raincoats ready, today we’re heading to Philadelphia to see and experience a story of outrageous cruelty through the eyes of four different people.
"Heavy Rain» – a disturbing computer drama in the genres action-adventure And interactive cinema, came out of French hands Quantic Dream with the help of the guys from Sony Computer Entertainment V 2010. It was originally exclusive to Play Station 3, however, PC users were able to enjoy the game on their hardware June 24, 2019. This is the studio’s second game to combine live-action style and elements Quick Time Event (QTE), the first brainchild of the studio with similar technologies and style – "Fahrenheit» 2005 release. They are very similar. Both are in the genre of detective, investigation and drama, the player in both directly influences the plot and should not relax during QTE moments.
The central leader in development was David Cage, he also wrote a 2000-page script and even visited Philadelphia, which makes the shots of the backgrounds and surroundings of the characters look natural and juicy, despite the gray depressing tone of the overall picture. True, how conscientiously the “father” of the game presented the plot is a moot point; it’s easy to verify this already on your first playthrough. Plot holes and various kinds of illogicalities come across right away, but some of the mystery and complexity of the plot, which Mr. Cage is so proud of, is not at all. This is more likely to cover up negligence towards one’s own product.
Yes, it would be hard to call the game a masterpiece and a legend of the entire gaming industry, but there are still some reasons why the game is still worth checking out.
In addition to the main game, there is also an additional episode that was not included in the PC and PS4 versions – "Heavy Rain Chronicles: Episode One – The Taxidermist», released April 1, 2010 and containing the story arc of one of the main characters, takes place two years before the events of "Heavy Rain".
Let’s stand in the pouring rain for a while.
A gray, cold city, washed daily by a constant wall of rain, making it unfriendly and not at all suitable for tourist travel. However, here you will hardly see people with umbrellas or at least in protective raincoats. It’s as if the residents themselves were already accustomed to the local conditions, tired of fighting this heavenly water and simply accepted their constant fate of getting wet to the skin. It should not be surprising that the characters calmly talk on the street, sometimes only shouting over the roar of ice drops, but not caring about shelter.
Dark gray, brown and black colors, cars shiny with moisture, dilapidated stone identical houses, built almost on top of each other and forming dull anthills. And the freezing silent inhabitants, weaving through the puddles in all directions. This will be the landscape and environment this time. The bright sun warms only at the beginning, then it will drown in heavy lead clouds, spewing out more and more moisture every day. It seems that cold drops are nailed to the asphalt – this atmosphere will remain with you until the very end of the bloody detective story.
The prologue can be confusing at the very beginning. We will be shown a large friendly family consisting of a very successful architect Ethan Mars (our first main and playable character), his beautiful wife and two active, mischievous sons who are eager to spend every free minute with their father. The player gradually gets used to management by performing simple household errands and is imbued with a festive atmosphere (after all, the eldest Jason turned 10 years old), only to be stunned by the first tragedy literally 20 minutes after the start of the game.
In a very strange and unrealistic car accident (the game can already be criticized for outright sand in the eyes in order to bring tears) Jason dies, and Ethan falls into a coma for six months. Rehabilitation with a psychotherapist does not bear any fruit; the main character does not live a day without hating himself for the death of his beloved son. The once happy marriage shattered into small pieces, and the relationship with Sean – second child – worsen with each meeting. Work and favorite things have gone into oblivion, and the remains of the family, as well as your mental health, are very difficult to restore.
Time doesn’t heal and it only gets worse. Due to his precarious psychological state, Ethan develops new phobias and frequent memory loss with strange visions, in which he also begins to believe. One of these attacks overtakes the father right in the park while walking with Sean, when for the first time in a long time playing together lifts the boy’s spirits. Having wandered through his visions and not paying attention to the boy, Ethan is left in the park completely alone, having no idea where his child has disappeared to. Another downpour hints that things are only about to get worse.
A desperate father receives an unusual package: a box with a mobile phone, a pistol and a set of different origami figures, on which various tasks dangerous to life and others are written. After completing it honestly, Ethan will gradually collect the address where his son is being held. Classic game of hangman.
And now the player can finally get acquainted with the threat that hangs over the city like a poisonous cloud that has been terrorizing it for several years.
A series of brutal murders of children has swept through one of the cities of Philadelphia, and the kidnapped Sean Mars is attributed to a possible victim "Masters of Origami" – a collected killer, each time planning the next attack in detail for his own personal purposes. He managed to form his own style of murders, but without leaving any special evidence at crime scenes, which allows him to feel unpunished, leading the police by the nose.
All victims are boys aged 9 to 13 years old, dying from natural drowning in rainwater. Their intact bodies are invariably found near railways with an orchid on their chest and a neatly folded origami figurine in a clenched fist. Such prosaic actions have a cruel motive, understandable only to the killer himself. And the worst thing will be to find the main character’s son in this form.
This can easily happen if Ethan or three other connected characters do not have time to find and save the boy. Responsibility also rests on the shoulders of the player himself, since the non-linear plot and a large number of endings indicate a completely non-casual passage.
The player has four destinies, a life path and relationships with each other. Everything is woven into an intricate, winding story, which is presented through the eyes of different characters.
Game structure
When starting, the game magicred-casino.uk kindly warns us that all actions affect the ending and what will ultimately happen to each character, because you can get one of 17 endings with different variations of events. Of course, there are options for action that do not particularly affect the overall flow of the plot, but you can never predict which decision will lead the original ending to the grave. So you should be very careful in dialogues and intense active scenes. This is not to say that the game has a happy ending for all characters. The system is such that one of the four will definitely have a hard time. But each hero has his own happy ending, where he is happy or where things are going relatively well for him. However, they can’t all have a common good ending. It is impossible to avoid someone’s death, someone will suffer anyway, despite the player’s best efforts to do everything right.
Let’s meet the main characters of this interactive crime drama.
Ethan Mars – a young successful architect who once had a full-fledged happy family and a carefree life, which he enjoyed to the fullest. However, almost overnight I lost all this, acquiring only new serious problems. Key character, appears in almost all chapters.
After losing Jason, he acquired a depressing set of panic attacks, fainting, self-hatred and agoraphobia (fear of open space and large crowds of people). After the kidnapping of his second son, one might think that this terrible event would definitely completely destroy the man’s psyche, because his life after this would take an even darker turn. Always think about the fact that your child is in icy water in an unknown place, and his life is decreasing with every millimeter of precipitation and missed minutes. What psyche can withstand such stress?.
But Ethan still decides to try to play a sadistic game with the “Origami Master”, where the main prize will be his alive and healthy son.
As it passes, Mars shows himself to be a selfless and brave father, that he is ready to do crazy things and even commit a terrible crime in order to see his child again. He is able to withstand any physical pain, transcend morality, give all of himself without reserve in exchange for Sean’s life. You become especially drawn to him if you get one of the negative endings with this character. He went through so much pain and suffering that one can understand that Ethan Mars does not exist without his family.
Norman Jayden – FBI special agent sent to the local police station to help with the "Origami Master" case. He is young, ambitious, smart and inventive, which helps him look at a complex case from a different angle, and not rely only on old methods of catching a killer. Also, with the search for clues and the formation of logical chains, experimental development helps him – Consciousness Expansion Device (CDD), which is an indispensable assistant, but has a side effect on the psyche of a criminal specialist. A fictitious drug helps him to slightly weaken his attacks and hallucinations – tryptocaine.
The peculiarity of playing as Norman is that the player will not only conduct the investigation on his behalf, work and evaluate evidence, and formulate theories about suspects and the identities of the mysterious “Master of Origami,” but also cope with the agent’s seizures and deteriorating condition. The player can leave everything as it is or fight for the mental well-being of the FBI agent.
Jaden is usually cool and calm, able to tolerate his partner’s terrible character and criticism of his own actions very well. However, constant work stress and limited time in the abducted boy’s life can make him very irritable, rude and explosive. Despite his condition, Norman takes the Shawn Mars case very seriously, and is also willing to go to pieces and take risks to return the boy to his father. This even shows up in the impact of Sean’s bad turn of events on his own life.
The character is able to captivate with his charisma, dedication to a serious cause and self-control in tense and deadly situations.
Maddison Page – an experienced, fearless journalist working in a newspaper editorial office "American Tribune». Like many people in her profession, she is not afraid of either the police refusing to let her into the scene of events, or the fear of being caught in the house of some psychopath about whom a sensational article could be written. And, by the way, she once climbed up to one of these psychos.
In the episode "The Taxidermist» two years before the events of the original story, Paige enters the house of a certain Leland White, suspected to be the "Origami Master". Having searched his creepy home, hung with stuffed animals, she becomes convinced of his connection with crime, but not with what the police were investigating at that time. Even though the shady guy returns home and starts hunting for the uninvited guest, Maddison manages to collect shocking material and escape without much harm (if the situation is favorable).
However, her previous work as a military journalist gave the girl long-term bouts of insomnia and anxiety, as well as recurring, inexplicable dreams, where several unknown people break into her apartment and chase her around like a mouse in a cage. Because of this, I am forced to visit cheap motels in order to sleep properly there. Insomnia pills don’t seem to help at all.
She finds herself drawn into the events of the main game due to the collection of information for her own book about the “Origami Master”. As soon as he meets Ethan, crippled after another test, in one of the shabby motels, he immediately rushes to his aid and instantly becomes attached. From now on, now in the most random, incredible way, Page always knows where Mars is in order to instantly patch it up or warn him about a police raid, or hide him from them. In principle, all her interest in saving Sean can be explained by her desire to help Ethan. The act, of course, is noble, but when the script starts to sculpt a too quick and raw love line between these two, it becomes somehow sad. For me personally, Maddison was perceived simply as a prefix to Ethan without much backstory (except for an additional episode, this can be found on the wiki, and not from the game itself) or memorable character traits. The player is kept in the dark until the very end about who she is, why she burst into the plot, and where the insatiable interest in helping a stranger, who is also wanted by the police as a suspect, comes from.
Of course, the character shows the good and strong sides of her personality; in one of the endings, it is she who enters into battle with the killer and saves Sean. Over the course of the story, I began to treat her more respectfully, because the girl finds herself in various dangerous situations and successfully fights against side antagonists. But the rawness of her story, actions and motivation still lingers. It’s ironic that most of the text was about her, but I wanted to justify my position, purely objective, of course. I was more impressed by Norman Jaden, although he has very little personal information.
Scott Shelby – a former police lieutenant, in the current time of the game he is a private detective hired by the families of the victims to find the "Master of Origami". Later he has an unofficial partner – Lauren Winter, whose son was also taken away by the killer. She is determined to take revenge, no matter who he is, so Scott has no choice but to take the persistent woman under his command.
A very contradictory and complex character, in whose tragic backstory and motivation the developers created plot holes of a serious scale, it is confusing. The developers throw in details that they clearly emphasize, but they no longer appear in the future. For example, Scott’s asthma from humidity. And since it rains from the sky every day in the city and there is practically no sun, you would think that this will definitely have an effect, an attack will definitely occur at some decisive moment. But Chekhov’s gun never fires, remaining imperturbably hanging on the wall.
Shelby himself is quiet, calm, measured. Very responsive to other people, if there is an opportunity to help, he will not pass by. However, he is more of an introverted character, preferring to lead a lonely life in a small, modest apartment and tell little about himself to other people. More remains a good listener. In work, especially of the same type, say, a long review of lists for matches of the desired person, he is diligent and serious. Able to withstand external pressure well, shows a stoic character.
However, you shouldn’t make him angry either. In moments of anger, he becomes cruel and vindictive, his physical strength and vitality seem to increase a hundredfold. A seemingly calm, kind giant can turn into a berserker.
The game also contains other side characters of a positive and negative nature, with whom all four actively interact. Some are of greater value to the plot, others are of lesser value. Still, the color is felt. Something happens all the time, characters intersect, forming logical chains from one link to another.
Jackson Neville, Nathaniel Williams and Hassan
Jackson Neville, Nathaniel Williams and Hassan
Jackson Neville, Nathaniel Williams and Hassan
An interesting feature is that heavy rain, large amounts of precipitation and an overall gloomy picture create not only a depressing, always tense atmosphere, but also indicate the intensity of the plot and drama. With each episode, the level of precipitation increases, eventually reaching whole centimeters of icy water, which indicates the dire consequences that await the player in the future.
As a reward for the continuous tension and emotional swings in the plot, the game provides some interesting goodies after completing one or another episode. There are sets of very picturesque concept art with gloomy landscapes of an ever-rainy city, in which you can recognize different locations where the player has already visited. It is a pleasure to admire them; the artist of these treasures is respected for his style, which vividly conveys the emotions and mood of the illustrations.
Also in the “rewards” you can find entertaining videos from the development studio about the processes of creating a game. Testing the cast of actors, using their appearance, facial expressions and movements; soundtrack writing and other materials. I liked watching the actors play, these people completely devote themselves to their roles, have a great feeling for the characters, and also get a real thrill from their work.
Since the game was originally developed for a console, all controls with a gamepad should have felt more intense; getting used to using a keyboard and mouse will be difficult at first, you still need to get used to it.
Active QTE scenes take up the lion’s share of the gameplay. The player will have to perform four or even five combinations at a time in a mostly pressured environment with different sensitivities. Some movements need to be done sharply and with stronger pressure, others – carefully and smoothly. Any deviation from the given movement pattern can lead to redoing everything from the beginning, succumbing to the provocations of the game. You can also produce characters’ thoughts at the moment. Some may contain hints, others will simply show the state of the hero and his feelings about what is happening.
Rarely does an episode go without a fight or chase scene; something dynamic is constantly happening; you need to carefully monitor what is happening so as not to mess with the QTE. But don’t get annoyed by failures – in the future you will adapt and develop the necessary reaction to feel the buttons better. However, it is impossible to get used to the pressure during the game, although it would seem to go hand in hand with the plot.
To make what was happening seem even more photorealistic, motion capture technologies were used. The facial expressions and emotions of the actors were conveyed to their characters, and this, coupled with good acting, makes the dialogues and actions not seem bland or the same type. When communicating with different people, you feel their individuality.
Sam Douglas (Scott Shelby), Jackie Ainslie (Maddison Page) and Pascal Langdale (Ethan Mars)
Sam Douglas (Scott Shelby), Jackie Ainslie (Maddison Page) and Pascal Langdale (Ethan Mars)
Sam Douglas (Scott Shelby), Jackie Ainslie (Maddison Page) and Pascal Langdale (Ethan Mars)
Sam Douglas (Scott Shelby), Jackie Ainslie (Maddison Page) and Pascal Langdale (Ethan Mars)
In principle, the very tone of the story suits a set of sad gray and black shades, and the incessantly rainy weather makes many people sad and despondent. Being in such a city for too long, you begin to feel your helplessness and insignificance, and the warm sun and bright colors of the colorful noisy streets become nothing more than a memory. People are like the smallest drops of rain that mix into a single seething stream of life.
Musical accompaniment
Wrote the music for the game Norman Corbeil in the genre of classical orchestral. And honestly, looking at the work of the orchestra team from the additional video is a treat for the eyes and ears. Each musician feels his own instrument, and the conductor masterfully controls people, raising his hands under the threatening and heavy battle of violins and cellos. Total in the published track list 16 audio, stunning levels of tension, anxiety and drama. The feeling of something terrible and tragic is felt in every composition. Sounds and tones either humbly subside, then increase and hit the ears, as if in anticipation of trouble. Ethan Mars’ theme tears at the soul with moments of sad mournful piano, and the acceleration of the orchestra with loud motives… oh, it’s like the cry of the soul of a confused, frightened father. Norman Jaden’s own soundtrack attracted me with its anxiety and intrigue, and you can hear the notes of a tireless hunt for a terrible killer, an attempt to understand a complex case and solve all the pieces of the puzzle.
In general, each musical theme fits its character, and they are especially beautifully woven into the dank darkness of the city and into the detective story. You can’t relax for a minute while listening to music from this game, you always feel uncomfortable, as if on pins and needles. Even if you come across a relatively calm melody, it still shines through with sadness and melancholy, which still makes it very beautiful. But especially pressing and intense melodies make you tremble. Characters immediately come to mind in dangerous situations where they could easily lose their lives. Thanks to the efforts of Norman Corbey and the entire orchestra, not only the battle scenes look dynamic and exciting, but also verbal conflicts, skirmishes and showdowns. It’s a wonderful feeling when you fully feel the mood that the composer wanted to convey.
“Heavy Rain” is beautiful and definitely worth watching, despite the flimsy plot, which from beginning to end leaves many questions that will never be answered. However, it still concentrates players of any kind, forcing them to at least minimally empathize with the characters and actively think about plot twists and inconsistencies, trying to independently explain them.
No matter how much the game is full of drama and a well-maintained atmosphere of tension and excitement, it is often and abundantly criticized, not without reason, of course. More precisely, it’s more about the plot, since in terms of the presentation and flow of events the product is wonderful, I had a hard time tearing myself away from the monitor, even though it hurt from a handful of sand in my eyes trying to knock out a tear. You just see all the holes at once, but they still make you think and analyze, while at the same time being on the same emotional level with the game. It all organically adds up to an inspired and very sentimental picture. But if for you the plot is still a shrine, then most likely you will find more disadvantages.
Still, it seems to me that the game is treated too strictly and radically, over and over again recounting narrative gaps and other flaws. Personally, after finishing it, I didn’t have the feeling that the developers blatantly deceived or told a far-fetched story on which so much time was spent. After receiving the long-awaited ending, I was rather left emotionally exhausted; I had to think and weigh everything, and then speculate about the misfires. According to the timeless classic, you are always disappointed when you break through a frightening and ominous second bottom in a character you love and have sunk into your heart.
Last year, the game turned ten years old, which was dedicated to a video from the creators, where the actors and other participants recall the creation process, teamwork and the unforgettable experience that they received from working in this project. It’s especially nice to see the delight of the main actors, who still receive letters of gratitude and wishes. And when they say that random people, even after ten years, recognize them as their gaming favorites on the street, the joyful smile never leaves their faces. This kind of enthusiasm is very encouraging.
